Oh Look, Another Shadowy Figure! — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1095

Secrets have a way of not really staying so secret. They slip from shadows to blow up in the light. This can cause entire lives, companies, and systems to crumble to dust if those secrets are too vast or powerful.

Bruce Wayne’s life is wrapped in secret upon secret, some of his own making, while others come from the tragedies of life. One of those secrets has come to light and the Dark Knight’s world is taking quite the tumble.

Past transgressions continue to be unearthed as Tom Taylor, Mikal Janín, and Wes Abbott continue their Detective Comics run. They are joined by Norm Rapmund and Alex Guimarães, who jump on board to assist with inks and colors respectively.

Let’s focus our attention on the artwork first.

Janín has such an eye and feeling for this world. How the characters should and can move through it, how it stands tall. Such depth, detail, and powerful energy is brought to vivid life with each image. He is most definitely one of the premier modern Batman artists. Within the group of artists that come to play with more hyper realized and photo-like styles of artwork, that is.

Some of the imagery gets a little rough this time around, the shift in inks and colors sticking out at points. A couple of faces, like Leslie Thompkins, do some rapid morphing between panels. Based on the need for assistance on this issue, I would wager it mostly came from tight deadlines. They’re really only minor things and take nothing away from the overall package which is quite stunning.

Color-wise, things remain very moderate throughout. Part of Janín’s visuals are creating a very natural baseline palette to build upon, letting the world feel natural and akin to our own on the surface. This allows things to be peeled back to allow the flashier, stand out, and more vibrant tones to shine through. We see that throughout, even with Guimarães coming aboard to take over some of that coloring work. Speaks to how well they can work off one another in this case.

Lettering plays right into these visual aspects as Abbott knows how to maximize the effect of all the words. Bringing the volume, the tone, the emotion, and all the rest when it’s most needed. He’s always able to take the more verbose scripts that Taylor might create and make sure it all works. It looks smooth on the page without any kind of overwhelming verbal dumping.

Now for the story.

Wow, this series really is a roller coaster. My feelings are all over the place. Retcons such as the Joe Chill one, confirmed to be a mere coincidental occurrence than something larger, are shruggable. They really don’t add too much to the narrative or character, but also don’t harm really in the long run. Alongside that we get that there is some other ancient group pulling strings in Gotham (yawn), which Savage knows about.

We’re six issues into the arc and now this Elixir group is thrown into the mix, and we still don’t even know the story of our current villain, Asema. Oh, except the revelation that Joe Chill’s unknown daughter (and Bruce Wayne childhood friend) Scarlett Martha Scott seems to not be the villain.

Then again, I don’t trust that Taylor won’t fall back on that trope. Clearly it’s the doctor then, but the whys and hows of it all still elude us.

Not to mention that we get a whole moment to speak to the internet again, calling out those who think “Batman should kill his enemies rather than let them go.” Just like the whole using his money for things debate that sort of came up a few issues ago. There is such a thing as too online and there are a number of creators that embody that at times. I’m all for Batman comics having a message to play, but getting somewhat preachy about people’s opinions (whether “right” or “wrong”) isn’t what I’m looking for.

Falling back to the roller coaster comparison, the next issue likely will be another exciting crest or loop. Which will lead right back to the “meh” dipping that keeps happening. Normally I would say such arcs might read better collected but I think this one will still be just as up & down.

Detective Comics #1095 is now available from DC Comics.