PREVIEW: Batman #16

[SpideyZERO]

Awesome preview.

Horse on FIRE!!!

[darkseidpwns]

So what happened to the rest of the inmates,staff and security at Arkham? Arkham currently embodies sheer stupidity,how many breakouts have we seen in the last 4 years alone? probably more than half a dozen.

[RoughNTumble]

It's fascinating to see the disparity of popular opinion between CBR, and other comics sites like comicvine and ifanboy. CBR has mixed feelings toward snyder's batman, while the comicvine and ifanboy communities seem to be completely unanimous on it being the best modern batman story.

http://ifanboy.com/articles/review-b...-spoiler-free/

http://www.comicvine.com/batman-cast.../staff-review/

I would expect that from comicvine but coming from ifanboy it's a little surprising, as I've always thought of them having such a better critical eye.

[DrSimonHurt]

I've read it. I have mixed feelings with Snyder and I have since he started. By no means is he a bad writer, I just think his fame and praise are coming in a rate that is not proportional to his actual skill and experience. He WILL be great. But he's just good right now. Not bad, though.

Having read Batman #16, I'm still not a fan of the story. It is serviceable, but not particularly clever or thought-provoking. As some of you will notice tomorrow, there are some character cameos that are particularly out of character. It just wouldn't happen that way, not like Snyder wants.

[darkseidpwns]

However I do think that the preview is pretty cool,but then I've found previews of Snyder's work to be vastly superior to the actual thing.

[darkseidpwns]

It's fascinating to see the disparity of popular opinion between CBR, and other comics sites like comicvine and ifanboy. CBR has mixed feelings toward snyder's batman, while the comicvine and ifanboy communities seem to be completely unanimous on it being the best modern batman story.

http://ifanboy.com/articles/review-b...-spoiler-free/

http://www.comicvine.com/batman-cast.../staff-review/

I would expect that from comicvine but coming from ifanboy it's a little surprising, as I've always thought of them having such a better critical eye.

Superherohype is near unanimous in it's Snyder dislike.

[darkseidpwns]

I've read it. I have mixed feelings with Snyder and I have since he started. By no means is he a bad writer, I just think his fame and praise are coming in a rate that is not proportional to his actual skill and experience. He WILL be great. But he's just good right now. Not bad, though.

Having read Batman #16, I'm still not a fan of the story. It is serviceable, but not particularly clever or thought-provoking. As some of you will notice tomorrow, there are some character cameos that are particularly out of character. It just wouldn't happen that way, not like Snyder wants.

Lemme guess,the cameos are from villains who are only a part of the story cause the writer thinks it's cool(TLH,DV,Hush).

[DrSimonHurt]

Lemme guess,the cameos are from villains who are only a part of the story cause the writer thinks it's cool(TLH,DV,Hush).

I don't want to post spoilers, but there are some parallels. I found it off-putting, transforming these other characters into scenery props.

[Retro315]

Nothing to complain about in this preview. I'm sure something will strike me as inelegant or under-effective or something, but I won't judge it before I've read the whole thing. Good Capullo art. Nice misleading opening. Solid marks so far.

Wait! I guess I can at least talk about one thing. "Royal" Danse Macabre? The Black Glove's redeco of Arkham was also called a Danse Macabre in R.I.P. - that being said, we already know that Joker and Snyder's story in general is meant to evoke and homage previous great Joker stories, so yeah, it's a knock-off - but that's the point. So a reference to Morrison, and very recent continuity.

[RoughNTumble]

So I just finished this and I'm surprised that in that it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It certainly beats the hell out of the court of owls climax issues.

Never really thought alfred was in trouble but with that last page I am now super worried. I can't imagine what's going to happen.

[DCDOOM]

just finished as well.. in another thread i said i wonder if we'd see any of the rogues we saw in Batman #1, and well, it turns out we will.. my problem is the speed here.. would have liked to seen a few more pages dedicated, but oh well.. overall i liked it, of course there are some pain points.. i still can't wrap my mind around this joker in the garage uni.. it would be SO MUCH BETTER, especially in this issue, if he was dressed accordingly.. there is even a flashback scene, and capullo did it justice.. the garage thing just seems so out of sorts..

i know many argue that snyders inner dialogue is bad, and over used, i never hated it, but in this issue i think it is way too forced.. i don't need to read how batman needs to talk to himself about breaking down a door... he just does it..

really looking forward to the next issue, however i would have liked to seen this part of the story spaced out over two issues.. the pacing seemed way too fast

[CheeseSticks]

Good to see some Two-Face !

However it was the only good thing: Dialogue are bad and the pace of the book is too high

[nosocialize100]

I don't want to post spoilers, but there are some parallels. I found it off-putting, transforming these other characters into scenery props.

I found it odd there was no explanation for it.

I reviewed the book with pictures here if anyone is interested. Good read none the less.

[godisawesome]

I liked it. Joker's retrofitting of Arkham Asylum was very nice, and while the other Bat-rogues were played for fools by Joker, it wa sonly to the same degree they were played with by Snyder's peers, so I don't see it as any great insult to the characters, and I actually like how their personalities came through in their dialogue, with one exception (which again, if it's something I could see Dini, Johns, Morrison, Dixon, or Moore doing, I just find it mildly annoying.) Penguin, Riddler, and Two-face's opening lines all did a nice job of showcasing their own opinion of theatrics, with the former two embracing the role and Two-face havng the lovely snarky "Hail, freak."

I like the "knights" that Joker unleashed, and the brief fight scene we had was a nicely choreographed melee for Bruce. And I did like how the further he went inside the Asylum the more he acted like a dark figure to taunt the bad-guys, especially with how quickly he dispatched Scarecrow ( I liked his hamminess as well) and Clayface in an almost off handed manner. These guys are all threats on their own, but line them up and put them under the control of the worst boss of all time, and you've got a stack of dominoes just waiting to be toppled.

And as a King Arthur buff, I loved the Chainsaw in the Stone scene. It just illustrates to me how much more I enjoy Snyder's trivia based stroytelling. It suits me very well.

Now the one argument I had was the bit with Two-Face in the back-up. I really would have preferred the Number Two Batman rogue to showcase his own chaotic nature in defiance of the Joker; he should have either flipped his coin to decide to pull the trigger, or just flat out pulled it for the heck of it. Having him back down seems wrong to me, and the scene could have been set up to reveal some other "joke" ont he behalf of the "court jester." Instead, we get a Two-Face who acts more like a sane criminal like the Penguin, so I'm choosing to believe that Dent's still on some Asylum medication courtesy of the Joker that limits his schizophrenia at the sake of calming him down.

Otherwise, I'm saying this is my favorite issue since the one with the maze back in Court of Owls.