Detective Comics #968 Review

Looking for the Exit

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Tomeu Morey and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 8, 2017

While I really was hoping for a more emotional return for Tim Drake, I am still digging this arc.  However, my interest is mainly from seeing the Tim Drake of Tomorrow and wondering what's coming next.  I mean, the guy shows up, says he's going to kill Batwoman and then activates Brother Eye!  What's next, using the Grays Sports Almanac to gain riches beyond the imagination?!?!  While that would be awesome, I'm pretty sure that's not the direction that James Tynion is going for.  I guess I should stop with my outdated movie references and get on with my review...


The issue opens with a little unforeseen consequence of Brother Eye being activated.  It actually made me laugh a bit, but it also spells big trouble for Batwoman and anyone around her...which means some of my favorite characters in this book!

We go to the Batcave to see Future Bat Drake fight Batman and the Robins...and easily hold his own.  He repeats that he must kill Batwoman to save everyone's future along with going against time travel rules by telling a few juicy future nuggets.

After Tim gets Batman's guard down and defeats him (seriously, I'm, not sure if I should be pissed at how kickass this Tim of Tomorrow is or love it!), he sics the Batmobiles on Dick, Damian and Jason and heads off to the Belfry.  Our Tim joins him, but the big thing of this whole beginning keeps happening...Hypertime is fighting Future Tim because he is changing the future.  It's obviously a forced foreshadowing of what's to come.

As they arrive at the Belfry, Future Tim makes one last plea before karate chopping his younger self to sleep.  I love that move!  He confronts Kate and tells her why he is doing what he's doing.  It all happens way to quickly, however, and even though I love it when Batman and the other Robins show up, it all seems like Tynion is just racing to the finish line without letting his story settle in.  Young Tim does show up and has a nice monologue, but again, it's feels way too rushed as Hypertime comes into play for good it seems.  Like they say, Hypertime waits for nobody!

It's over?  That's it? Boy, after not getting the feels last issue, I was left feeling numb at the end of this one.  Maybe I was expecting too much, but this ending gave me the feeling that this whole arc was just a waste of time!  I guess it can still be a setup for future stories with Batwoman and Ulysses, but I wanted it to be about Tim Drake coming home.

I have sung the praises of Alvaro Martinez on this book, but this was not his best issue.  A couple of sequences were confusing and while I understand an issue with various versions of characters tend to get wonky, it's the artist's job to make sure that doesn't happen.

Bits and Pieces:

This was just another big Rebirth moment that fell flat (see JLA for the other) and that's a real shame.  Getting Tim Drake back should have been a big thing and while it started off promising, the forced and quick ending just killed it.

5.0/10