Fan Fiction

If you look at online reviews and commentary about The Widening Gyre, you will often see it referred to, derisively, as “fan fiction.”  What this means, of course, is that it is the work of an amateur, an outsider, a member of the fandom who only wishes he could be a “real” comic book writer.  While I would argue that this label could be applied to any Batman story not written by the decaying corpse of Bob Kane, I understand what people mean.  The Widening Gyre clearly is the work of an enthusiastic fan, who is chomping at the bit to oversaturate the book with oh-so-clever little nods to the DCU, often at the detriment of the story he’s trying to tell.  But that’s mostly because Kevin Smith is insane.  Today I am going to tell you about another celebrity-penned “fan fiction” vanity project, that happens to actually be really awesome.

The Widening Gyre, Part 6

Okay, we have arrived at the final chapter of the first act of Kevin Smith’s Batman story The Widening Gyre.  This way lies madness, folks, so take a deep breath and say a quick prayer.  Also, I should let you know that there are lots of spoilers ahead, so if you give a shit about remaining spoiler-free about this story, then stop reading right now.  No one gives a shit, right?  Okay then…

The Widening Gyre, Parts 3/4/5

  

So after rereading The Widening Gyre in full in preparation for my blog entries, I’ve come to realize that most of the really ridiculous shit that I want to talk about occurs in the sixth and final issue.  So I am going to zip through issues 3, 4 and 5 in one post, and then the next one will probably be really long.  Come along with me on this journey, won’t you?

The Widening Gyre, Part 2

The Widening Gyre #2, taken on its own, isn’t all that horrible.  If it was the first chapter I read, I would think the story was a little silly, a little bland, and that all the characters inexplicably spoke like Reservoir Dogs.  But I wouldn’t think it was completely off the wall batshit crazy.

The Widening Gyre, Part 1

Look at it.  LOOK AT IT.  We are about to go down a dark road, my friends, but it’s a road that’s been tread many times before.  There is no shortage on the internet of Widening Gyre shit-talk.  But there can never be enough.  There must never be enough.