Expected Freeze But Got Deadshot In Detective Comics #1009
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The Batman has been busy lately. The Dark Knight has taken to the streets every night, and it’s left the responsibilities of billionaire CEO Bruce Wayne to pile up. After a long and fruitful board meeting led by Lucius Fox, Bruce has convinced other CEOs to pool a jet flight to a summit in Singapore. However, Deadshot (without the rest of the Suicide Squad) recently arrived in Gotham City, and he has a contract to fulfill. Meanwhile, Mr. Freeze works tirelessly to free his wife Nora from her icy prison with the help of Lex Luthor’s gift.
Detective Comics #1009 finds Batman having to spend an extended stint in his Bruce Wayne persona to make good on some of the responsibilities of Wayne Enterprises.
This means we get to see a lot of Batman’s more comedic side. As Bruce Wayne, he is very chatty, quick-witted, and sarcastic. He likes to rib Lucius Fox and the other business executives he comes across.
I’m very happy to see Deadshot pop up in this story, as he is one of my all-time favorite DC rogues (Deathstroke, Sinestro, and Black Adam being the absolute best DC rogues). That said, it’s quite strange seeing him take center stage in this story given how heavily Mr. Freeze’s part in Year of the Villain has been advertised. Heck, Victor Fries is plastered all over the cover, yet he only shows up for the last two pages and never encounters Batman in the run of the book.
Christian Duce’s artwork is very good, and we get to see a particularly impressive full page profile of Batman (shown above) that sets a hell of a tone for the book overall. Deadshot’s armor gets a great treatment in this book as well. Duce brings a very sleek yet detailed style, and he does the Batman a lot of justice in this comic. Luis Guerrero backs it up with atmospheric and dynamic color work that really brings the comic to life.
Detective Comics #1009 feels like a bit of a bait-and-switch with its scarce amount of Mr. Freeze, but the A-plot with Deadshot is still entertaining and fairly intense. Add to that the excellent visual work of Duce and Guerrero, and you still have a book worth recommending. Feel free to check this one out.
Detective Comics #1009 comes to us from writer Peter J. Tomasi, artist Christian Duce, color artist Luis Guerrero, letterer Rob Leigh, cover artist Doug Mahnke with David Baron, and variant cover artist Bryan Hitch with Alex Sinclair.
Final Score: 7.5/10