DC Comics and Detective Comics #1050 Spoilers and Review follows.
A Super-Hero’s Cry For Help! Mental Heath Shadow Of The Batman?!
The book also has over 10 variant covers, including a few variations with the same cover art, on top of the main cover above; some of those variants are below.
The above four Jorge Molina connecting variant covers look like the below together.
Oh, but they’re are more variant covers.
The promise of the issue can be found in its solicitation.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1050
Written by MARIKO TAMAKI
Art by IVAN REIS and DANNY MIKI
Backup 1 written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Backup 1 art by FERNANDO BLANCO
Backup 2 written by MARK WAID
Backup 2 art by DAN MORA
Cover by IRVIN RODRIGUEZ
Variant by LEE BERMEJO
4-part connecting variant by JORGE MOLINA
1:25 variant by JORGE FORNÉS
Team variant by JAY FABOK
$5.99 US | 48 pages | Variant $6.99 US (Card stock)
ON SALE 1/25/22It’s the landmark, oversize issue Detective Comics #1050, and some of the biggest names in comics are here to celebrate the Dark Knight!
First up in “The Tower” part four, the villainous force keeping Arkham Tower’s patients sedated is at last revealed—and this villain’s return is guaranteed to catch you by surprise! It’s the dramatic conclusion to act one of Mariko Tamaki’s Arkham Tower epic, brought to life by the legendary Ivan Reis!
Then, in “House of Gotham” part four, Matthew Rosenberg and Fernando Blanco take us into the seedy underbelly of Gotham’s criminal elite through the lens of the original Robin (Dick Grayson), and reveal what it takes for a young man to survive amongst the deadliest killers in the DCU. It’s a tour de force of Gotham’s vilest villains!
The book opens in the past with…
…a mentally fragile Huntress…
…raging on her villainous quarry…
…who she unintentionally killed.
Nightwing tries to reach out to her, to no avail, and then we pivot to modern day as Huntress is getting treatment, against her will, in Arkham Tower.
Looks like Huntress’ dream wasn’t a dream, but she doesn’t know, but it was Ana Vulsion’s bloodlust fueled attack in the hallway.
Nightwing is undercover in modern day in Arkham Tower, and then we pivot to the past…
…with Nightwing wanting to help Huntress with her issues, but she wants none of it.
The book ends with readers learning its not medicine that has made Arkham Tower’s villainous inhabitants docile and look like their healing, but…
…the emotional manipulation of the Psycho-Pirate.
There’s also the House of Gotham back-up feature.
Followed by a second back-up (full spoilers here) that appears to be the several pages of the upcoming Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #1 kicking off a new series beginning officially on March 15, 2022.
The Pulse:
This milestone Batman issue has an epic ending, but it doesn’t seem like a gratuitously padded issue as most milestone issues seem to be from publishers in the modern era. The main story and primary House of Gotham back-up have their normal page count. The only additional content is the Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #1 teaser. However, in modern fashion, the book has several variant covers.
However, what makes this current arc compelling is (1) the lack of modern-day Batman, as he’s off elsewhere per her his core series, but we do see him in flashbacks and (2) the important topic of mental health or mental wellness. This second subject is even more important three years into a pandemic that has changed the lives and routines of the global population. I’m not going to get into Covid-19 and the conspiracy theories and the debate about its origins, etc. as what we can all agree on, I think, is that regardless of the “debates” people are suffering mentally whether they have or have not contracted Covid-19 and one its many variants.
What had this issue standout is the fact that a super-hero genuinely needs mental health supports; that is the Helena Bertinelli Huntress. It was good to see even heroes suffering under the weight of protecting Gotham City from its monstoprous villains. Many of Batman’s rogues genuinely need mental health supports, that Arkham Asylum hasn’t been able to reliably offer over the years, and that Arkham Tower can’t either it seems. However, it’s heroes need it too, but not the gratuitous way that the Sanctuary offered it in Heroes in Crisis.
This TEC arc has the potential to spotlight mental wellness in a genuine way, with your super-heroics shoehorned in as it’s still a comic book, but hopefully avoid the mistakes of Heroes in Crisis. That series used mental wellness as plot device with no care, at least seemingly based on its delivery, on sending an important message about mental wellness in addition to telling an engaging super-hero yarn.
The main story was amazing story-wise, despite being light on Batman, as it really spot lit a struggling Huntress. It doesn’t go unnoticed that a visible minority character is the one seen struggling here, not one of the series’ caucasian leads, but she is an iconic character whose struggles can be felt by readers. The art was amazing on that main story too.
The back-up was serviceable on story and art; the editorial decision on back-up features for Detective Comics and Action Comics are perplexing. Decent stories in their own right, but “fit” for the title is questionable.
The more compelling back-up was the Superman/Batman: World’s Finest one.
Overall, an entertaining, important and powerful issue. 8.5 out of 10 on the strength of the main story.
