Death From Above — Reviewing ‘Detective Comics’ #1113

Gotham City elected Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy, as their mayor recently. As expected, things haven’t gone very well. Ancient plants have taken hold of the city as not-quite-as-ancient Vandal Savage, commissioner of police, wages war on Ivy and the Gotham City.

Time is ticking away as Batman has one chance to stop Savage from ending the Ivy threat in the most Gotham City devastating of ways. Detective Comics #1113 brings the oldest Batman title into the “Bad Seeds event, thanks to Tom Taylor, Jeff Spokes, and Wes Abbott.

Part of me was worried that the battle between Savage and Batman was going to be one long drawn out thing. Solicits naturally made it seem like the crux of this issue. While it plays a major part, it’s thankfully taken care of quickly.

Issues like this lean into Taylor’s strong suits as a writer. It’s straightforward and allows him to write Batman being Batman, which the he excels at. We see Batman pushing himself against the clock to protect the city, knowing there is a better way to deal with Ivy’s threat. By the end, we get to see where that thought process is leading him, and who might hold the key to saving the city.

This is a quick, thrilling read that didn’t spend too much time on a soapbox about things. It can be hard to not fall into that trap sometimes, especially with Taylor. He sprinkles just the right amount of social commentary on top of a story that fits the character, and that is his sweet spot. More stories in this run of this nature, and more quick one-offs with Batman doing Batman things would be nice.

We get a shift in the art as Spokes takes up for Mikel Janín, who has been handling the bulk of this current run. While Janín has a more sexy and sort of realistic bent, Spokes has a style that is just as bold but has a more superhero story sort of feeling. There is just as much weight and depth which really plays into what is happening on the page, giving the whole of Gotham and these moments the big feeling they deserve to have in comparison to other things.

Each of the color palette choices helps cement this. It keeps things relatively dark and heavier, uniting the overall story feel. Spokes blends the perfect amount of green into the various panels to give it that ominous feel with the Ivy stuff going down.

Most of the dialogue is between Savage and Batman, but others get into the mix too. It’s all very personalized feeling with the choices that Abbott makes. Pairing him and Taylor so many years ago was a grand move because Abbott just understands how to make what Taylor is putting down sing even more. This adds in just the right emotional wavelengths alongside the colorful or other types of modifications which close the deal.

Even for this being an event chapter, the story is just easy to read and doesn’t rely on needing to know too much of what is going down. It really speaks to how well the different books are handling joining this event without losing themselves or their identities.

Detective Comics #1113 is now available from DC Comics.