Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Batman Annual #4
DC Comics
Tynion IV, Antoniio & McCaig
The latest "Batman" Annual represents why comic book publishing is a team effort. You need a good story, with good line work, appropriate colors, sensible lettering and an editorial hand to steady the whole thing. This is an example where whatever story Tynion was hoping to push across with this comic book is lost with artistic carelessness, lettering mistakes and dreadful editorial assistance. The idea that Bruce Wayne returns to his mansion, that had been turned into an asylum, only to be held hostage by some of Batman's villains is a sound idea that gets lost in the mistakes. When you charge five dollars for a comic book I don't care what your page count is if you can't put care into each of the pages then the whole thing is a waste. Had this been a three dollar comic book perhaps the cost of the mistakes would have been less. I'd avoid this comic book unless you are a Batman completist or followed the 'Arkham Manor' comic that was last published in March.
This comic book has Bruce Wayne return to Wayne Manor to retake the ownership. If you are confused as to why he doesn't live there anymore the answers are in the comic book in a round about way. Basically, he lost his memory and somehow filed for bankruptcy. In this circumstance, somehow, the government takes his house and gives it to Arkham so that it can house the crazies, including Batman's villains. Then, somehow, a company (?) that owns the rights to Batman buys the house and gives it back to Bruce Wayne. Here is our first major editorial problem.
DC Comics assumes a reader is reading everything. I know this because they don't reference other comics with little notes and they don't provide recap pages. If you buy one DC comic book then you must either buy all of them or will be so compelled by the confusion in what you are reading to track down all of the back issues to get the story. Being a subscriber to "Batman" I get the Annuals. However, not reading any other Batman comic book I would have no idea that any of this is occurring except that Bruce Wayne isn't Batman and that he's lost his memory. "Batman" outsold "Arkham Manor" six to one. Is it too much to assume that a reader of "Batman" would have no clue about what is going on in "Arkham Manor?" Does it make any sense that the same individual would own the rights to Batman and to Wayne Manor and not know Batman was Bruce Wayne? When someone files bankruptcy does the local government show up and turn your home into an asylum? If there are answers to these questions they are no where to be found here or in the "Batman" series that I've read since the launch.
The contents of the comic book are kind of cool. The Riddler, Mr Freeze and Clayface all hold Wayne hostage. They want him to feel their pain. Oddly, I couldn't figure out if they knew Batman's identity. However, they tip off that they do not and that their beef is with Wayne. They tick off why they are mad at the guy and it's all done fairly effectively. Eventually, Wayne's instincts kick in to help him out of the jam. It appears you just can't take the Batman out of Bruce Wayne.
The artwork is competent. The style is in the vain of 'American Vampire' line work and coloring. However, Alfred's missing hand is shown in at least two panels and possibly a third. This is absolutely inexcusable. There is a scene with two characters and a panel with only one of them where the word balloon is pointing to thin air. Reading this sequence again I've determined it is not the character not shown speaking. It's just a errant directional. The climatic scene where Bruce Wayne saves the day with a rifle we never see what he is aiming at. Instead he states its on the top shelf when it appears to be on a table and still in one piece in the next panel. So what did he shoot exactly? This was simply poor execution.
The "Batman" Annual is a decent idea executed horribly wrong. Alfred's missing hand appears and disappears several times and the climatic scene is missing the 'show' aspect of what Wayne is doing as the artwork doesn't hold up to its end of telling a story. Editorially the comic book has nothing to do with the top selling "Batman" title but seems to be an extension of "Arkham Manor" which last so the light of day in March with one sixth the readership as "Batman." A reader of only "Batman" will be lost in the shuffle as to how Wayne lost his house and how it was turned into an asylum. When you charge five bucks for a comic book you need to make sure the top effort is there and not just the page count. This comic book is a mess. Avoid it. Whatever Tynion was hoping to do with this issue was simply not supported by the rest of the team involved.
1 out of 5 Geek Goggles
