A Fearless Endeavor — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1102

Fear is a foundational, and often healthy, emotion which works as an early warning or protection system against potential danger. Without that fear, our minds might miss signs of danger or put us firmly into the space of harm without care.

While fear can be scary and harmful, the lack of all fear is just as dangerous. Detective Comics #1102 throws Batman into the frying pan as the heat of his new infected status prepares to burn the Dark Knight for good. Part two of this fear-based arc comes from Tom Taylor, Mikel Janín, and Web Abbott.

A bit of explanation comes as this issue sets the stakes and introduces our brand-new villain. There is enough meat on this bone to be satisfied with a rather fast meal, even if it’s a bit predictable at times.

Taylor is always an intriguing writer. Mostly because there are pretty much two versions of the writer. One being the version who writes things with a powerful punch in scope and scale, and the version who allows the plot to get away by getting too far into the weeds with the social commentary.

So far, this one is kind of in a holding pattern, not quite going either way. There are strengths to how he writes Bruce Wayne and Batman. Really, Taylor might be one of the best writers of the character because his Bruce/Batman feels more approachable (by allies) while still being the dominant force we expect.

On the other hand, the villain’s motivation seems a bit thin as does the ultimate reveal of the villain. A villain somehow connected to Batman is an easy hook, but an overly utilized one. Batman walking right into a trap is something I can hand wave a tiny bit, just a tiny bit, as his brain is probably already feeling some effects of the virus. Especially since it served as a “Look how badass this new villain really is” comic book trope moment. Not to mention the fact that I don’t buy Oracle not having done the deep dive into stuff before Batman even asks.

But again, I’ll let it slide this time.

All of it looks pretty damn good, of course.

Through this run so far, Janín keeps showcasing why he’s been tapped so much to handle stories with the Bat. Dynamic artwork that is slick to the touch but so dense and rife with emotional energy. Action sequences just glide across the page as they boom louder than life at any given moment, never taking away from the quieter contained human moments that utilize magnificent facial expressions and body language.

There is a solid balance to the various tones that Janín incorporates into the chosen color palette style. Soft and slick like the artwork itself, they have a lot of natural tones to really set up the overall setting. Striking colors come into play as the fantastical elements ramp up their presence. Plenty of those colors, or the opposite, really take the cake when filling in the background to pop the characters even more.

There isn’t a flood of caption boxes this time around, so that helps a lot. Abbott, per usual, makes all the dialogue and what captions there are move smoothly through the issues. With a steady and powerful flow, nailing the emotional or tonal range needed for the particular moment. Taylor writes a solid Bruce Batman combo, and Abbott takes it further to really solidify and define that grand dynamic.

Detective Comics #1102 is now available from DC Comics.