So I just finished reading Batman: The Cult. I picked it up at the garage sale a few months ago and never got around to reading it. It is a 4 book mini series. (and I mean very mini, all 4 books put together would make a small trade paperback.) Anyway, So I was reading it to clear my mind and take a break from my school work...it was a mistake.
I have read some bad batman comics in my time, but this is definitely in the top 10 worst batman comics I've ever read. (which is ironic because it is voted one of the top ten best Batman comics of all time by IGN or something.) I admit, it was...interesting to see such a different side to Batman, and I can respect trying to convey that-but WHEW- I had to fan out the room cause of this stinker! Batman gets captured and brainwashed by a cult-thats all you really need to know as far as plot goes. But within the first few pages, Batman has just killed an innocent person with a machine gun-yes folks, I typed that correctly. Batman kills a dude with a machine gun. Now, we all know that back in the day batman used guns, even if it was just a few comics, but that was a big deal. In many of those stories, that was the major point. Not so in this case. The amount of plot holes is astounding, along with the amount of stuff that could have proven important, but just didn't bother being written into the story. There was also a large amount of news reporters that helped the story along. Though they didnt so much as help the story along as they bored us with narration and given information that could have been displayed in far more interesting ways through interaction with the actual characters.
Now the plot is one of the weaker ones I've seen, as far as Graphic Novels go. Batman gets kidnapped by a cult on his rounds and is starved, beaten, and fed miniscule amounts of food laced with some psyco-halucinogenic drug that opens you up to suggestion. Cool, now I know what to expect when I get kidnapped by Scientoligists, but seriously, this goes on for the entire first book. I get that it is important and the whole point of the story, but could we make it a bit more interesting. I mean, we barely got to see Batman struggle with his mind and try to overcome this whole process. It was like:
"Batman, believe in me, I'm your new God!"
"No, no i wont believe!"
"Believe, Batman."
"Okay".
The whole point of the mini series is that someone finally broke Batman, great, but can't we make it a little bit more dramatic, Batman just seemed to kind of sit back and take it, so to speak. And even after he gets out of the sewers where the cult is hiding, it takes another 55 pages before he even thinks about going back! The Batman portrayed in this comic is flat, weak, and whiney. He actually tries to escape Gotham!
The second thing that annoyed me most about the plot is that there was no ending! I understand the endings that are not really endings, I get that. But in this comic, there was a huge build up of "this guy broke batman and he kills innocent people, he needs to be either brought to justice, or have some horrid fatal accident." so naturally I'm expecting a big ending and picturing this huge battle where they fight and get bloodied up and bones are broken, and they do, for about two pages. The writer then decided that "this is to predictable-so were just gonna take this little train off the tracks and go in a completely different direction." A direction, that of course, does not make any sense what so ever. It was an ending that did not justify all the pain that Batman went through, and did not bring across any sense of justice. The cult leader ended up getting attacked by his followers, who, we are only left to assume, ripped him to shreds. Batman simply walks away from the arena where this is taking place and heads home. Great! so the police don't get to help capture him, he isn't going to be prosecuted for his crimes, and Batman only gets in a few punches on the guy? Yea, this was a very poor ending. It kind of reminds me of the puzzles on swing sets for 5 year olds, you know, where you spin the column and match up the monkey head to the monkey body and monkey feet. Problem is the writer matched up the monkey head and monkey body with the picture of the clown feet. Yes, technically it is possible, and it is an option, but that doesn't make it a good choice.
My other major issue with this series is, yup-you guessed it, Jason Todd. This series is voted as one of his best appearances, that's a real shame. It's not because I find him annoying, childish and dumb;because he is, but he bitch-slapped one of the bad guys! Really, Jason!? Really!!? Batman has taught you countless martial arts, fighting styles, weapons finesse, you went through near impossible training, but the best you can do when someone tries to punch Batman, is to slap the guy?!!! You...he...but...and...I just don't know what to say anymore.
I would rank this up there with Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. Most DEFINITELY a DONT READ!
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