Written and Illustrated by Neal Adams
Ra’s al Ghul’s underworld has taken Batman to the brink of cold-blooded murder — now beyond. Will Batman step up to the hard decisions? And what if Robin gets in the way? This is a cold cruel place, this underworld.
There’s something about Batman that makes everyone want to work on him. This is both a blessing and a curse for DC.
Because of the seemingly endless desire of creators to do Batman books, some of the greatest talents in all of comics history have been brought in to write tales of the Caped Crusader. But, because of the variety of tones and characterizations out there over time, Batman can be a pretty inconsistent character. Lately, in most of the Bat-books being put out by DC, under the eye of Batman group editor Mike Marts, the characterization of Bruce Wayne has been more or less consistent over the 4 solo(ish) books he stars in – Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Batman and Robin.
And then there is Batman Odyssey.
Started as a 12-issue miniseries showcase for Neal Adams back in 2010, time management and that whole messy relaunch affair really slowed down the time frame here. So, the “original” series wrapped at 6 issues, and Vol. 2 Issue 1 was released back in October, picking up exactly where the last series left off, not even bothering to change the numbering in the title pages to reflect a new running order.
When deciding to review this issue, part of me wanted to go back and read all of Volume 1 to catch myself up on the story. However, I wanted to call DC’s bluff, and treat Vol. 2 Issue 1 as the start of the story and see if, like they claimed, a new reader could jump right into this story and work its way to #4. Click the jump to see how that little experiment went.
Much of the press about this book has been about how insane it is – not insane in skater lingo, like awesome. Not insane like “I can’t believe that just happened!” Insane like “the person crafting this story has little to no grip on reality.” As a card carrying member of the hyperbolic comics press, I was weary of this characterization. Surely, this is more fantastical and a little old fashioned, but insane? I’ll believe it when I see it.
And then I saw it on the first page I read.
This book is a mess of ideas, seemingly written down on index cards, shuffled, and then laid out as a story. You’ve got neanderthals living underground with evolved dinosaurs (as well as non-evolved dinosaurs), you have Ra’s al Ghul being a chickenshit, you get to hear the most logical dialogue ever between Dick Grayson and Alfred (Dick: No way. Alfred: Way). This isn’t even bringing up the radical mood swings that Batman goes through on every other page, or the bizarre Robin that exists on these pages, or Deadman shouting shit like “I am Deadman, and I bring you death on hoary wings!”
I needed to quickly resort to the intarwebs to find out what the hell happened in the first volume to try and even begin to understand what was going on. That is after having a shirtless Bruce Wayne have pages upon pages of exposition to try and catch up the new readers on what they missed. But dialogue like “Until Deadman couldn’t put up with my stupidity anymore. How could he know I needed to see all of Ra’s’ cards before I acted? He doesn’t really know me. He…Boston Brand…the Deadman, lost control because of his own frustration. Sensei had had him assassinated. Imagine his impotent rage. I let him have his chance…and he blew it. Let me tell you another story that I got from a second-hand source. There is a point.”
There is?
Continued belowLuckily, by issue #4, Bruce now has a shirt on (a weird play on the Green Lantern logo) while addressing the mysterious listener, and while the exposition is still batshit (no pun intended) insane, I have a slightly better idea of what this book is all about. But I am still left with a million questions, and only the smallest inkling of energy to seek out the answers.
First let’s deal with the time frame. The book is structured as Bruce Wayne telling this story to some unknown character. Setting the story in Batman’s past helps us understand why Robin is Dick Grayson – what doesn’t help is that Dick is wearing Tim Drake’s costume. This is obviously pre-Blackest Night/Brightest Day, so Boston Brand is still an un-seen entity, but he is also apparently a weird, pseudo-warrior of the underworld? And by underworld, I don’t mean some Hell-like place, I mean the place under the Earth where ancient creatures live, and also happens to be where Ra’s al Ghul has hired/hidden scientists to do work. Yeah.
Now, again, this is a story from the past, we get that – however, Batman and co. apparently had iPhones and the internet in the past. And since, this story was started pre-Flashpoint, with Dick Grayson as Robin, Batman had an iPhone in 1981? Now, I can ignore small errors in timeline, but everything about this story contradicts itself at least twice over.
Robin here is both impulsive and sentimental – he’s a sullen brat one second, and a loyal sidekick the next. One could argue that this is how teenagers are, but one would also be an idiot. It is nearly impossible to tell one character’s motives at any moment, because they change in an instant.
Batman is said to have “Sherlock Holmes” like skills here, and that may be true, but Adams is no Doyle – this story is insanely hard to follow. In reading all four issues of this new volume, I needed to take a break mid-way through each one and collect my thoughts before moving on. Because, you know, when it turns out that Primus, the evolved humanoid dinosaur, turns out to be a prince, which Batman knew all along because he wears a medallion with the sun on it, you need to rest for a minute and just remind yourself that life isn’t always this cruel.
The artwork is clearly a throwback to the golden days of Adams drawing Batman, and the nostalgist in me is fine with this. Batman’s got bigger ears, a bluer cowl, and retractable eye guards – cool. Half of the characters looking like they’re doing extra work on the side from their main gig as part of the Wizard of Id? Sure, I can dig it. Even the maniacal scream that Robin enjoys in this book, silly as it may be, fits well enough with the rest of the style that is established here. Sure, it is all a bit goofy, and most characters have pearly white smiles for most of the time, but Adams is/was a legend in the field, and to see him in his old sandbox for a miniseries is far from the worst thing DC has done this decade.
Maybe the worst thing DC has done this decade is let Adams write this. Good lord is this a mess. Characters are introduced, deliver intensely specific dialogue, and are supposed to just fit into this mosaic. Instead, every single character, new or old, sticks out like a sore thumb. Alfred is bizarre; the god Anubis shows up with a talking biped hippo in pants; Batman is happy to see someone and then HORRIFIED BEYOND BELIEF AT THEIR CHOICES and then is trying to help them. This is the most schizophrenic comic I have ever read in my entire life.
And I sort of love it.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. But it is so unbelievably insane that I am compelled to keep reading. I really don’t care about the story, none of the teases appeal to me, and I certainly can’t begin to care about who Batman is telling the story to – but what I love is turning a page and seriously having no fucking idea what is waiting for me.
But don’t buy this book, really. This is as bad as it gets. But, if you are a masochist like I am, and you must join in, then enjoy the insanity. This is the Nero playing the violin while Rome burns of comics.
Final Verdict: 3.1 – Avoid unless you want to have your brain hurt.
