Detective Comics #970 Review

Don't Walk Away Mad

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by:Joe Bennett, Salvador Regla, Ricardo Jaime, Marcio Loerzer and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 13, 2017

It's time for Detective Comics and I want to get excited for Tim Drake's return, but this book seems to be stuck in neutral.  I may be the only one, but the Victim Syndicate wasn't a favorite of mine the first time around and getting them back doesn't stoke my fire in any way possible.  However, I will give Tynion the benefit of the doubt and hope he can make me suddenly care about them.  Did he do just that this week?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with Tim having a little "Himself of Tomorrow" dream/nightmare that ends with him waking up to a concerned Steph.  It seems that since he got back, Tim has been going full bore to make things better, but isn't thinking about his own health.

I have to say it right now...I don't really like this Tim Drake.  He comes off more excitable than Jessie Spano on caffeine pills and yes, I'm so scared.  I say that, but that doesn't mean that James Tynion is writing him poorly.  I get what's going on here, I just don't like him in a "don't want to hang with him" kind of way.  He does have big ideas, but it's easy to see that with what's going on in Gotham, these very ideas may be very dangerous.

We head off to see Batman and the crew  fighting cyber assassins, which sounds cool, but is only here to setup the idea that someone has let some pretty sensitive stuff out to the public...sensitive Detective Squad (yea, I know they are the Gotham Knights, but I like Detective Squad) stuff.  Again, this has been setup already and even though this is the next logical progression, it doesn't make it memorable.

After this, we see Clayface and Dr. October working on the cure for Basil , get a nice little moment with Cass and then head off to see Kate and her father talk about Tim Drake.  It seems that Tim is really going all-out in recruiting allies, going so far as trying to get Jacob on board.  It really is starting to feel like Tim is doing exactly what Future Tim warned him about and it will all make Batwoman go bad...just like Future Tim warned everyone about!

If you are a fan of the Tim/Steph romance, this issue may not be for you.  The sensitive information I talked about above is traced to Steph's phone and even though we saw that she didn't have anything to do with it being leaked, Tim accuses her.  This leads to everything being laid on the table and Steph leaving...which I am fine with.  I really haven't liked her in this series at all.

The issue ends with the Victim Syndicate taking down one of my favorite members of the team.  Anyone reading this book has seen this coming for a long time, but I was still a little upset when it happened.

This issue is pretty much all setup.  Some of the stuff was good...seeing Tim go nuts in front of our eyes and Steph leaving for now, but most of it just felt like Tynion was going through the motions.  I can't help but think that the whole Victim Syndicate thing works best with Tim Drake in the mix and because of that, Tynion just kept them in the wings until now.  Because of that, however, it all just felt too forced for me to really care.

I did not like Joe Bennet's Tim Drake.  Everything else was pretty good, but Tim just looked terrible each time he showed up.  Since he is the main focus of this issue, that is not a good thing.

Bits and Pieces:

In a series that has been spinning it's wheels, this issue sets up things, by spinning it's wheels.  Yea, there is nothing really that new here for readers who have been reading since the beginning and nothing that exciting to get new readers involved.  Hopefully, the setup pays off down the line.

6.5/10