Batman: The Widening Gyre #4 of 6

Kevin Smith is pushing things too far in the other direction. Last issue I was amused that Aquaman took such delight in Batman's rekindled romance with Silver St. Cloud, but now I'm getting too many details. It turns out the dolphins were listening in when Bruce and Silver where "together." Or Bats was joking about that, which is wrong in a whole different way. I don't want to see Bats being so relaxed and pervy! Heck, Silver is hanging around in the cave wearing a bat-shirt and reading the bat-crime logs! Too casual, Bats! I don't see the need for Crazy Quilt to be so horrific either. Actually showing the guy sewing his eyes shut then running around with a bag full of eyeballs is a bit much. There's a line between "adult" and "trying to hard" and I think this crosses that line.

That said, Smith does have some nice insight into Batman, including a great bit where the new vigilante Baphomet wants to keep Crazy Quilt's helmet, and he apologizes to Bats for being silly. Batman is amused, knowing that he has a cave full of such mementos. The closing confrontation with Catwoman is nice too, although it does make Selina seem a little needy. Smith also has a nice handle on how Batman interacts with all three of his Robins. I'm not sold that Baphomet is cool enough to take his place amongst them, but certainly he could rank along with Azrael, Huntress, and Batgirl (just above Orpheus, maybe).

Walter Flanaghan is getting better. His early artwork was kind of loose, a bit too fluid, but his storytelling has tightened up and his characters are looking more and more like they belong in the DCU. I don't know if the gore-level is set by him or by Kevin Smith, but either way, that's a bit much for me. I don't need to see those eyeballs with bits of blood on the nerves. I also don't need to see dismembered victims of Joker venom poking out of trash cans. There's an interesting story here, but it is hiding under unnecessarily extreme details.

Fair