Detective Comics #959 Review

Ytterp Nmad Doog

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Raúl Fernández, Alvaro Martinez, Brad Anderson and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 28, 2017

Poor Azrael, the guy can't catch a break.  He finally gets his moment to shine and all anyone wants to do is talk about Zatanna!  Hey, I love Zatanna as much as the next guy, but I am actually interested in this story for Jean-Paul.  Of course, an equal mix of the two wouldn't be that bad either.  So, do we get that?  Let's find out...


The issue opens years ago in Las Vegas with Bruce and Zatanna talking on a rooftop.  That sure is Bruce's go-to move, right?  It seems that at this point, Zatanna's father, Zatara, is training Bruce in sleight of hand, but the future Dark Knight can't get the hang of it.  It goes beyond just that as we see the friendship (and maybe more...) between the two of them and I simply loved it!  It just took this one little scene with one little conversation to make me believe wholeheartedly that they are friends for life and would do anything for one another. That's a good thing since they were just attacked by Ascalon last issue and we pick up right where we left off. 

Ascalon crawls out of the whole Zatanna put it in and the fight is on.  It's easy for me to say that Zatanna steals the show here and even if the backwards word magic is something that can halt a scene in it's tracks, it didn't slow anything down here.  Thing got even more exciting as the entire Detective Squad showed up just as Azrael took on his 2.0 successor.

I said it above and I still was left wanting more Azrael, but mainly because I am intrigued with what happened between him and Ascalon.  Both of them learned something from seeing and confronting the other, but as Ascalon left to think things over, what Jean-Paul saw is more of a mystery to the reader and Luke Fox, especially.

We then get the return of Dr. Victoria October who is checking on Nomoz, but it really just felt like it was there to get Clayface and Cass some more screen time.  That may be the case for the next scene as well, this time with Kate and Luke, but seeing what tech Luke's been working on was pretty kick ass!  I know that some people frowned upon the Bat-Bunny robot suit of Superheavy, but seeing him here made me smile.  There are other suits as well and seeing them lined up makes me hope for an all-out mecha rumble with Escalon next issue.

The issue ends with Batman telling Zatanna why he went through all that trouble to talk to her and Jean-Paul's meditation being disturbed by something straight out of a Pan’s Labyrinth.  I think that readers will love the first part and they probably will be as disturbed as me at the last part...stuff of nightmares that was!

I think you can probably tell by now, but I loved this issue.  It's so nice to say that after being down on this book for so long and I can only hope it continues down this path.  I was worried about not getting enough Azrael because of Zatanna, but I have to admit, I wanted more of both.  Zatanna totally kicked ass and whatever Azrael is going through has me intrigued.

I really likes Alvaro Martinez's art in this issue.  Every character looked great and scenes and action flowed together so well.  

Bits and Pieces:

Detective Comics is back on track and I am glad to be back on the trolley.  Tynion adds Zatanna to the Detective Squad and she immediately steals the show and the Alvaro Martinez's art makes it all look great.  If you have jumped off this book, this is the time to get back on.

9.0/10