First up, apologies for not reviewing any of DC's New 52 comics for the past couple weeks, been rather busy lately. I have been reading some issues however, such as Batman #1, Wonder Woman #1, Action Comics #2 and more. For this review, I'll be tackling the new issue of the (so far) excellent relaunch of Detective Comics - the comic line which brought the Caped Crusader to the comic world.
And for those wondering, I thought Action Comics #2 was much better than the first issue, but I'll only review Detective Comics #2 right here.
Detective Comics #2 (2011)
Rating:
Written By:
Tony S. Daniel
Art By:
Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn
Plot Synopsis:
Batman sets his sights on the Gotham Ripper, who in turn has his sights on Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne explores a budding romance with television journalist Charlotte Rivers, who’s visiting Gotham City to cover the gruesome slayings – while also trying to uncover Bruce’s own mystery. But time is running out as both Commissioner Gordon and Batman work to uncover the true identity of this new serial killer.
One of my favorite issues of DC's New 52 relaunch was
Detective Comics #1. Featuring great story telling, amazing art and believable characters, it was second only to
Justice League #1 in the N52. So obviously, I'd be hotly anticipating the next issue. Reviews for
Detective Comics #2 have suggested that it isn't quite as strong as the first issue. Are they right? Let's take a look.
Like the first issue,
Detective Comics #1 has some fantastic artwork (though not
quite as good as the first), with its peak being the depictions Batman's kicking criminal tail. Whereas the first issue focused almost entirely on Batman himself, this issue also focuses on Bruce Wayne's non-Batman life as a playboy billionaire (though not as much on Wayne as say,
Batman: The Dark Knight or the main
Batman title). This serves as both a strength and a weakness. It definitely fleshes out Batman a little more by providing a look at his life when he's not fighting crime, but at the same time makes the issue a little weaker by doing so. The opening scene - in which Wayne is climbing up a big rock inside of his building, and a random businessman joins him - was pretty unnecessary IMO, it felt out of place and slightly cheesy. Also, right after that, Wayne hooks up with TV journalist Charlotte Rivers, and that felt a bit unnecessary as well. Bruce Wayne IS a playboy, I get it. But if they wanted to include Wayne's hookups, they should've reserved it for the main
Batman title, or even
The Dark Knight. It felt a little unnecessary to put in a line that focuses mostly on Bruce Wayne's life as Batman (the first issue did, anyways), and also reminded me a bit too much of
Iron Man.
Another flaw (although minor) is that we still don't know enough about the 'Dollmaker'. It could be just a plot point that he won't be revealed until a later issue, but it only increased my wanting to see the character in action, instead of being behind-the-scenes the whole time.
As for high points, there are still a lot of them. Other than the aforementioned flaws, the storytelling is still excellent. Other than
Detective Comics #1, I haven't read anything that Tony Daniels has done for Batman, so I can't say anything about the hate on his previous work on Batman. But I
can say that his run on
Detective Comics is so far fantastic. This issue does an awesome job fleshing out the characters, as well as developing Batman's relationship with Jim Gordon. And as stated before, it's always great to see Batman taking on criminals, and the final battle scene is especially epic (the last moment makes me more pumped for the third issue than ever).
In the end,
Detective Comics #2 isn't near as good as its predecessor, but still makes for an excellent read that only makes me look forward to the next few issues more and more. If you're looking for a Batman comic line that focuses mostly on Batman's crime-fighting life than other titles, then I would definitely recommend
Detective Comics.