Art By: Brian Buccellato, Francis Manapul
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 7, 2014
Holy Shit It's A Detective Story....Weird.
Last time we stepped into the world of Detective Comics, it was being created by the brilliant team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. In the last issue we saw that the street drug Icarus had made it's way into Gotham, and Bruce's new business partner Elena Aguila was made an example of when we saw her running on fire to the front door of Wayne Manor. So let's jump back into this story of speedster drugs, mobsters, and dudes that like to feed their enemies to giant squids.
Explain It!:
The second part of our stories begins at Wayne Manor where Bruce Wayne is Bullock's #1 suspect for the death of Elena Aguila. You see back in Zero Year Bullock made sure that Icarus was out of Gotham City, and now that it's back, he's taking it pretty personally. With Bruce Wayne's playboy persona, it's easy to imagine where Bullock is coming from. Billionaire playboy has a party, some drugs are used, and it so happens when you take too much of this certain drug you spontaneously combust while having speedster powers for a short time. Well except for the super powered combustion it seems pretty logical.
So Batman investigates the crime scene out front of his property where it looks like there was a scuffle, and somebody injected Elena Aguila with Icarus. So Batman hits the street in one of his many disguises, and talks to people about scoring some Ick. Eventually his probing gets the attention of somebody and a car pulls up wanting to know why he wants the drug so bad. Well this interaction has two effects. The bad guys think they killed the Nosy Nancy with a shotgun blast to the chest, and Batman gets a tracker on the top of the car. Aren't we happy that Batman is always prepared? This was a lot like that seen in Lethal Weapon where Riggs gets shot in a drive by, just a lot closer. I didn't even know this guy was supposed to be Batman until after he appeared dead, and Alfred pulls up and loads his body into a van. I guess that was the point, and I dig it.
Elsewhere we see that Elena Aguila's dirt bike riding daughter Annie is out on the street as well looking to score some drugs, and whether she actually has a problem or not I don't know. It's that or she's trying to find out about Icarus and the death of her mother as well. It'll have to be something we explore in the further adventures of this comic. But whatever she's up to it makes her miss her mother's funeral, where Bullock continues to harass Bruce Wayne about how Elena Aguila died.
Well now it's time to go after the car Batman put the tracker on, and it leads to a cargo yard full of shipping containers. Inside Batman finds a bunch of Asian children, like we saw last issue where the drug dealers were using illegal children to push their drugs, only on a larger scale. Batman gets the kids free but when he opened the last container he was in for a rude awakening. Sumo for some reason was there waiting, and it's time for a Sumo brawl. Of course Batman comes out on top, but Sumo got his licks in as well. Before he passes out Sumo tells Batman that he didn't kill Elena Aguila, that he was only hired to get rid of her car. The person that did it was apparently The Squid. Like I said last review it's not Sid The Squid from Batman TAS like I had hoped, but a badass dude who likes to feed his enemies to giant squids.
In the end someone radios to The Squid that Sumo talked, and we move to some guys loading a truck. Inside it appears to be a guy in some sort of containment unit, who appears to be perpetually burning in a pink flame. But who this is isn't explained yet, hopefully next issue. So that's it for now, make sure to check in next month where I promise to have the review up earlier. Until then just bask in the awesomeness that Detective Comics is actually giving us a detective story.
Bits and Pieces:
Like I said in the review this is actually a detective story, and this story arc is a great place for Batman fans who have missed this aspect of the Caped Crusader in other comics. Manapul and Buccellato are really cementing their roles as creators that can do anything after moving from the lighthearted world of The Flash to the dark and gritty of Detective Comics, and I really can't wait to see what they'll continue to bring us in the future. Great characters, story, and art. It's the trifecta for great comics, and you should be reading it.
9/10
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