Batman: The Smile Killer #1

[cyberghostface]

 

Comments

[beoweasel]

...wat

[silverhammerman]

Lemire started out his Moon Knight run in a very similar way. Didn't care for that series either.

I mean, that's harsh, but at this point "the hero is actually crazy" is just an utter cliche that it's not a really interesting place to start a story anymore. It's just a waiting game to see how long it takes the writer to get to the twist and what the twist is. The best use of this trope in the past ten years was probably kicking of Last Knight on Earth with that only to immediately reject the premise.

[akodo_rokku]

To be fair, Moon Knight being crazy is the core of his character now. But having read that comic he was *crazy*... but not *wrong*.

[silverhammerman]

At that time I found it very annoying that Lemire's whole opening arc dove right back into the kind of "is he just crazy?" plot and anachronistic "insane asylum" stuff that the Warren Ellis reboot (oof, it's much harder to be nostalgic about that after these past couple of weeks) had taken pains to distance the character from stereotypes about mental illness.

It wasn't the worst use of the trope there's ever been, but I've never connected with Lemire's writing or his favored themes.

[cricharddavies]

It may be worth noting that while this is listed as #1 ... no #2 has been solicited.

[obsidianwolf]

You know as cliche and over done as "is the hero actually crazy or not" stories are I actually kind of like this one after actually reading it.

The fact it is just a one shot is what makes it cause the ambiguity of the ending and where it ends works perfectly.

That said I would never want this revisited because there is no way to continue it without coming down hard on one ending or the other and honestly a definitive answer would be a let down.