Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Scott Snyder, Mariko Tamaki, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, Marv WolfmanArtist: Lee Bermejo, Chris Burnham, Jamal Campbell, Jim Cheung, Olivier Coipel, Jos L. Garca Lpez, Dan Jurgens, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, John Romita Jr., Riley Rossmo, Walt Simonson, Brad Walker, Chip Zdarsky
Cover Price: $9.99
Release Date: September 16, 2020
DC Comics is celebrating 1000 issues of Batman in Detective Comics, and they've got a big issue with a hefty price tag to show you just how important that is. It says "epic" on the cover, but do the stories inside live up to that? Let's find out...
Detective Comics #1027 is a big issue. 144 pages big! Twelve stories and five pinups big! Art-wise, there is a lot of different looks, and I'm sure that most readers will find something to like here. My biggest issue, though, is the writers that DC picked for this. Yea, we get Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Tom King, and James Tynion IV, so we have over a decade of Batman covered, but there are more than a few writers here that would not make my shortlist of creators for such a big issue.
That aside, there are some cool stories here, but as a whole, they don't feel as big as I thought they would. Tomasi and Brad Walker kick things off with a story long on introduction, but short on substance. Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez continue with an over-wordy issue that wanted to be way more clever than it was and just took too damn long to tell. Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky continue that trend with a convoluted Batman/Joker story that seemed like it wanted to have fun but couldn't get out of its way to do so.
Next up was Greg Rucka and Eduardo Risso's Gotham Central-like tale that was okay, even if it felt like it was trying too hard to be "straight from the headlines" and only had Batman show up in the last panel. While I am not a huge fan of Riley Rossmo's art, he and James Tynion pick things up a bit with a story featuring Deadman.
Other stories are okay, but take a bit too long to tell. Kelly Sue Deconnick and John Romita Jr. show Bruce Wayne and James Gordon taking down a piece of shit on the golf course, and Marv Wolfman and Emanuela Lupacchino give the nod to some of the other detectives before Batman showed up.
I did enjoy Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham's story of the Silver Ghost and his eventual replacement and Tom King and Walter Simonson's story setting up King's Batman Annual #2 (and upcoming Bat/Cat book) was a bit too self-serving for an issue like this, but wasn't bad overall. The issue ends with a star-studded story by Scott Snyder and Ivan Reis, my favorite story of the bunch by Dan Jurgens and Kevin Nowlan, but then limps to an end with Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora.
Overall, this was an unexciting celebration that didn't feel like it always knew what it was celebrating. I expected an issue that you could give someone to show what Detective Comics with Batman was all about, but instead, it just felt like random stories thrown together to fill out an issue. This size issue is bound to have something for everyone, and I did have a couple of favorites. However, there were more misses than hits, in my opinion, and I was bored through much of it.
Bits and Pieces:
DC Comics and many creators get together to celebrate 1000 issues of Batman in Detective Comics, yet it didn't feel like much of a celebration. The issue had an odd focus at times, and most of the stories went on a bit too long, and were not very memorable. Most fans will find something to like here, but they may have to search a bit more than expected, and because of that, and the price tag, I can't outright recommend this as a must-read.
6.5/10
I think this was a way to celebrate one of the most famous issues of one of the most famous series ever. Of course they should have marked it somehow. I don’t think it’s reasonable to nitpick DC throwing together a massive amount of material to celebrate it. Sometimes it’s not necessary to itemize. They got some of their biggest name talent to participate. End of story.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think it was that special. We just had a 1000 issue celebration a year ago and this was no different, and less to me. Plus, some of the talent doesn't even make you think Batman at all.
DeleteWhat do you mean by itemize it?
DeleteItemize as in attempting to write about every story. It felt, with the page count, that you mostly barreled through with little interest except to get it down while still finding the time in your regular schedule to read and review other releases. So the review read as more resentful of this than an honest assessment. You could simply have said you liked some and you thought others were tedious. Incidentally, celebrating Detective Comics itself will always mean remembering that Batman of course didn’t enter the picture until that twenty-seventh issue. I’ll be getting my copy a little later. I eagerly await Morrison’s entry for that exact reason. (Incidentally I will be reading an issue of Legion, too, soon enough, another comic I thought the site was unfair toward recently, as you may recall.
DeleteI only had two reviews this week, this and catwoman. I even skipped my 3 marvel reviews this week! We just did a patreon spotlight on this one book that was an hour and a half long. I liked the Morrison story the most because it referenced Detective 27 and what it meant the most, but after a celebration of detective comics 26 issues ago, this was not special to me.
DeleteI also don't read or review Legion by the way, that is Rocky's reviews, I just publish them on the site for him. We dropped the book from the podcast so I haven't been reading it.