Detective Comics #942 Review

Big Baby

Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Andy MacDonald, John Rauch and Marilyn Patrizio
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: October 12, 2016

We've finally made it, the end of the Night of the Monster Men story.  It's an understatement to say that I haven't been a huge fan as I have found it to be lacking in almost every facet.  That being said, I am still holding out hope that this final issue can save the day and make it all worthwhile.  I'm not counting on it, but a man can dream, right?  So, do my dreams come true?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with Batwoman gathering the troops as Batman heads off after Hugo Strange.  Batman tells Kate to make the team their very best and within a couple pages, I was reading something more akin to Voltron to Batman.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it did throw me off a bit.  What am I talking about?  Well, each of our heroes (Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler and Cassandra) jump into a Watchtower and power it up like some sort of mecha. Yes, I said "Watchtower" and "Mecha" and if that sounds like it shouldn't mesh, you'd be right! 

Meanwhile, Batman arrives at Anders Tower and finds his way to Hugo Strange...sitting on a throne of psychology books.  After a speech about wearing a "suicide suit", we find out that his plan is just to take Batman's place as the city's true Dark Knight.  While I like his motivation for all of this, somebody needs to help Strange work on his game a bit.  I just can't wrap my head around the monstrosities he let loose on the city having anything to do with this end game.  It really feels like more work than necessary.

If that confused me, imagine what I thought of the Watchtowers.  They aren't exactly Transformers, but more like large gun batteries that let loose on the final, giant Kaiju stomping through Gotham.  While this is going on, Nightwing is trying to figure out what's going on and it's part developing plan and part crazy person rambling.  It looks like the later wins out as Dick abandons his post and jumps into the gaping mouth of the Monster.  Why would he do that?  Oh, I wish I knew!

Things go from silly to ridiculous as Clayface joins Batman to stop Strange, but I can't admire their plan because it's confusing, laughable and comes about with no setup whatsoever.  It really just comes off as a forced way to end Hugo's threat without physical violence and made me shake my head in disbelief.  Really, I'm still shaking my head now.

Speaking of all those things and more, wait until you hear the explanation of how Dick ends the Monster Men threat.  I really thought I was missing a couple of pages as Nightwing tells us what he figured out, but we are left wondering how that translated into the giant Kaiju being defeated.  I know I am not the smartest man, but I am sitting here trying to figure out what the hell I just read!

The issue ends with cleanup (with Justice League assistance) and Bruce and Kate reminding us that there are always more monsters out there ready to attack.  After reading this crossover and especially this ending, I hope they come and take me away or at least hit me over the head and make me forget this month long garbage I just finished reading.

What can I say?  This story sucked as a whole and this ending was one of the worst endings to any story I have read since we started this site.  It was as if Steve Orlando was messing around with us for a while and then decided to get sadistic at the end.  It really was that bad...maybe even worse.  Talk about leaving your absolute worst for last!

Andy MacDonald's art was okay here, but I really couldn't get past the fact of how bad this story was.  I really can't give anything here a positive spin with the awful taste it all left in my mouth.

Bits and Pieces:

This finale was just awful.  Steve Orlando forces an ending onto the reader that is rushed, forced, doesn't make sense and is an insult to everyone involved.  It's bad enough that it hijacked three books for a month, but it's also the worst thing that has come out of Rebirth so far.  The only positive is that we can get back to our regular stories now.  At least we have that!

2.5/10