Batman the Widening Gyre #4 Smith Flanagan
Batman the Widening Gyre is a 6 part mini series written by the infamous Kevin Smith and illustrated by the astounding Walter Flanagan with inks by the delightful Art Thibert. It's been a couple months since the last issue. So number four is finally out. Hopefully there isn't a two year break before the next issue. Incidentally, has anyone noticed that the ads for the new Green Hornet series (which will also be written by Kevin Smith)? They all have big yellow excitement bubbles proclaiming that Kevin Smith has turned in the script for all of the issues. While this is good news, I found it hilarious that they were using it as a marketing point.
Anyways, back to the comic at hand. I'm really loving this miniseries. Smith is really digging into Batman's past and bringing up some of the forgotten members of his rogues gallery. He's also resurrected Bruce Wayne's old flame, the lovely and vivacious Silver St. Cloud as well as adding in a new character called Baphomet. Smith's run on Batman is considerably lighter than most writers. I find it fun to see a funnier side of the Bat. There were a couple of little scenes in this issue that Ienjoyed in particular. First, Baphomet takes off his mask and Batman freaks out a takes off, telling Silver St. Cloud (who he has just recently committed to) that he just isn't ready for that type of commitment and it's just to soon in their relationship. She found it as hilarious as I did.
St. Cloud also makes a joke about Twitter. I believe this is Smith poking fun at his own twitter addiction. If you don't have a twitter account, you might miss this one. Smith is on twitter constantly. He does 12 parts tweets, He even held a 24 hour tweetathon. It's no surprise that he isn't finishing his scripts on time. He also pokes fun at that horrendous outfit Nightwing donned back in the disco era.
The one downside is this story doesn't seem to really be going anywhere. There's the romance with Silver St. Cloud and the relationship with Baphomet but neither of these seem to be a driving plot. This series seems to be more about rediscovering forgotten villains and enjoying a lighter take on the Batman mythos.
As much as I enjoy the humor, one of my favourite things about this series is the art. This cover in particular. The joker doesn't actually appear in this issue so it has nothing to do with anything but I really love the Joker in his boxers, wearings old fashioned dress socks with heels and a sword swung over his shoulder. If that doesn't make you giggle, I don't know what will. The interior artwork is nice, too. Flanagan does an excelelnt job of using posture and facial expressions to capture not just the mood of each character but their personalities as well. He throws some interesting things in the background for the careful reader to pick out, such as Booster Gold on a giant billboard advertising cars.
Overall I'd give this issue a solid B.