The payoff to the tease from this cover fell rather flat.
Written by Scott Snyder
Pencils by Greg Capullo
Inks by Danny Miki
Colors by Fco Plascencia
With the New52 Batman, one thing we haven’t gotten in the flagship title is a lot of Batman’s rogues gallery. We got a lot of Owls, then a lot of Joker, and now we are moving on to other baddies. Next up to bat is Clayface. Clayface was a favorite of mine from the animated series, but I never cared for him much in the comics. Snyder provides a new take on the villain in the form of a new mutation. That does help to make him a little more interesting, but the problem is that the character doesn’t have much motivation, or at least not much in this issue. It’s the first issue in the set up to this arc, so that could explain why we weren’t given much to go on, but the story falls flat for me. Bruce is still brooding over the death of Damian and a new case helps to break him out of it, but nothing really happens to make me care. There was no big grabs or cliffhangers that were interesting. The story also moves along at a rather slow pace.
The art didn’t really impress me either. This I found was the strangest part since, much like Snyder’s writing since the New52, Capullo’s pencils have been excellent. I can’t completely put it all on Capullo though, my biggest problem had to be Plascencia’s colors. At some points, especially the beginning, they were just way too bright for a Batman book almost to the point of looking cartoonish. Look, I know the sun shines in Gotham from time to time, but that’s not what I love about Gotham and thee characters. If I wanted to be immersed in a bright, hopeful city with a shining champion I would read Superman.
This seriously has to be the first misstep the main Bat book has taken since the New52 introduction, so I can let it slide. However, I’m going to need a lot more in the next issue. I am going to need something to make Clayface more interesting if I am going to continue with this arc. I need a reason to care about him, or at least care about why it is imperative that Batman stop him. Also my biggest gripe had to be that the payoff teased by the cover fell pretty flat once it played.Overall this issue was not a great showing for the Batman creative team.
2.5 out of 5 nerds
You can follow Christopher on Twitter @AUDone44 and The Nerd @nerdfollowing.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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