Batman: Cacophony

[Langsta]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Cacophony

Batman: Cacophony is the reported title of an upcoming three-issue comic book limited series starring Batman. The series will be written by Kevin Smith with art by Walt Flanagan and will run November 2008 through January 2009.

As announced at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the series will reportedly feature the villains Onomatopoeia, Joker and Victor Zsasz. The first issue will ship on November 12 with three different covers - one by Adam Kubert and two by brother Andy Kubert. Smith confirmed that the mini-series will not be a part of the Elseworlds imprint.

This sounds interesting. I guess if it's a limited series (three issues) with the first issue shipping on the 12th, then Smith is already finished writing it, so it won't be plagued by delays like all of Smith's work on ongoing comic series .... Seriously, he makes a new film about every two or three years, how is he always so busy? .... I realize he's got a family and stuff, but if he's in the process of making a movie, then he shouldn't do a comic when if it's going to take so long to write (and he does have several other projects that he's currently working on or is supposed to be working on in the near future, like Red State (his horror movie) and Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers (his sci-fi movie) and Clerks: Sell Out (his animated Clerks movie)).

I like the art:

Note: Onomatopeia was created by Smith during his run on Green Arrow.

 

[Grocer Man]

Onomatopeia is a great villain.

 

[ProjectX2]

This was very strange. Kevin Smith's Joker is very... different. He seems to have homosexual tendencies.

TOG (and MWoF) pointed out that a lot of Kevin Smith's work has homosexual stuff in it. Odd.

There seems be a lot of complaints about it though. Especially because it wasn't marked for Mature Readers and of course featured Joker offering to be sexually violated and references to pubic hair and genital torture...

 

[thee great one]

Onomatopeia is the best part. He makes me laugh.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

Its not great, but its not terrible either. I'll certainly keep reading.

 

[McCheese]

This was very strange. Kevin Smith's Joker is very... different. He seems to have homosexual tendencies.

TOG (and MWoF) pointed out that a lot of Kevin Smith's work has homosexual stuff in it. Odd.

If I remember right his brother is gay and he likes to use gay characters because his brother has complained that there aren't a lot characters he can relate to.

As for the Joker I never got the impression that he was doing anything other than making gay jokes. I doubt it has anything to do with all the other "homosexual stuff" in Kevin's work.

There seems be a lot of complaints about it though. Especially because it wasn't marked for Mature Readers and of course featured Joker offering to be sexually violated and references to pubic hair and genital torture...

It should have been marked for mature readers. Definitely.

But as a mature reader, I enjoyed this issue. The art wasn't great and some of the dialog seemed off, but the Joker had some funny lines, Onomatopoeia is weird and funny, and Maxie Zeus' very existence is funny. That said, I am hoping for an improvement in the second issue.

 

[Planet-man]

I bought the GN of this the other day.

There is a line between brilliantly-off-putting-gay jokes-for-the-fun-of-it-Joker, and just-plain-a-3rd-grader's-idea-of-a-gay-guy-who-happens-to-kill-people-Joker, and this book found that line and sodomized it. Adds too much of a specific trait to the Joker and his humour. Bleh.

The story was pretty good. The ambiguous ending was surprising so Onomatapoeia better become an excellent, villain with a great backstory.

I'm sick of shallow, non-negotiable no-killing-the-Joker stories. The only way to do something SO morally gray and intrinsically enraging is to back it up with brilliant philisophical twists to chew on like the Killing Joke and The Dark Knight. Otherwise it just makes the character callous and naive.

Decent overall.