Farr-Sized Pull List, 2-14

One of these days, I'll actually update this blog in the *middle* of a week again.

Only one comicbook purchase this week.
***
Batman 663
The Clown at Midnight

Well, you have to give Morrison points for effort, at least.

Unfortunately, this attempt at a story off the beaten track completely fizzles out towards the end when the new Joker is unveiled. Meet the new Joker... same as the old Joker? The story builds and builds to this point, only for it to turn out to be much ado about nothing. If Morrison does have ideas about how the new version of the Joker differs from the old, they're not made evident in this issue. And they really need to be for it to be effective. As things are, it's rather anticlimactic, really. What, he's *more* psychotic now? That's like making water more wet.

I see that some folks online are wondering whether this new version of the Joker will stick around or be reverted to the status quo. Well, how will they be able to tell the difference? Outside of his relationship to Harley Quinn, that is.

That said, there's plenty to recommend here if you get past the anti-climax. Morrison's prose is quite evocative, and he turns many a pretty phrase. His use of simile and metaphor is... well, it's utterly bizarre, really. But whether intentional or not, it fits the world it's describing. It lends Gotham a touch of the outlandish and surreal that feels right at home in a world where a man dressed in a bat costume engages in life-and-death struggles with costumed, larger-than-life criminals.

In general, I found the writing much better when it was setting mood or describing setting than when it was actually moving forward plot.

The Van Fleet art is, unfortunately, not my cup of tea at all. People and objects have the same overly smooth, stiff quality that I can't stand in online Poser fanart. The art on the first few pages was quite good, though.

Also, at some points the pictures don't seem to match the text. For instance, the Joker is described as removing the gauze surrounding his head with a scissor, but the art depicts him using a scalpel. And later, where Batman dives at him, we see glass trailing the Dark Knight, as if he leapt through a window. But the text indicates they were standing the same room. So where did the glass come from? Admittedly, these are minor points, though.