Detective Comics #997 Review

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artists: Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, David Baron, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 30, 2019

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This is Part 4 of the Mythology story arc. Somebody has been hunting down the people who made Bruce Wayne into Batman; killing Leslie Thompkins and Henri Ducard, and almost killing Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce's sensei. Now they've used Thaddeus Brown, the original Mister Miracle and the one who taught Bruce how to escape any situation, as bate to trap him.

Whoever did all of this somehow renovated Thaddeus's home into an aquarium tank, and now Batman and Thaddeus are tied up underwater. There's not really a lot to say about what happens in this issue, because the first half is Batman thinking about his strategy of getting out of this mess and the art is of them avoiding getting eaten by sharks and piranha. And the second half is a fight and a lot of babbling.

Yup. There are sharks and piranha in the water. Well, initially sharks. The piranha are let loose once blood is shed. Did you know Batman can shoot off the bat ears on his cowl like mini-torpedoes? I had no idea. Weird, I figured he'd use that a lot more often.

This kind of gives me flashbacks to Batman issues from when I was a kid and he'd be in these situations that he couldn't possibly escape from, but he stayed calm and collected and using thought bubbles he'd work it out and save the day. Ah, nostalgia.

Of course, they eventually get out, being master escape artists, and are faced with that pesky murdering monster abomination thing again. I won't spoil how they end up defeating it but they do. Batman denies Thaddeus's offer to go with him and help, and he flies off in the Batplane alone to his next destination. Which is... the lab of Hugo Strange.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue showed us why Thaddeus is a big player in creating Batman by putting it into action. Like we kiiiinda saw a bit of Ducard's hunting skills displayed in the last issue. Having this arc lead into Detective #1000 is starting to make sense because it's piecing Batman together. The art here is top notch and even though I really liked the first half, the second half lost me a bit.

7/10