Detective Comics #961 Review

Of the Mind!

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 26, 2017

Detective Comics has been an up and down ride for me during Rebirth, but since Zatanna showed up, it's been all up!  She has breathed new life into the story and seeing her early relationship with Bruce has been a treat.  Throw in a little Azrael and James Tynion is slamming this baby into fifth gear.  So, does the fun continue?  Let's find out...


The issue starts up in the past with Zatanna telling (bragging?) to Bruce about Magic.  It would have been cooler, but it's pretty much what we've already seen already, but it does lead to the bit where Zee first showed Bruce the Sphere.  Of course, Zatara shows up and things get a hairy real quick, especially for Bruce.

Yep, this is when Bruce's mind was wiped and if that wasn't crazy enough, we see that Zatara had a guest with him...Ra's al Ghul!  In the present, Zatanna does apologize to Bruce, but it's all cut short when Batman gets an emergency call from Luke.

Before we go off to what should be an awesome fight, we take a trip inside Azrael's mind and see Ascalon (as a little boy) preaching the right and wrongs that should make up Azrael.  It ends with the boy turning all Good Son and showing just how evil he is.

Back in reality, Azrael is fighting Luke and Kate while Ascalon flies off with his Batwing Army.  The bulk of the issue is Azreal fighting the Detective Squad and if you are a Cassandra Cain fan, you'll be happy to know she is actually in this issue and kicks ass!

The issue ends with Ascalon about to take on Clayface and Numoz and while I think it's a bad idea, it looks like Luke has a change of clothes that fans of old school Azrael are going to love.  

This is a really quick moving issue that slows things down even as it is filled with tons of fighting.  I liked the Zatanna and Batman beginning, but the Azrael/Ascalon of the mind bit was a bit cliched and threw the pace of the issue off.  I loved seeing more of Luke and the Rookie and can't wait to see Azrael in his new duds, but I really want to see what Batman does with the Sphere and I want to see it now.

Alvaro Martinez's art is really good as usual with excellent character models and great action scenes.  With all the other artists being talked about at DC, he gets overlooked for some reason.  Believe me, he shouldn't!

Bits and Pieces:

While this isn't the best issue of this arc, it's still pretty damn good.  We get to see some more Bruce/Zatanna: The Early Years and then get some butt kicking good times for the rest of the issue.  Fans of Azrael will be excited by the end and as one of them...I can't wait for the next issue.

7.5/10