Posted in: Recent Updates | Tagged: Batman, bruce wayne, Carmine Falcone, dc comics, HRL, joker, Mikel Janin, Penguin, poison ivy, rebirth, riddler, Tom King, war of jokes and riddles

The Batman Hater Strikes Back: Batman #26 Review

Before we move onto the review proper here, let's talk about the responses to my review of the previous issue of Batman with issue #25.

If you want to move on directly to the review itself, feel free to scroll down to it. For a bit of help, hit "Ctrl+F" and put in an asterisk. It'll take you right to it.

Fellow Bleeding Cool contributor and talented writer Joe Glass came to the defense of the Dark Knight with an editorial about why he loves the Batman. It was really well constructed and well argued. I saw his points, and I can completely understand finding connections to Batman in that way.

I think the difference in our opinions come from how we see Batman being presented. Joe sees him being presented in a "scars-and-all" light that gives you the broken figure of the man. You are intended to make what you will of the Caped Crusader, and sometimes that opinion will not be positive by design.

Primarily, I've seen Batman as a figure to be idolized, especially in Justice League titles and Dark Days: The Forge. He's always right, his arrogant actions are often rewarded, and he's the smartest, most awesome guy in room because he's the Batman. With this reading of him in mind, it makes it hard to feel sympathy for the more intimate depiction that comes from his own comics by writers like Scott Snyder and Tom King. The fact that he seems incapable of personal growth by design does not help.

That being said, I definitely understand where Joe's reading comes from, and I respect it. I would never try to take away one's joy from a character. That wasn't my intent with my previous article; my goal was to provide a different perspective on the world's most beloved hero with a good bit of smug humor on the side.

I don't quite agree with his evaluation of the difference between Marvel and DC heroes, because there are too many exceptions to the rules. Green Arrow and Hawkman, two of my favorite DC heroes, don't seem oft-intended to be inspirational. Meanwhile, Marvel's Captain America and Thor seem more intended to be inspirational heroes as opposed to relatable.

In terms of all heroes being idolized, another point made by Joe — yeah, that's true. That's why I'm not a big fan of the manner in which Batman is presented a lot of the time. It seems to be a questionable message: "Hey, this guy is severely damaged and refuses to seek any form of help, but through the power of money and sheer unbridled arrogance, he can be the world's greatest hero."

I see a lot of the memes and discussion on how he's "the Goddamn Batman" and wonder whether that was the intended message, or something just got miscommunicated along the way. I know the latter of those two isn't inherently DC's fault, but, when you put out superhero fiction in the manner that DC and Marvel do, you have a responsibility to pay attention to how your literature (and yes, I consider this literature) is interpreted.

Now, let's look at the comment reactions to my previous article.

One common response could be summed up with "You're biased. You know you hate Batman, why even review it?"

Well, I'm a reviewer. It's one of my primary functions on BC. Furthermore, true objectivity does not exist. That is a myth that the internet has perpetrated, and it is damagingly false. A truly unbiased opinion does not exist on anything. If you think I'm biased because I do not like Batman, then every reviewer who has a positive opinion on the Dark Knight is equally biased. I would argue that both opinions are equally valid in going into a review of a Batman comic book.

I was merely presenting my honest and unpopular opinion on a subject, as I wanted to present it as well as my point of view. I caked it in a lot of smug humor, admittedly. I came off as a bit of a jerk, but that was mostly riding off the comments of my previous articles. Was it constructive? Not really. Was it fun? Yes.

Many griped about me "inserting myself" into the review and coming off as unprofessional.

You see, I was and am aware of the context of my review. It's unpopular to dislike Batman. It's a contentious opinion (I have plenty of them), and I was trying to explain my reasoning for my opinion in an attempt to allow you to see where I was coming from.

A lot of people tried to counter me with insults towards Marvel Comics, as if the whole thing was a part of some anti-DC, pro-Marvel fanboy agenda. This was also quite funny, considering the ending of the article pointed people in the direction of another DC Comic. This was one I had reviewed, in fact, and gave a glowing 9.5/10. For real, read Aquaman.

Someone called it "joyless", too. That's absolutely untrue. I had a lot of joy writing it.

Anyway, on to the review.

*  *  *  *  *

So, this comic continues the brutal saga of the "War of Jokes and Riddles" with Bruce continuing recounting the series of events to Selena. Joker continues to search for laughs while the Riddler recovers from being shot by the Clown Prince.

The Riddler finds himself allies, such as the dangerous Poison Ivy. Meanwhile, the Joker pays a visit to Carmine Falcone.

All the while, the Batman tries to track the two down and end the deadly chaos.

Much of the comic has narration by Bruce discussing the victims of the warpath of the two criminals. This was a nice touch that added a bit of bitter emotions to the proceedings. Instead of the countless unnamed fatalities of other comics like this, this comic attempts to remind you that these are still people.

This tactic does hit a weird hiccup in the beginning where the comic seems to almost accidentally make a joke at the victims' expenses. The Joker breaks into a house owned by a married couple, and two "bangs" ring out while Bruce describes the people inside. Then, in the next panel, he mentions their three kids as three more "bangs" ring out.

That was a weirdly tone-deaf moment. It wasn't a joke by the Joker; it seemed like a joke from the narrative itself that seemed to have missed the point of its own content. I'll admit, this is a minor problem and can be easily forgotten while one continues reading.

One thing that did genuinely bother me is that, instead of an ending, this comic decided to provide more teasing about the issues to come with two consecutive two-page spreads of the Riddler, the Joker, and their respective allies.

It's hardly a controversial opinion that many single issues from Marvel and DC don't have proper endings, but this comic seemed to flaunt that fact with this overt teasing of future events. Worse yet, it takes up four full pages that could have been used for the story itself.

The continued promising of "things getting worse" from Bruce can get a bit tiresome. It seems a bit self-conscious on the part of the narrative. We can see that things are getting worse as the bodies pile up; you don't need to tell us that things are going to get worse from here, Brucey-boy. That's how narrative arc works.

The pacing is a bit wonky in this one too. I left it feeling like not much happened, and, in reality, nothing really does. I mean yeah, Joker moved in on Falcone and Riddler met up with Ivy. However, that is all that happened in terms of narrative progress.

[Spoiler] The need to connect the Joker to the rise of the Penguin by making Cobblepot an underling to Falcone feels a bit needless. DC's obsession with making everything connected is quite tiresome and verges on too much convenience at times. There really seems to be no need for it here.

Mikel Janin's artwork remains great here. Riddler is still way too buff, but beyond that, Janin really gets to strut his stuff. The sequence wherein the Joker attempts to force himself to smile in the mirror while listening to the news broadcast about the Riddler is haunting and gorgeously done. There's also a random Falcone henchman who looks a lot like Robert Z'Dar, which is really awesome too.

The coloring by June Chung wavers between deep, dark colors and pasty whiteness in a fairly unnerving manner. It fits the darkness of the comic quite well.

The next complaint is not specific to Batman, but it was the first DC comic I read from this week, so it gets to bear the weight of this one.

The two-page spread of a Snickers ad in the middle really ripped me out of the narrative. The little joke about the Flash and Grodd absolutely shattered any tension that might have dared to have been accumulated by the comic. DC has been really galling with their ad placement before (stupid half-page Twix ads, anyone?), and this shows that they don't really care if their ads interrupt your reading in a dramatic way.

But again, this isn't Tom King or Mikel Janin's fault, so it won't impact the score of this comic.

Overall, this comic was definitely better than #25. It had more interesting character moments with the villains, and it did less to actively frustrate me. It still had its fair share of flaws, but it does more good to compensate for them this time. If you're a Bat-fan or have a good respect for his villains, feel free to pick this one up.

My opinion of the Dark Knight still hasn't changed, though I definitely understand the love of the character more thanks to Mr. Joe Glass.

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