Art By: Brian Buccellato, Francis Manapul
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 2, 2014
A Brave New Gotham
Alright time to jump back into Gotham City with Detective's new creative team, Francis Manapul, and Brian Buccellato. These two will be taking the reins from here on out, and you can expect a new kind of storytelling than you've been used to. John Layman breathed new life into a disappointing book and made it something that the fans would want to read again, but we're heading into new territory as the creative team behind the New 52's Flash take over, and put their own spin on the Dark Knight Detective. So buckle yourselves into the nearest Batmobile, and let's cruise into this new era of Detective Comics.
Explain It!:
Our story begins with some drug pushers who have kidnapped a bunch of Chinese children, and plan on using them to run their drugs all over town. Why Chinese you ask? Well it's because their parents are illegal immigrants, and they won't call the police. Oh and their drug of choice to push, well that's a callback to the creative team's work on Flash. The drug Icarus can get you high, while giving you super speed in the process. But if you take too much, it will cause you to burn up, like in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode. What does this all mean? Well it means Batman's not a happy camper, and plans on bustin' some skulls to rescue these children. But not everything is a cake walk for Batman either, he leaves one of the pushers dangling on a line outside, and a motorcycle gang calling themselves The Kings of The Sun, show up, and cut him down, and make their motorized escape. Batman tries to catch up, and take them all down, but tonight doesn't seem to be his night.
Later Bruce Wayne makes an appearance at a motor cross arena to meet a new business associate, Elena Aguila. Yeah I know it's a strange meeting place but Elena's daughter Annie is one of the riders, and it's a nice set up for the characters, in this motorcycle heavy issue. Well the reason for the meeting is that Bruce and Elena are going to be working together to clean up, and build up Gotham's East End, and Waterfront for commercial use. But something this big, is bound to upset some people, especially the dregs of society, who intend to send a message about stepping on their turf.
Now we see that The Squid is back in Gotham, and that one of the drug pushers from the beginning is his younger brother, Jonny. Seems like the drugs were the Squid's and he's not too happy about his brother stealing them. But he is family, so his punishment goes to one of the guys with him. We watch as one of the pushers is dropped into a giant tank of water that holds a giant squid inside it. That's definitely one way to send a message. Sad thing is, when I heard the name The Squid, my mind immediately jumped to Batman The Animated Series, to the character Sid The Squid, who almost iced the Bat. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up, you won't be disappointed. Yeah it's not the same guy, but this Squid seems pretty cool too......... I guess.
In the end Batman is in the Batcave thinking about Damian, and working on his son's old motorcycle, (seriously another motorcycle. I don't think this creative team is ready to slow down after working on Flash for so long.) when an alarm goes off that there's a intruder on the grounds. Bruce goes to see who it is, when a flaming speedster Elena Aguila burns up on his front porch. Holy Shit No! I know I just met her, but damn, I really wanted to see this character help clean up Gotham. lousy Manapul, and Booch making me care about someone right away. That's it for now, come again next month, when we see what Batman does to the people responsible for this.
Bits and Pieces:
Well that was one hell of a way for Manapul, and Booch to make an entrance. While I wasn't crazy about the art style when the story began, by the end I was fully on board. This has been my favorite Batman title for awhile, and I'm glad that it can remain. Hell this creative team made me care completely about a character you first meet in this issue, and I'm usually not of the caring variety. So I welcome this new team with open arms, and can't wait to see what they bring us in the future. Get on the trolley and buy this issue.
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9/10
This issue was Amaaaaaazing!! My heart skipped a beat when she "died"...lovin this so far!!!
ReplyDeleteme as well, can't wait to see where this story goes. Did it seem strange to you that Damian was talked about a lot for a Detective title?
ReplyDeleteYes...scared me a bit!! I dont want him to be reserected becuase it takes the purpose and meaning of his death. Its more dramatic and gives batman a feeling of avenging his death, which makes him more menacing..who doesnt like a dark batman!?
ReplyDeleteIt does raise some questions though! Maybe, like Peter J. Tomasi was saying, for bats 75th there can be something involving Damian! Love the way Manapul and Booch include Damian, so touching.
ReplyDelete