Batman: Cacophony

DC Comics 

Writer- Kevin Smith

Artist- Walter Flanagan

Inker- Sandra Hope

Released: January-March 2009

When it was announced last year that small, chubby and bearded film-maker Kevin Smith would be making his return to the profession of comic book writing with a three-issue Batman miniseries, many cynical comic book fans announced their collective disbelief that the project would ever be finished, which, based upon the reputation that Smith had gained in the industry, seemed a reasonable concern. It took Smith around three years to deliver the second half of his Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do miniseries, while his Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target mini began in November 2002, and has still yet to deliver a second issue. Thankfully for people who enjoy endings, DC Comics ensured that Smith completed all three scripts for this book before any were published, and as a result, fans were given the chance to read Smith’s finished take on the Dark Knight in a reasonable time-frame; i.e. before forgetting its existence. The lingering question was whether or not it was worth it.

Aside from Smith’s career as a popular film-maker (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy etc.) with his own cult following, the alter-ego of Silent Bob had already made a name for himself with ten well-received issues of DC’s Green Arrow ongoing series almost ten years ago, in which Smith resurrected Oliver Queen from the dead and pitted him against a villain who’s return is the main selling point of Cacophony; the very appropriately named Onomatopoeia- an incredibly mysterious vigilante-killer who communicates only in sound effects, for some reason. Virtually nothing else was revealed about the character, which was a cause for hype regarding his return in this series to take on still-Batman Bruce Wayne. So, with suitable in place, how would Kevin Smith’s return to comics actually pan out? Major hit or massive flop?

Inevitably, it’s somewhere in the middle, as Smith’s natural penmanship and expertise with a storyboard is off-set by an unimaginative storyline that, while well-polished, fails to stand out amongst the myriad of other Batman stories pumped out by DC month after month. The plot revolves around a *yawn* Gotham gang war between The Joker and Maxie Zeus, where Onomatopoeia first appears as an apparent gun for hire, but inevitably becomes more involved as the story becomes more about his attempts to kill Batman. There’s really very little else of note, and while there’s a large amount of dialogue throughout the three issues it really doesn’t say anything, as most of it’s the sort of loud, crude and occasionally witty stuff associated with the author. The Joker is the loudest character of them all, and its with he that Smith’s recognisable voices emanates from the most (sometimes disturbingly so- I never thought I’d ever see The Joker offer Deadshot rear door action).

Visually, Cacophony is nothing special, with Flanagan’s art looking to me like an excerpt from a Chuck Dixon Batman comic of ‘98. The pacing of the fight scenes is nice, as is Smith’s character narration, which reaches its peak in the final pages of issue 3. The third issue is the strongest by a long way, as the plot delves into the relationship between Batman and The Joker and places the former with a poignant dilemma regarding the sanctity of life and the ongoing ‘why doesn’t the hero let the villain die’ plot-hole that’s existed as long as the genre.

Though the writing is perfectly serviceable and Walter Flanagan’s art is fine, if nothing more, there’s so little plot development in Cacophony that it all seems a bit pointless. It’s essentially a three issue series built on wacky Joker dialogue, the prospect of a Batman/Onomatopoeia fight, and a few DC universe celebrity cameos, and really left me with nothing more tangible than a vague sense of disappointment. Cacophony doesn’t match up to the heights of Smith’s Green Arrow- Quiver arc as a character piece or superhero blockbuster, which I think is partially due to Cacophony’s lack of placement in Batman continuity that prevents it from altering the characters’ status quo, and partially due to Smith’s failing to offer anything newer or more intriguing to the Batman comics than The Joker growing a beard. A full-on sequel to this with the promise of fully delving into the question of just who the hell Onomatopoeia actually is would be most welcome, and until one is released, Batman: Cacophony will continue to feel somewhat unfinished.

5/10