Review: Batman: The Widening Gyre #4 (of 6)
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Jan 17 2010, 10:01 PM
If you are at all like me, you appreciate a writer who is willing to take risks. Kevin Smith can afford to do as he pleases and still deliver the goods. His current Batman run manages to seem all over the map while continuing down a determined path. Who else could get away with a Batman cover that features the Joker half naked and in drag and then not have even a hint of the Joker in the actual issue?
What is in this issue is a cavalcade of B-list and C-list villains pushing the Kevin Smith level of camp as far as it seems right to do so. The most offensive baddie this time out is Crazy Quilt who has a thing for pulling the eye balls out of optometrists. He has sewn his own eyelids shut just to make sure the insanity plea will stick.
As much as Smith enjoys getting his readers out of their comfort zone, he revels in keeping Bruce Wayne on his toes too. Not exactly a social butterfly, Batman has been struggling to tolerate the help of a new vigilante, Baphomet. Finally, after earning a break on a rooftop, the new guy takes off his long goat mask to Batman's shock and dismay. The guy had been getting so chummy and now this! Batman doesn't unmask for anyone, not even Superman!
Bruce tries to explain this to his new girlfriend, Silver St. Cloud, but she won't give in so easily. She proves to be an ongoing challenge for Bruce as he gradually lays himself open, makes himself vulnerable. By and by, Silver could be proving to be too much of a distraction and maybe even a real liability or worse. To bring that point home, Smith throws out an alternative, a very amorous Catwoman into Batman's path and into his arms.
Together with artist Walt Flanagan, Kevin Smith looks to be having a really good time with this story. Flanagan, with inker Art Thibert, provides the perfect hazy and shaggy attitude backed up with very expressive line work. Smith and Flanagan's previous Bat book, Batman: Cacophony, proved to be a clever mystery. With Batman: The Widening Gyre, Smith and Flanagan demonstrate a mastery of their special blend of the absurd.
What is in this issue is a cavalcade of B-list and C-list villains pushing the Kevin Smith level of camp as far as it seems right to do so. The most offensive baddie this time out is Crazy Quilt who has a thing for pulling the eye balls out of optometrists. He has sewn his own eyelids shut just to make sure the insanity plea will stick.
As much as Smith enjoys getting his readers out of their comfort zone, he revels in keeping Bruce Wayne on his toes too. Not exactly a social butterfly, Batman has been struggling to tolerate the help of a new vigilante, Baphomet. Finally, after earning a break on a rooftop, the new guy takes off his long goat mask to Batman's shock and dismay. The guy had been getting so chummy and now this! Batman doesn't unmask for anyone, not even Superman!
Bruce tries to explain this to his new girlfriend, Silver St. Cloud, but she won't give in so easily. She proves to be an ongoing challenge for Bruce as he gradually lays himself open, makes himself vulnerable. By and by, Silver could be proving to be too much of a distraction and maybe even a real liability or worse. To bring that point home, Smith throws out an alternative, a very amorous Catwoman into Batman's path and into his arms.
Together with artist Walt Flanagan, Kevin Smith looks to be having a really good time with this story. Flanagan, with inker Art Thibert, provides the perfect hazy and shaggy attitude backed up with very expressive line work. Smith and Flanagan's previous Bat book, Batman: Cacophony, proved to be a clever mystery. With Batman: The Widening Gyre, Smith and Flanagan demonstrate a mastery of their special blend of the absurd.
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