Batman: Cacophony

I picked this book up 50% off in a sale bin at my local comic shop.  Why not right?  Can't ever go wrong with half off Batman with a Kubert cover right?  Especially since it was written by one of my favorite people in the world, Kevin Smith.

Wrong!!!

Ok, this isn't the worst story in the world.  It have a decent villain named Onomatopoeia who only speaks by verbalizing sounds.  He likes to kill vigilantes and Batman is next up on his list.  He uses the joker to lure out Batman and distract him and while Bats is busy with the Joker, Onomatopoeia will take him out.

Well, we all know Bats is to smart for that and will find a clever way out of that ending.

The issue that I have with the book is the art work.  The pencils were done by Smiths' best friend Walt Flanagan and it is just not up to snuff to be in a DC comic.  I love Walt and I love his Comic Book men show and I respect him, but he is just not good enough to draw a legit DC comic that is going to be sold to the public.  I get that Smith wanted to give the job to his buddy but maybe if it were just a one shot.  Not a three issue trade.

Don't get me wrong, Walt can draw for sure.  If I saw his work in a pad or even framed on a wall I would look and be very impressed but the level that you need to be to work on a legitimate comic book is other worldly and Walt is just not there.  

The story is a 3/5 but the art brings this book to a 1/5.  I almost didn't finish it.  Damn cool cover though.