Written and Pencilled by Tony Salvador Daniel
Inks by Sandu Florea
The Solicitation
Batman invades The Penguin's floating casino as Bruce Wayne to uncover a brutal string of slayings – but he finds the chips stacked against him! With the Iceberg's maiden voyage out of Gotham Harbor under way, the evening's festivities threaten to throw Batman off the killer's trail. And lurking among the rich and famous is a very ambitious outsider who'd like nothing more than to see Bruce Wayne lose everything, including his life. Murder, lies and betrayal are the name of this high-stakes game!
Preview
The Story
Bruce Wayne shows his face for one panel in this comic. One. You tell me how far off the solicitation was.
We start off being introduced to a new villain called Snakeskin. Apparently, when he gets punched in the face, he can peel away his face to reveal a new one. From looking at the art, the only thing that seems to change is his hairstyle.
We then get Batman's girlfriend in this comic, Charlotte - the investigative reporter, as she is undercover and investigating something about the casino. Apparently its run by some lowlifes. Who would've figured that to happen in Gotham? She is discovered by eye patch girl, who is Snakeskin's lady and Charlotte's sister! Whoa! Surprises and twists and turns oh my! Apparently there is some bad blood there, as the girls get ready to fight. And how convenient that it is in short, short dresses and low cut, boob revealing spank material.
Before that happens, we get introduced to Penguin and his criminal crew. Apparently, someone forgot to draw in Penguin's cigarette in one panel, which is minor continuity error, and it is important that it be there. But we do get to see Penguin's super criminal in training table of villains. A couple look like the old Red Hood character from when Joker played the part and splitting the various costume pieces among the villains. One has Red Hood's helmet. Another has got the tuxedo and purple scarf. Then they all get served drinks by eye patch girl, who apparently was able to get out of her tussle with her sister. One would think that an eye patch would be noticeable, especially when Penguin says that his fortress is made of steel - its impenetrable!
When we see Batman in this comic, he is in the habit of beating information out of low life criminals and finding dead bodies. Then he decides to sneak into the Casino, which is having its grand opening. We see Penguin welcoming everyone to the casino, but it honestly looks like a run down apartment building with a big neon light in the sky that says Iceberg Casino.
We catch back up with our feuding sisters, and apparently Charlotte is now back in her civilian clothes and not her maid's outfit. So what happened at the end of their fight in the room? Who knows! But we now have Charlotte out of her maid's outfit and into a very low cut dress, so let's appreciate it! We then get our Bruce Wayne panel of the comic and then Batman infiltrates the Casino.
Then, and huge fucking sigh right now, we have someone who I would assume is Snakeskin - later confirmed- stabbing Charlotte while after Charlotte uses her sister's id card to get to the behind the scenes area of the casino. How inept is the security on this casino? They hire a girl with an eye patch, and when the security card is swiped we see that a picture of eye patch girl appears on the monitor. If I ran a casino, and that situation happened when someone who doesn't have an eye patch swipes a security card saying she should ave one, wouldn't that ring some bells?
Anyway, back to the "story," Snakeskin stabs Charlotte, who I don't know if he was trying to stab eye patch girl or not since Snakeskin never saw Charlotte's face, Batman comes crashing through the roof, beats Snakeskin a few times since he stabbed Charlotte. Then Batman and Charlotte get trapped in an elevator that begins to fill up with what I can only assume is ice.
What. The. Fuck. I don't even know what to call this. I don't know how Tony Daniel is able to have his own Bat-book and has had one for years now. I can't even enjoy this if I just shut off my brain and try to read this comic with the mindset of a ten year old. Considering that this comic is rated Teen, I don't think I will be able to wrap my head around it in any sense. Even just looking at this as a bad action movie, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The strength of the other Bat-books that are being published leaves this one miles behind in the dust.
The Art
If you are going to use a two page spread to show off how awesome a newly built casino is, don't make it look like some run down apartment buildings.
I tire of artists showing women in civilian outfits that would make a stripper bashful to go out in public with.
I also tire of characters in a book being drawn so they face the reader in an awkward angle that they realistically wouldn't be posing with in the situation. It makes sense if you are in a theater and you are performing for a fourth wall with the characters turned slightly so the audience can see them. Comics are above that. Penguin's scene in front of his henchmen and Charlotte's scene after she gets stabbed are two big examples of this. If I was sitting at that table when Penguin gave his first big speech, He would have had his back turned to me.
And how did Charlotte go from laying on one side on the ground, to facing the other way in a pose that makes her look like she was falling on the last page? I thought the ice was coming into the elevator, it didn't look like they were falling down some ice filled hole.
The Cover
Not even close to what happened in the book. Penguin looks more like Joker with everything that he is wearing. The only thing that makes him Penguin is the umbrella he is holding that is in the background, and the top hat that seems to be floating in mid air. Where is the ground in this cover? Are they jumping? Falling? Going down an ice avalanche? Well, at least the cover makes as much sense as the rest of the book.
Grades
Words: 3/10
Pictures: 2/10 - its a pose off-a-thon. Awkward poses for everyone!
Recommend: This is not the Batman comic you are looking for.
Buy Next Issue: I am this close to letting there be a hole in my collection so I don't have to read this shit anymore.
Previous Issues
Detective Comics #5
Detective Comics #4
Three Issue Trial
No comments:
Post a Comment