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Batman/Scott Snyder Rant *Spoilers*
Zhurrie
Posts: 617
OK, so I just finished Batman #10 and the crushing let-down of the completely transparent writing and "reveal." Maybe because I devoured Encyclopedia Brown books as a child and Sherlock Holmes, and others as I got older and now as an adult... maybe because I read a lot of novels and truly great writing... who knows, but Scott Snyder does absolutely nothing for me. He is a formulaic and purely academic writer with no heart and soul in his work. It is like seeing a competent by-the-numbers magician, it can be fun and mildly engaging but it just leaves you wishing for more and better quality which you know is possible and out there. He really lost a lot of my respect with Severed which he sold out in the final issue to open the door for a continuation since sales were strong, but in a completely implausible and tacked-on fashion.
His Court of Owls story has been taken and ran with by DC to boost poor selling periphery books, to a new Talon book and it has to be one of the weakest, least impactful stories I've ever read. I have a hard time believing that anyone didn't see the big "reveal" of Lincoln March from a couple issues in for any number of reasons. Without any other threads or plotlines or twists it plodded on to the reveal. That would have been bad enough, but the even more asinine rationale and reasoning Snyder used to get there was insultingly bad. Sure, no one ever noticed that pin on the mother in the *massive* portrait that hangs prominently... yeah. OK. Any of it really there are so many holes and flaws with the story it is just pitiful. It's insulting, really.
I get that Snyder might seem flashy or fun to some and he is no doubt the darling of the comic world right now so I know these comments might not be met with much agreement, but I have to believe I'm not alone here. I seriously hope so at least. I'm OK with disagreement but please offer some reasoning or insight as to why. Also, keep in mind both Severed and Batman have kept me mostly positive until near the end or at the end as has a lot of his work. I'm not saying he is without talent, but I am saying that he is young and his writing has some flaws and weak points that just continually get given a pass because he is good *enough* at sleight of hand to distract from it with shiny baubles and misdirection. I wanted such an obvious conclusion to just be a red herring or to contain a great twist, I wanted this to be an addition to my top Batman shelf... sadly, along with Severed, it will probably get sold off as a complete chunk and forgotten.
His Court of Owls story has been taken and ran with by DC to boost poor selling periphery books, to a new Talon book and it has to be one of the weakest, least impactful stories I've ever read. I have a hard time believing that anyone didn't see the big "reveal" of Lincoln March from a couple issues in for any number of reasons. Without any other threads or plotlines or twists it plodded on to the reveal. That would have been bad enough, but the even more asinine rationale and reasoning Snyder used to get there was insultingly bad. Sure, no one ever noticed that pin on the mother in the *massive* portrait that hangs prominently... yeah. OK. Any of it really there are so many holes and flaws with the story it is just pitiful. It's insulting, really.
I get that Snyder might seem flashy or fun to some and he is no doubt the darling of the comic world right now so I know these comments might not be met with much agreement, but I have to believe I'm not alone here. I seriously hope so at least. I'm OK with disagreement but please offer some reasoning or insight as to why. Also, keep in mind both Severed and Batman have kept me mostly positive until near the end or at the end as has a lot of his work. I'm not saying he is without talent, but I am saying that he is young and his writing has some flaws and weak points that just continually get given a pass because he is good *enough* at sleight of hand to distract from it with shiny baubles and misdirection. I wanted such an obvious conclusion to just be a red herring or to contain a great twist, I wanted this to be an addition to my top Batman shelf... sadly, along with Severed, it will probably get sold off as a complete chunk and forgotten.
Comments
I've been glad to see some real atmosphere back in the Batman title, and I feel like the story has been engaging. The action has been good, and I like this take on the character. Capullo's art is wonderful. As far as holes in the plot, it's awesome when things are airtight, but the reality is that most decent films, books, and ESPECIALLY comics do not meet that standard.
Batman books are rarely better than this run, and they are generally much worse. I could see being less impressed by it than most, but to totally rip on it doesn't make sense to me. Very few monthlies are this good.
Edit: *Incidentally, this is the only New 52 book I buy on the day it's released.
I wouldn't be quite so harsh on so much of the writers work as you. American Vampire is one of the best things coming from Vertigo at the moment, and Black Mirror is destined to go down as one of the defining Batman tales of this era. I think hammering him on one poor issue might be a little much, especially seeing as he has another issue to go to wrap up his story. I'm crossing my fingers that he can right the ship next month.
I've mentioned it before but there are tons of OK to even good Batman stories, there are very few excellent ones. I love excellent ones, I really had hoped against hope that this was going to be one of them and there were so many options to make it so but in the end the reality was that it was about as straightforward as one could get. That doesn't mean the world he built around it or the details or parts weren't great, there were some but the best parts feel rushed like a miniseries needing to cram in all the good stuff in X number of issues. Like the Bat-armor, it was rushed in and right back out again just to set up for the next issue where Talon obviously has his suit on. But you didn't get to enjoy the suits they were just plopped in abruptly to make sure all the points were hit rather than to let it breathe and have some soul and impact.
That is actually more my gripe in this case. From issue #1 where you couldn't even tell the two apart because they were so similar in the art there was a bit too much of a nod. I don't expect every story to be airtight to be enjoyable, many are not and I'm OK with that. But take the pin in this issue, instead of it being right there on display and a well-known symbol for a parent with a kid there, why not have Bruce find an old photo or something a bit more discreet that is the tell? That's what I'm saying here. The stories seem more exciting and full of intrigue than they really do. IMO it is because he is very formulaic and academic, when you hear of him talk about writing he mentions this a lot even. He is young, he has very clear and defined tricks up his sleeve and safe fall-backs and devices, I don't doubt he will grow in his craft in time but he is a bit too inflated for his own good right now. If this had been an Encyclopedia Brown case when I was 12 I wouldn't have had to flip to the back of the book for help.
I just don't see what everyone else does (regarding the high praise for this book). It hasn't blown me away, really.
I do like the art, though.
And it's even more noticeable to me since, with the return of Batman Inc., we now have Batman fighting two different villainous armies. It's all just a bit much right now. As a result, I'm getting Batman Inc. and have dropped unincorporated Batman. I loved the first run of Batman Inc and the new series looks to be picking up in much the same manner, I don't want to see a story I was ready to have end get expanded, and the additional Owls content in Batman doesn't justify the price increase at all IMO.
There have been some great moments in the Batman book (the Batcycle on the El Train, for instance) and some that made me groan (Dick, you're a sleeper agent for the DEATH CIRCUS OF DEADLY DOOM!!!!). If other people are enjoying it right now, that's great, but it's not really my bag right now. It might swing back around in the future, and that's great if it does, but for me right now, it's Dropsville.
I love the little touches he adds to Bruce, like him fiddling with Joe Chill's shell casings, his and Dick's back-and-forth... I feel like this is a David Fincher version of Batman, especially part with the sequential picture frames in the underground maze...
I'm sorry you're not enjoying it, but I can't rave enough about this book.
JMS did have some interesting stories, that's just something I always associate with his Spidey run.
Sometime I think writers try too much to add onto great origins. If you try to tighten a screw too much you wind up snapping its head.
M
BTW - issue 10 was totally cliche and I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet, but I'm still digging Batman and I think Snyder's run has over all been good.