Nice Guys Finish...Written by: James Tynion
Art by: Javier Fernandez, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, John Kalisz, Adriano Lucas and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 28, 2018
We are getting near the end of James Tynion's run on Detective Comics and while there are a bunch of things I hope he ties up before leaving, it seems like the big push will be to reset the status quo of the book itself and by that, I mean getting rid of the Detective Squad. I'll be sad to see the team go, but it was Tynion's thing so I understand. So, do we get more of that as Team Kate and Team Bruce get prepared for a final conflict? Let's find out...
The issue opens years in the future and Tim Drake is at Ivy University being a total dork and I am okay with that. Things change up for the worse pretty quick and Tim is back in his old duds and we get a No-Man's Land reference and a bunch of pages of crazy ass action. I won't spoil what happens or why, but it's a pretty cool ride if you just go with the flow.
We then head back to the present (and find out what this look into the future really was) and see that Tim must have taken up Ulysses on the whole friend thing from last issue's cliffhanger. Being friends with Ulysses does have its benefits including getting a tour of his "Weapons throughout the Ages" museum/Man Cave and getting inside information on why he is helping out Tim in the first place. It seems when he looked into Tim's future, he wasn't in it. He wants to be in it! We end the scene with a Back to the Future reference (can't go wrong there) and a pissed off Hadrian who wants Tim to do some Brother Eye early activation. Yea, that would solve all their problems!!!
We then head off to see Luke Fox talking to his sister, Tam, about leaving Foxtech to her while he hangs with Kate Kane and Colony. I understand that continuity has been a fluid thing since Rebirth, but Tam was left with very little brain function in the New 52 Batwing series due to being given an extreme overdose of Snakebite, a variation of Venom by the villain, Menace. It just feels odd seeing her (and not Luke's other sister, Tiffany, who is a genius times ten) here and the idea that she was in "recovery" seems like a broad stroke step for something that people don't recover from. She does seem to have a friendship with Kate and that's pushed as the reason she doesn't mind Luke's new side job.
The issue ends with a really good moment between Tim and Batman that is made more poignant after what Tim saw at the beginning of the issue, but the cliffhanger is there to remind us all, be careful who you make friends with. Seriously, that's why I don't have friends. That and the fact that I'm a real prick and very hard to deal with day in and day out.
This was a good issue of setup to keep us heading towards the end of Tynion's run. I really like Ulysses motivation for doing what he's doing and since we are more aware of the dangers of the Brother Eye tech as readers, it ups the tension seeing it used so willy-nilly. It's also worth noting that even though this series will be known for the large cast of characters Tynion had at his disposal, the more focused cast here does wonders for the pacing and story. Everyone has something to do and it flows so nicely.
The art is a mixed bag, but with three pencilers on the issue, that's something that would be hard to avoid. It still looks good overall, it just looks better in some places than others.
Bits and Pieces:
This is a well-paced, well-told issue that sets up motivations, shows some big stakes and is just a good read. The art is a mixed bag, but this is still one of my favorite issues of Detective in quite some time and I can't wait for the next issue in two weeks.
8.0/10
8.0 might be a little high for me, but I enjoyed the issue overall. But some of the art was just atrocious, especially Ulysses and Tim's college buddy.
ReplyDeleteAnother adequate review from Jim.