Stalled Out On Track Number Four — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1110

Hidden pasts, secret assassins, and children caught up in the sins of their fore-bearers are nothing new in Gotham City. In fact, all of this is probably just a typical day that ends in Y for those costumed figures who call the city home.

Batman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary continue to reckon with a previously unknown part of their past in Detective Comics #1110. The latest chapter in this arc from Tom Taylor, Mikel Janín, Norm Rapmund, and Wes Abbott.

 

 

It’s been a few months since I did a review for this series, or even been able to read an issue. Surely there must have been a ton that went down in the last few issues. This is the fourth part of the story after all.

Oh who am I kidding, we know that’s not the case.

Look, I generally have liked a lot of what Taylor does as a writer. There are beats of this series that work cause he writes a damn good Batman and Bruce Wayne. One of the biggest issues plaguing this Detective Comics run though is the decompression. The 2000s called and said can you please speed things up, even we feel like this is moving glacially slow.

 

 

There is nothing wrong with building up a story and taking your time. That being said, spending four months just slowly teasing crucial beats and having whole issues that allude to things but still do not reveal them is just comic book edging. Part five is no doubt going to be almost fully flashbacks to deal with the, obvious beyond obvious, cliffhanger “reveal” we were given.

What I wouldn’t give for Taylor to write more done in one actual detective tales, or at least some shorter arcs like when he was on Nightwing./p>

Anyway, it looks amazing.

 

 

I mean, now could it not. It’s got Janín on the artwork and that guy makes characters and their world look slick, powerful, sexy, and exciting at every turn. Even the past elements, with the old school costumes, looks so good. The page of the heroes taking down the train heist with the credits, panels slashing across the page is a great opening. Just right in the face with dynamic energy of massive levels.

Dense is a good way to always describe this artwork. Each and every part of the background, foreground, and figures has weight and presence to them. Boosted by the inks that Rapmund applies to the pencils. Giving it all just that additional amount of heft to fill out the page.

An additional element in all that is the style that Janín employs for the colors. Nothing is overtly over the top vibrant here, instead choosing to remain very natural and almost neutral. Giving the spaces more authentic and familiar feeling to the eyes. Little flashes of color that are ramped up greet us for the superhero aspects.

 

 

Delivering the dialogue styling of Taylor in style is something Abbott has been doing for years now. Collaborators on various books, from the aforementioned Nightwing to their short stint on Titans, they have a good rhythm to them at this point. While I have my quibbles with Taylor’s storytelling here, the dialogue and emotional aspects are mostly pretty solid. Especially with Abbot applying his lettering magic to make it all flow and have some impact.

Even the clunkier elements that are mean to keep dragging out the story line are handled pretty well. That’s something at least.

Detective Comics #1110 is now available from DC Comics.