Comic Book Review: Batman Odyssey # 1-2

When I was a tiny kid, about as big as a midget, I found a Batman comic book lying around. Don't know where it came from, don't know who it belonged to. It didn't even have a cover. I know it had been sitting in a closet for years. It was probably the first comic book I had ever seen and the earliest memory of the character Batman that I have. I couldn't even read at that point. But I could look at the art and thought it was very cool. I think it opened with a splash panel of Robin getting shot? And was Batman buried alive in a coffin? Pretty intense stuff for a 5-year-old. It was years later that I found out the comic was Batman #232 and the art was done by Neal Adams. So it's kinda cool that the first character, first artist, first comic book thing has come full circle with Batman Odyssey, which is being written and drawn by none other than Neal Adams.

Although the time of the books is never explicitly given, to me, this story feels as if it's happening in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Mostly due to the old Corvette Batmobile and the fact that a lot of the plot revolves around a gas and energy crisis. It opens with Batman recounting the story of his first costumed adventure as a lesson in why it's not a good idea to carry a gun. Batman and Robin are facing two simulataneous events in the first two issues. The Riddler is robbing the Gotham Mint and thieves are plotting to intercept a new Wayne Industries funded dinosaur exhibit coming in at the city docks. Ok, out of these two, which would you think Batman would choose to deal with first? The Riddler, right? Since he might get away with millions of dollars! Well, you're wrong, Bats goes for the dino bones, and Robin is just as confused as us. Meanwhile, Man-Bat is getting bullied by some slobbering more badass version of himself back in the Batcave.

Batman Odyssey was very hard to read. Adams seems to have no idea how to write the character of Batman. He flip flops between having him speak dialogue from a hard-boiled Dashiell Hammett detective and then makes him sound like a foppish Shakespearean actor. His personality is constantly shifting as well. At one point he threatens to blow people's brains out, brandishing two pistols all the while. And let's not forget when he goes into Tom Cruise Scientology mode as he tries to convince anybody that will listen to him about how evil guns are. Guns are bad. They really are. They're bad. Did I tell you that they're bad?

And speaking of bad, can we look at the bad grammar? For example:

"...when bullet impacts pepper a numbed body...and their very continuous impacts gyroscopically keep the jacking body from falling to the floor."

This is one of the most horribly constructed sentences I have seen in my life. Like an 8th grader using big words just to impress people with no idea of the meaning of the words. Even better is "He, his body, falls to the floor." What the hell is that sentence about?

Neal's writing is just way below standard for any time period. It doesn't feel if as if he had an editor for this book. You see the same phrases and words repeated over and over again. Get out a thesaurus! Do some revision! Batman Odyssey comes off more as unintentional comedy instead of some old dude's social commentary. Not only is the grammar off and odd, but the plot itself made very little sense to me. Instead of telling a story in these books, Adams just seems glad to be drawing Batman again. And he likes to draw him getting shot. A lot. He seems to be channeling Mel Gibson's mutilation fantasies.

One of the funniest scenes in issue 2 is when Batman is getting shot and he is "jacked around like a puppet". What ensues is some pretty nifty dance moves that reminded me of Batman getting down in the old 1966 tv show.




The artwork was another area that was inconsistent as well. There were some panels that were very beautiful and made you drop your jaw, but there were many more that look unfinished and messy. At times the characters look very old, fat, or just downright kabuki theater insane.

Adams seems to have failed in every way with Odyssey. The work of an old man no longer in touch with his trademark character or work. Hopefully, he won't move on to ruin his past with Green Lantern as well.

In the end, I was pretty disappointed with the first 2 issues of this 12 part series. I doubt I'll continue buying it, unless I just feel like laughing. And what was with the chest hair? Neal Adams makes Bruce Wayne look hairier than Austin Powers and Robin Williams put together! And why is Neal obssessed with the word "jacked"?  We may never know.

My Grade:  Art= B  Story= D-