Springing Forward By Falling Back: Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1091

Age is but a number. Unless you happen to be a superhero vigilante that’s taken a beating for years. Strained muscles, broken bones, knife and bullet wounds, and more supernaturally related injuries than you can shake a stick at.

With the chance of longevity on the line, Batman moves to protect the targeted youths of Gotham City in Detective Comics #1091. The second issue in the DC All-In era run comes from Tom Taylor, Mikel Janín, and Wes Abbott.

My impression of the previous issue, the first of the run, was a bit middle of the road.

Numerous clichéd elements and a retcon that felt unnecessary really hampered the story. With this second issue some of those elements are not really in play. Therefore, my feelings must be different then, right? In a way, they are.

I say ‘in a way,’ because my feelings are about as split as Harvey Dent and Two-Face. Of two minds.

The beats with Batman (and Robin, hey there Damian!) dealing with young “criminals” of Gotham being targeted by a killer are solid. Taylor writes a really good Bruce Wayne/Batman, which is one of the things I’ve appreciated about his work in the past (in Nightwing, a previous issue of Detective Comics, and more). There are solid detective beats and the version of Batman that cares and wants to made amends (for a moment I called out in the first issue) while protecting those who need protection is great.

On the other side is the overdone “Batman is getting old/what if he didn’t have to” part of the story. That was just an element in the previous run that was led by Ram V, where the resolution saw Batman literally “reborn” and feeling youthful once more. Apparently, that doesn’t matter, because we’re back to square one. I don’t dislike the idea overall, because the scenes with Batman and Superman (as well as Superman’s faith in his friend) were really nice and worked.

I just roll my eyes a bit because it’s a clear “trap” that Batman willingly walked into because of vanity, and it’s not the first time. Nor will it be the last.

Janín is one of those artists that was born for this medium. There is just this dynamic, deep, resounding powerful gorgeousness about his artwork. It captures everything and really knows how to work to give the eyes something to fall upon at every single turn.

Every panel feels lively and like its own little playground, connected to the rest to create this bigger than life mega playground. Even though I let out a sigh about the Joker (just over that guy) opening dream sequence image, the way the dream was structured so differently than reality really worked. So did the opening shots of Bruce waking, descending to become Batman, and walking to the Batmobile as Scarlett Martha Scott (Joe Chill’s daughter that the Waynes saved) and her elixir loom in the background.

Colors swirl and change depending on the situation and space, really capturing some accurate lighting schemes and also creating an intriguing atmosphere. This allows more vibrant filters of colors to take over at times, kicking action or mystery moments into a higher gear.

In a few spaces the artwork seemed to shift a tiny bit, where I wasn’t sure if someone else stepped in (only because credits were at the end) or perhaps Janín might have had to rush just a bit. None of it was bad or distracting, just there was a slight noticeable change in how it was all presented on the page.

Wrangling all the words and other various letter filled aspects once again is Abbott, who remains a solid pairing with Taylor. He takes the often verbose and particular dialogue style of Taylor and weaves something with it, allowing it to flow and feel fine on the page visually. It pops in the right beats to give things as much emotional juice or tonal energy as possible, even if there are moments where things feel slightly off (likely to try and build suspense or mystery) with characters and their interactions.

Detective Comics #1091 is now available from DC Comics.