Retro Review: Detective Comics #474 Review (1977) - "The Deadshot Ricochet"

Secrets and Lies

Written by: Steve Englehart
Art by: Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, Jerry Serpe, and Ben Oda
Cover Price: 35¢
Release Date: September 27, 1977

Continuing on with my retro reviews for Batman Day 2018, I thought I'd do a couple in a row from Steve Engelhart’s run from the late 70’s starting with this Deadshot one-shot.  It's cool seeing Deadshot, his new getup and an origin flashback as well, but the big thing about this issue to me is Silver St. Cloud.  Why you ask?  Let's find out…


We open in the Batcave with the “Teen Wonder” Dick Grayson and Batman having some competitive fun with each other.  It was actually a nice way to start the issue and I wish we got more of it.  Sadly we don't because Wonder Girl calls Robin and he is off on Teen Titans business.  

We continue with Penguin getting put in a cell next to Floyd Lawton and while Oswald seems content with throwing shade at Floyd and escaping in record time, it's Deadshot who gets the last laugh and checks out a bit early.

We then head off to see Batman dealing with Rupert Thorne who has made it his business to ban Batman from Gotham and even if he says it's the people's choice, we and Batman all know better.

It's then off to see Batman and Silver St. Cloud find out about Deadshot's prison escape and then go to a fancy lunch.  It's during the lunch that we see Bruce is 99% sure that Silver knows he is Batman and we get some inner monologue and conflict from Bruce about it.  It really is played out well here and the reader gets to see first hand how much this rips at Bruce.

After a brief Deadshot origin story, we get Batman and Floyd going at it big time.  Both characters come off as truly badass and when the fight spills into the convention center where Silver is working, we see that Bruce's fears are true...Silver knows the truth.

The final fight (on and in a giant typewriter) is cool as hell and while the issue ends abruptly, the bad guy is taken down and the idea that someone else knows Batman's identity is the biggest shock of all.

This is a fun issue and if you are a Deadshot fan, you will surely enjoy it.  There is a cool Joker cameo that sets up the next issue in the series, but this can be read all by itself just for the fun of it.  The art and story are both top notch and I suggest tracking this down to check it out.  I read it in the Batman a Celebration of 75 Years trade and while it's not on the DC Universe app yet, maybe it will be soon.

Bits and Pieces:

This is a cool one-shot with Deadshot, but the big thing going on here is the continuation of Silver St. Cloud knowing Bruce's secret.  There is a great mix of Bruce and Batman and is something that Batman fans should check out.  

9.0/10