Batman Cacophony #1 - DC

This is a Batman book, but, really . . it's all about the Joker. Cacophony means . . a harsh, disagreeable, discordant sound. And I think what the title means is that's the sound of the world with the Joker in it. Kevin Smith has done a fantastic job with another story. The premise for this one is that Deadshot came to Arkham to kill the Joker. He almost succeeds to. Until someone else, with a pair of guns, shows up. I'm not sure who it is. It's a guy who wears a black mask with a circle on it. He doesn't speak much either . . except for sound-effects . . literally. Anyways, he gets the drop on Deadshot and shoots him in the head. "Heavens to murgatroyd . . Deadshot's been shot dead. Ha. HA HA HA!!" And then the guy gets him out of Arkham. Which actually works out ok for the Joker because he already has a mission. Before being shot, Deadshot informed him that Maxi Zeus had found a cache of his Joker-gas, and had cut it with Ecstasy. They were calling it 'Chuckles', because they got high and it gave them the giggles. "Side effects are pretty nasty, as you might imagine: lockjaw, paranoia, psychosis. But when've dangerous side effects ever stopped folks from doing drugs?" This really pisses him off, so he's made it his mission now to tear Maxi Zeus down. Which he begins doing immediately. We also see Zsasz this issue, but . . I'm not really sure what he has to do with all of this. Unless . . the Cacophony they're talking about is the dull roar of all of this murder and mayhem and crime and drama that is a constant murmur in the Batman's and Gotham's world. It's kind of like living near a set of train tracks. At first it keeps you awake at night, but after a while, you don't really even notice that it's there. And when you do, it almost becomes a lulling sound. Walter Flanagan does the art. At first . . when I first opened it up and starting looking through it . . I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. It looked ok, but . . it was different. However, after reading the book . . I thought that the feel that the art gave the story was a perfect mesh. This is only a 3 issue mini, so it's not going to expound to much. However, I think we'll get a better feel for what the direction and theme of the book is next issue. But overall, I thought it was a great first issue.