Detective Comics #954 Review

Forget Me Not

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Marcio Takara, Marcelo Maiolo and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April 12, 2017

While Detective Comics may not be heading off to the Button story or getting Reborn like the Superman side of things, it is still one of the most consistently enjoyable books of Rebirth.  Sure, people have argued that Batman has taken a bit too many beatings within these covers, but I contend that will make the payoff all the better.  The League of Shadows may not be real in Batman's mind, but the devastation that Shiva is handing Gotham is and I can't wait to see what Ra's al Ghul has to say about it after showing up in the Batcave at the end of last issue.  Will Batman join up with his old enemy to take down their common foe?  Will Cassandra join her mother or kill her outright?  Will I stop asking questions and just get on with my review?  Yes...Yes, I will.


The issue opens in the Batcave with Batman going after Ra's full out, but Ubu is there to make sure things don't get out of hand.  Batman does get tossed aside, but I won't go as far as saying he took a beating...physically.  For all those out there that are getting sick and tired of Batman getting a beatdown, I am sick and tired of him looking like a big dummy.  That continues here as he still demands that the League of Shadows is a myth made up by Ra's...that is until Ra's plays out his inner Riddler and laughs as Batman struggles to put the pieces together of what he really knows and doesn't know.

We then cut to Jacob Kane who desperately wants out of his cell and gets his wish when Ulysses and Colony show up out of nowhere to spring him and the other prisoners free.  The arm themselves and leave, but Ulysses seems to have another plan as well.

We then go back to Batman and Ra's and find out a bit of the League of Shadows history.  Yea, they are real and Batman almost uncovered the truth until Ra's made him forget.  It's a pretty shocking revelation, but it might not be the only thing that Ra's has made Batman forget!  That's pretty big stuff, but it's brushed aside when Ra's opens the front door to the Batcave, lets the League of Shadows in right as he paralyzes Batman!

The issue ends with Ra's giving Batman over to Shiva while Colony prepares to invade the League of Shadows base.  Things get a little confusing, but it's clear that there is one person in Gotham ready to kick some League of Shadow ass...someone with a very personal connection to Shiva.

This issue has some pretty big things going on that go beyond just this League of Shadows story.  I really like the inclusion of Ra's al Ghul and James Tynion writes him perfectly as the cold, calculating evil genius that he is and what goes on here could set up some great storylines in the future.  However, as a part of this arc, this was all setup to get the pieces in play for the final two issues.

What was really upsetting was the art.  Marcio Takara's art was not good and made a couple crucial scenes hard to figure out...especially the ending in the Batcave.  Did they all explode or just vanish or both????  It's not a good thing when the art detracts from the story and unfortunately, that happens here.

Bits and Pieces:

The League of Shadows story continues and the addition of Ra's al Ghul ups the ante, but the art really squashes most of the enjoyment I got from this issue.  The pieces are set up for a really cool final two issues, I just hope they feature art that helps, not hinders the story going forward.

6.5/10