You would think that after their long history with the character, Doug Moench and Kelley Jones would have some sort of grasp on the Batman mythos. However, the Unseen continues to be a poorly written, distracting artwork, and uninteresting story.
Doug Moench continues to climb up his’ epic five rung ladder that is Batman: the Unseen. Issue four does exactly what issue two did, kills the momentum. While issue four is action packed, the book is still unable to capture the imagination of the reader. Batman continues the wild goose chase with the invisible Nigel Glass, who is still as ridiculous a character as he was in issues one through three. This issue also continues the, “Batman is not intimidating” plot point, which remains to be unable to provide the story with any extra stimulation. The majority of the issue is Batman swinging, and occasionally landing a blow to the invisible Nigel Glass. The problem with these fight sequences is that eventually it becomes frustrating to read and look at. You find yourself waiting for either Batman to figure out a way to finish him off, or Glass finding a way to escape. The issue really hits the apex when Glass gets tangled up in Batman’s cape and Batman uses it to his’ advantage. The issue ends with Batman catching up to Nigel Glass on a rooftop just as Glass is about to throw an unconscious Black Mask off the edge. Instead, after their exchange, Glass falls to the depths of the Gotham harbor, only to be once again, unseen. Leaving both, Batman and the reader frustrated, awaiting the end of this dreadful miniseries.
While Kelley Jones continues to do what he does, draw a consistently unique interpretation of Batman, the miniseries has outlived his’ artwork. What I mean is the art is as lame and unentertaining as the story. The story and art continue to clash with one another for who can under perform who this time. I can only take Kelley Jones for so long, and I think a three issue miniseries would have been just long enough for me to enjoy his uncommon style.
At this point, I feel that this story arc has completely lost my interest and I am anxiously waiting the day that I buy issue five and the story is over. I feel that this story has been extremely disappointing considering that I still feel that there is a solid creative team behind this book. However, I am beginning to wonder if Doug Moench while ever be able to write good dialogue ever again, considering that the character’s conversation continue to be the book’s biggest downfall. I hope that issue five is able to provide readers with some sort of closure for ever picking up this title.
Batman: Unseen #4:
Reviewed by Zfactor
