Batman: Cacophony #3

Kevin Smith wraps up his Batman story getting to lay down some fairly important stuff. Batman is once again faced with the choice to let the Joker die, but of course Bats can't do it. What I liked was that Commssioner Gordon wanted the clown dead, as any rational person would. But leaving Joker alive does lead to an interesting sequence where Bats and Joker face off, and Joker is so doped up he's almost rational. Joker explains that he doesn't hate Batman because he's crazy, but that he's crazy because he hates Batman. He tells Batman that if Bats were dead, he'd happily go to an asylum for the rest of his days. Joker feels like he MUST kill Batman, it drives everything about him. I'm kind of surprised this kind of confrontation was handled in a fringe celebrity based mini, but what do I know?

A weird element to this exchange is the black-haired beard Joker is sporting after months in a coma. I always thought all his hair would be green? Also, since this is Smith, Joker mentions that he took a peek at Bats' "equipment" while he was changing. Ugh. I did enjoy the closing scenes with Onomonopeia. Too bad Kirkman beat Smith by a few weeks with Powerplex in Invincible!

Walt Flanagan makes some odd choices like that black beard, but his art is servicable. He's not someone I would seek out, but he's fine.

Fair