Hello everyone. This is my first review for Comic Nexus. Recently, I reviewed half of the DC Universe’s new 52 offerings last month on my blog, and I was invited to review comics for The Nexus.
It’s rather exciting, as I never get invited anywhere. I usually sneak in the back door and hope no one notices.
So, I voluntarily was assigned Detective Comics #2. I think I was one of the few who actually enjoyed Detective Comics #1. Admittedly, Batman #1 was better, but there was an intriguing factor with certain elements of Detective Comics #1, so I threw my hat in the ring for a second month.
I try to write as spoiler free as possible, but details slip out sometimes.
Let’s see how it all panned out:
Detective Comics #2: Playtime’s Over
Written and Drawn By: Tony Daniel
Okay, for those who missed it. Detective Comics #1 was devoted to The Batman chasing The Joker all over Gotham City while being chased by the Gotham City Police Department. Batman apprehends The Joker and returns him to Arkham Asylum where he allows a new villain, The Dollmaker, to cut his face off.
Synopsis
- Bruce Wayne is having a business meeting while rock climbing with Hugh Marder trying to revitalize Gotham.
- Bruce has a dalliance with Charlotte Rivers, and they have some rather serious relationship talks.
- The Joker has escaped from Arkham Asylum leaving behind his mutilated face, Batman investigates the scene.
- Batman and Comissioner Gordon are lured into a trap, using the girl Batman rescued in Detective #1 as bait, and Batman meets the new villain,
Questions and Answers
- In Detective Comics, Batman must avoid the other members of the GCPD including Harvey Bullock, but in The Batman comic, he consults with Harvey at a crime scene. Is this just sloppiness, or are they in separate time frames.
- Bruce is rather serious with Charlotte Rivers. How did this start and take place? Is she really interested in him, or is she looking for a story.
- Seems like Wayne Enterprises and Q-Core (run by Oliver Queen) are competing for similar business. Are Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen known to each other in this universe.
Analysis
The cover of the issue has Batman driving the Batmobile or the Batwing, but in the comic he is driving a Batcycle. Why?
Showing off a rather muscular Hugh Marder just automatically makes me think of character economy. Character economy theory basically states, why introduce two characters and tie them to new people, when instead you can tie them together. I hope I’m wrong, and Marder is part of a larger overall story.
The new Bruce Wayne seems to be very much actually living the millionaire playboy life, that is assuming that the new DCnU titles are relatively in the same time frame.
Bruce plans on devoting a weekend to just spending time with Charlotte while still in the city of Gotham? Really? No way does Bruce Wayne not know himself better than that.
Bruce having sex in the middle of the afternoon seems rather out of character for him. Admittedly, it’s not the night, but still it seems rather curious decision making by the new Bruce Wayne, or is that the writing.
The girl, Olivia, was not named in issue #1, but suddenly has a name in Issue #2. (Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think I did)
Very creepy introduction to The Dollmaker, but the ability for the Dollmaker’s minions to sneak up on The Batman really didn’t ring true for me.
Gordon extinguishes his cigarette in this issue. I’m betting that someone read issue #1 and had Tony Daniel make a change in issue #2, as Gordon specifically mentions it dialog.
There was some good in this issue. The relationship between Gordon and Batman is pretty well done, but it mirrors that from Issue #1. There’s no need for Gordon to contact Batman secretly each issue. That seemed a bit redundant and formulaic.
I guess I get why you want to make the Batman stories very dark, based on the very nature of the Christopher Nolan movies, but I think these are going too far. Not to the point where it’s completely damaging the story, but almost to the sense that Batman seems secondary to the story behind the horror.
And while I like new villains, and think there is potential with the Dollmaker, he really seems like a combination of villains that we’ve seen before. But we shall see.
Verdict
From my tone, maybe you could guess that I didn’t like this issue as much as the previous. Well, you’d be correct. I like the new villain of the Dollmaker, but the rest of this story seemed rather pedestrian for a Batman title.
4.0 – Below Average
Cheers,
RJ Schwabe
