I might have been wrong, maybe Robin saved batman? it's hard to tell the guy got the shot off and nearly hit Batsy. The art is poor so is the arrangement and for lack of a better term blocking. So Batman and Robin save the day and it ends in a stand off. The two rockers (Izaak and religious name) decided to come out rocking. With unplugged electrical guitars they get up singing " A-Mop-bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop"
The police open fire no doubt killing batman and Robin as well as Izaak and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Nope they percision shot Izaak. That was pointless and brutal. Also very accurate for Cops Evangeline was right next to him and some of them had shot guns.
so the guy who looks like the punker from Batman's past walks up and asks if the guy is dead. Batman freaks up and tries to beat him to death while expositing his agony.
Robin gets him to stop and says: "HE'S JUST A THUG IN DISGUISE. IT'S NOT REALLY HIM!" Batman says "I know that" so he knew he was beating some random guy to a pulp just to relieve stress. What a guy.
So the Cops aren't getting taken to task by Batman for shooting an unarmed man to death.
They go to take care of Lazarus now.
So in a scene that could be awesome in that cracked out comic book way is wasted where Batman and Robin fight a room full of blonde elvis impersonators.
So we find out Lazarus is the brother of Belvis. A foundling given to a rich family. And he was trying to create a legend to out do his brother.
You cant tell but I just took a good gulp of bushmills to process that stupid.
So suddenly Lazarus has surrounded himself in religious iconography. He says he created the new pop legend to surpass his brother. Climbs over a railing and falls to his death.
So Robin goes through Izaak's last letter and can't find anything there it's a blank piece of paper. Batman says it's his perfect composition "Silence".
I like the Sound of Silence, it's a good song.
So concluding thoughts.
Often with a mess like this you can find a core idea that could have worked, rarely is the plot what makes or breaks a story. For example The Room could have worked if better written and performed. This one was kind of doomed from the conception. It's hard to do a Batman Rock 'n' Roll story well, and there's no reason to. There is a story here if you do it differently. This could have worked if instead it was a well done mystery about the insanity and suicide of a promising rock artist. Batman thinks something is wrong and they investigate and it leads back to the manager after originally dismissing him because the guy did nothing profit earning. You make him look like the red herring then dismiss him for the middle part. To me that could work, this... not so much.
The lack of editor on this showed and made for a pretty awful read, there was a lack of internal consistency and either the artist or writer didn't know much about rock, or the mistakes were clues. I still don't get Blonde Elvis though. No clue as to how Batman knew the identity either. Batman haunted by a punk rocker makes no sense. The police shooting Izaak had to happen for the plot, but made no sense, he stood up singing, I could see if he got tazed or bean bagged, not opened fire. Batman and Robin were between him and the cops as well.
This book is confusing, largely pointless and just bad. It was editorally commanded but not editted, and at the end of the day had a poor concept. Honestly this shouldn't have seen the light of day, this is the sort of script someone should look at and just toss or send for massive re-write. The characters are poorly written and it's not clear who the hero is.
- Batman? he's dark bitchy and hates music, he's also pretty oblivious to robin and seems to cause as much conflict as he helps. I know Batman is always dark and brooding but this reads more "GET OFF MY LAWN" than Dark Knight
- Robin? Whiney little bitch missing the point and acting like an ass hat
- Izaak? He's an idiot, insane and also possibly a terrorist
- Lazarus? No
- Evangeline? manipulative and went along with the plan to drive Izaak insane
- The Joker? He made a good joke then got assaulted by Batman
So in conclusion this book is stupid, it's poorly written but does have value to make fun of and inflict on others. I think I might give other books similar treatments though better ones that have less famous reviews. I can honestly say this is the worst comic I own by a good long shot.
