Reviews 

Review: Batman/Catwoman – Follow the Money

By | November 5th, 2010
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Written by: Howard Chaykin
Arted by: Howard Chaykin

The Cavalier — that’s the Z-lister with the swords, right? So how’d he manage to frame Catwoman for a run of burglaries? And how on Earth did he manage the more spectacular crime of cleaning out the Wayne Enterprises pension fund and framing Bruce Wayne for the deed? However impressive he may appear to be, The Cavalier will quickly learn that frame-ups like that cut both ways, as both Batman and Catwoman begin tracking the Gotham City villain in this stand-alone one-shot from comics legend Howard Chaykin!

I read this book on a complete whim, coming into with no expectations, good or bad. What was the end result? Follow the cut and see.

Even though I’ve definitely heard Howard Chaykin’s name before and have seen his art in multiple comics, I don’t think I have read anything that was written by him. Or, if I have, then it wasn’t particularly memorable. If this issue was any indication, the latter is quite possible. I don’t mean to say that the story was bad; indeed, it was a pleasant enough diversion from my work. Unfortunately, though, that was about it. When I finished this issue and sat back to reflect on it (as I am wont to do), all I thought was “well, that was alright, I guess.” I then went on with my life, without it having been impacted in any way. I would not go on to talk with my friends about how much I enjoyed this one-shot, nor would I complain about it to the internet. This comic is neither good nor bad. It simply exists.

Sure, there were things in the comic I could pick at. Chaykin’s pencils were a bit sloppy, and men’s faces in particular had a tendency to have some kind of sagging effect going on. On the other hand, he had some neat layouts that were used quite effectively. The dialogue and narration were pretty campy, but it wasn’t that awful. In the end, Chaykin created a comic that was worth thumbing through in your local comic shop, but not worth talking about. That’s fine and all for a minor diversion, but that’s hardly going to be the kind of comic that someone will want to spend money on.

The biggest problem with the issue wasn’t a matter of writing or artwork, but of price. True, it was a total of 56 pages (including ads of course), but this was not a $4.99 comic. Sure, price increases as more resources are needed in the making of the comic, but as consumers we determine the “worth” of the products we desire, and the moment of entertainment that this comic gave me — as entertaining as it may have been — was not worth $4.99. For that, this one-shot drops from the very definition of 5.0 to…

Final Verdict: 4.5 – Browse it in your LCBS.


Walt Richardson

Walt is a former editor for Multiversity Comics and current podcaster/ne'er-do-well. Follow him on Twitter @goodbyetoashoe... if you dare!

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