Birds Not Of A Feather — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1098

Unexpected random team-ups are as common as … well, just about anything really when it comes to superhero related comic book stories. Batman has definitely had his fair share of them over eighty years, a good portion of those with criminals he regularly fights.

That’s the case with Detective Comics #1098 as the caped crusader and the Penguin are thrust together. The depths of the mysterious Elixir group continue to unravel in a new chapter from Tom Taylor, Lee Garbett, Lee Loughridge, and Wes Abbott.

This got a few laughs from me.

That’s a good thing, trust me. In the previous reviews I’ve talked about how this book walks a pretty thin line at times. Elixir, and all other ancient mystery groups like it, don’t really intrigue me. We’ve been there and done that so many times with this character that it doesn’t even register as being meaningful. After this run, they’ll be relegated to the same bin as the Talons and many others.

Where Taylor does still shine is the writing of Batman and his dynamic with others. I’ve long stated that Taylor writes a damn good Batman and Bruce Wayne. He keeps the character stoic and ominous but also personable at the same time. The interplay between him and Bullock in the last issue was what kept the story from falling flat.

Here, that changes to a more tense adversarial bouncing off with Penguin. The bit about the wolves, as serious as Batman was, made me laugh both times. The lone wolf, forever serious guy has got the jokes and the language of sarcasm and no cares on point.

Keeping up on the character stuff will keep this series from falling off in my book. Thankfully, the character stuff often is Taylor’s highest point.

It was great to see more from Garbett, whose style that I really enjoy seeing. He keeps things really tight and firm but with the right touch of softness or whimsy to balance it out. His expressive faces and bodies tell us everything we need to know from a character before they ever even utter a word. He delivers dynamic, slick, and kinetic action sequences and just overall great paneling choices.

There are some brutal moments here, but they are kept in check, not losing their power in any way but no dipping into needless gore or grotesquery. All of it is part of the depth and detail that Garbett handles so flawlessly.

Pairing that particular style with Loughridge’s colors is another grand choice. There is a lot of darkness and darker scenes in this particular story, meaning that the more vibrant and flashy colors from the last issue are few and far between. Loughridge presents a perfect encapsulation of darkness that feels heavy and ominous at all times but also cool and welcoming as night tends to be.

There is still an abundance of lighter colors to be found alongside the more midrange, toned-down natural palette foundations. The striking yellow lighting of the Elixir base and the elements of tech during the conversation with Oracle. Even the dark red glasses of one of the main Elixir agents stand out.

Delivering the lines and the overall sounds falls to Abbott, who always can take what Taylor puts down and do a little more magic on the whole thing. He gives words even more pop and power as they are placed on the page. Creating solid emotional resonance for each character’s unique voice.

Detective Comics #1098 is now available from DC Comics.