The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning: Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1052

In the modern era, there has been a lot of conversations about decompression within American/western comic books, with many for it and many against the idea and others somewhere in the middle. Generally, the idea is that plotlines are slowed down and elongated, often taking more issues than one might suppose they would need. This storytelling device is truly done best when the reason that the plot is slowed and spread out is that there is a greater focus on stunning visual elements and/or really in-depth character moments.

‘Shadows of the Bat’ very much has proven to be one of those stories where it’s being done at the level of peak best.

Last issue saw Psycho-Pirate get the moment in the spotlight and this one allows us to see even more of the recently introduced into the comic book realm version of Doctor Chase Meridian. She’s been a good part of this story and the prologue issues, but here we get a lot more about the good doctor including how she is not new to the type of things that the rogues of Gotham are capable of doing. Huge props to Mariko Tamaki for finding a way to show a portion of Doctor Meridian’s past (and an encounter with Batman) that has a ton of Batman Forever vibes to it which is fantastic.

All the way back in the first issue of this event I remarked about how it was a brilliant move to flashforward to the failure of Arkham Tower (something we all knew was coming) and then double back. Through the subsequent issues, we can see the reasons why much better because with each issue the tension and personal stakes of the event are given more room to grow and breathe before the inevitable bloody outcome.

Having this issue pick up some of what we saw the last issue with Psycho-Pirate’s control faltering, but doing it from Chase and Huntress’s perspective is a solid choice. We see more pieces being laid down that are giving the Bat-family more and more clues about what is really going on at Arkham Tower and see just how much Doctor Wear is spiraling as his big-time grift is falling apart more and more around him. The man decided to play with Gotham fire and is being burned in ways he never thought to expect.

Having Detective Comics as a second Batman title is fine and brings a lot of great stuff, like the beginning of Tamaki’s run, but there is something even more special about the book when it turns into an ensemble Bat-Family book. We had that in the past with James Tynion IV writing, but it was more of a team book then. This is similar but we’re getting such a great look at all of the Bat-family dealing with this crisis and Tamaki is nailing all of their voices while bringing even more to the table for many of them that rarely get a chance to appear outside of special events.

Max Raynor and Luis Guerrero are a great pairing for this second act of the event, bringing such a fun energy that makes the overall dark events and tone even more effective. There is a lot of depth and weight to the world from Raynor, but Guerero’s colors also make sure we don’t forget this is a book in a fantastical world as well as a book taking place in the dark realms that are Gotham.

As noted in the last review I really enjoy the paneling style that Raynor has, especially in some of the more action-packed or out there pages here. Such as when Psycho-Pirate makes everyone in Arkham Tower sleep and forget after the big riot. It would have been easy to just do the page standard, but instead, Raynor has the panels in a chaotic spiral with Guerrero bringing all the bright reds to the panels as well as the swirl behind them and then the SFX on the page with the words “Forget” spiraling around cap it off.

Speaking of SFX, the work that Ariana Maher does on every book she works on is just such a masterclass of lettering work. There is a lot of energy and personality and more that is put into her work that shows up on the pages. Yelling feels like yelling while whispering feels like whispering, and the use of things like Psycho-Pirate’s powers feel different than normal dialogue because of colorful stroke lines around the bubble that denote its use. And the aforementioned SFX all have the corresponding personality that matches whatever sound one would attribute to the action which gives them a boost.

What I’m overall trying to say is that lettering is super important and it really helps not only spread the words that are part of the story but makes these worlds feel even more alive.

‘House of Gotham’ continues to be a truly interesting backup series, as we follow this unnamed boy through his life and see what an encounter with Joker/Batman and just what Gotham itself can do to a person. Matthew Rosenberg is perfectly able to keep the focus on the boy while also exploring things and people we know from Gotham in a way that feels right and true and not just being done for the sake of cameos/nostalgia. His Penguin especially feels vicious and criminal but also has far more depth to him, which is exactly when the character shines depiction-wise. Much like how he handled Scarecrow in the previous issues.

Using Jason here for an encounter was a great choice. Not only did it allow the boy to call out that Batman is using an army of boys (since he could tell the Robins were different), but it allowed for the comparison of how these boys on similar paths ended up different just by the happenstance of who took them under their proverbial wing and who was given a chance.

It’s hard to keep coming up with words about how amazing the work of Fernando Blanco and Jordie Bellaire is in these stories. Not only is it just stunningly gorgeous and moody but it feels deep and real and lived within. There is an energy that permeates the artwork, colorful personality that shows itself in the different places making them all stand apart and showcase the different facets of the complicated place that is Gotham.

Rob Leigh brings great energy to these backups with lettering that perfectly morphs to fit whatever the tone of each story might be. With all the right little changes to bubbles/fonts or emphasizers thrown in to perfectly indicate changes in dialogue tone or volume. The anger in Penguin’s frantic moments is ‘audible’ as you read through the pages, just like how the boy is out of it at the end but then very heavily angry as he calls out Batman’s Robin issue. And those SFX, chefs kiss at how glorious energetic, and weaved into the story they truly are.

Detective Comics #1052 is now on sale in print and digitally from DC Comics.