Bat Belt Full Of Shrugs — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1099

Sometimes stories will take their audience on grand unexpected journeys. Other times, the destination is familiar and possibly disappointing. These could be seen a mile off, despite all hopes that it wasn’t going to actually end in such a way.

While it has its highs, Detective Comics #1099 very much finds itself in that secondary space. This issue before a milestone series number comes from Tom Taylor, Lee Garbett, Lee Loughridge, and Wes Abbott.

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This series run has been a roller coaster.

Which is kind of where I expect to be when deciding to take on a Taylor-penned story. The highs will be high, and the lows will at least be generally average. Nothing truly bad or devastating. Just kind of expected or very been there done that sometimes.

<<SPOILERS FOLLOW>>

After all the buildup, Elixir turns out to just be a pyramid scheme run by three dudes cheating their way through immortality. By the end, two of them are dead (through their own pals) and the other is locked in a glass coffin of sorts for five years. His cult is scattered, his power is gone, and Batman is counting down to the day that the glass case will open once more.

I bemoaned another ‘moves through the shadows immortal group with designs on Gotham’ in the past few issues. Now we find out they’re not entirely that, and it feels very lackluster as a reveal. Even with my issues with the group, spending issues of time with them just to watch them crumble like kids playing dress up sure wasn’t the way.

Still some good laughs come from the unlikely trio of Batman, Bullock, and Penguin. The villain being kind of pathetic does bring a chuckle even though it feels anticlimactic.

At least we got to spend these few issues watching Garbett get to draw these characters. I’ve long been a fan of Garbett’s work. It’s so tight and dense but really light and soft at the same time. Giving bodies and faces all the expressive energy they need and letting action sequences feel authentic and in your face.

Tons of this happens at night, Batman’s element. The way the character moves through the night and sky feels perfect. The paneling choices allow some moments to hit harder than they might usually because of keeping things off panel till the right moment, like Penguin coming out of nowhere to yank the Elixir guy Ambrose out of his escape vehicle with an umbrella.

Since there is so much darkness, Loughridge really leans on the lighter color palette for most respects, keeping the lighting mostly dim with plenty of shadows and darker tones to play with. A few spaces have flashes of brighter stuff, where there is more illumination of warm or colder tones. These choices give the spaces even more depth than were already present in the pencils.

One of the things that really stands out is the authentic feel of the darkness, capturing actual heavy and kind of oppressive darkness isn’t the easiest. Natural instincts in various media lead to over lighting things so they are “seen” and keeping away from real feeling night. For understandable reasons, in some respects. But there is something really calming but also unnerving about reaching some true feeling darkness on the page.

Taylor and Abbott are a really great pairing. Through the years now, Abbott takes what Taylor writes and delivers even more on the page, capturing the voices, emotions, and intent alongside the sprinkled of extra that make lettering such an art. Hitting the natural flow and feeling that comes with any given set of words. Making sure character’s voices are authentic and powerful with every utterance.

Detective Comics #1099 is now available from DC Comics.