Kevin Smith is one of those type of creators that seem to hit a high point and slowly go down the creative toilet. Sorta like Jeph Loeb for me, I mean I still like his early Batman work but if we’re gonna talk about his present work then brace yourselves. Smith is exactely like that; both film and comic wise he seems to cashing in the check instead of trying real hard to tell a good story. Batman: Cacophony is one of the prime examples of his recent work; disappointing and unremarkable to read. Having re-read it as a whole trade, I do have one big question to ask:

What was the point of this mini?

Was this just a test run to see if he and Flanagan can do their recent mini (Wydening Gyre)? Did he just do this so his best friend can draw a mainstream title? What was the main goal of this other then write a very bad Joker? Sure there are many mini’s, one-shots, annuals, and elseworld tales that are just random in nature. But most writers can tell a good story in a short span and give some type of goal to it. Here I don’t think Smith had any idea how this was gonna end. This thing just goes in so many directions and all end very suddenly. It seems like his pitch was:

“Okay Didio get ready to get blown away. First Joker escapes with the help of Onomatopoeia and learns that Maxie Zeus is using his toxin to make a new drug. Then Batman gets involved and the real plot kicks in because Onomatopoeia is really after to kill Batman. Then suddenly the last issue will be a Killing Joke homage as it has Batman and Joker having a meaningful conversation. Oh and a final page that will make only a few readers of my Green Arrow mini to gasp!”

That is basically the plot in a nutshell and the bits in-between the ‘great’ moments are not important what so ever. What I do need to say is that Smith does have some interesting ideas; but he doesn’t seem to deliever at all. I love Onomatopoeia and he might be the most insane character ever created. But his goals are a bit lame and the reveal of his identity was a bit timid. The stuff with Joker was really bad (he doesn’t write a good version) but the idea of the Joker Toxin becoming a new high is interesting. Finally you get the meeting between a sanier Joker and Batman and it just falls flat. There is no point for this conversation because the stuff he makes Joker say is just so obvious that even him on drugs to say this makes no sense.

The art by Flanagan is just terrible. There is really nothing worthwhile to mention about it. It’s bland, it’s very uneven, characters are horribly off model, and the action is timid. Joker seriously change facial structure dozens of times and I just cringed along with the models. The less said about his friend the better.

If this was fifteen years ago then a Batman mini by Kevin Smith would be a huge deal. Now with his troubles of getting a comic out and his bad films have really ruin his reputation. Going back to my earlier sentence; I will still appreciate the great early work of the man. Hell I will even give him some dap for admitting in the introduction that this wasn’t his best work. Still, this should be avoided at all costs for being a really bad and pointless Batman story.