Detective Comics #1031 Review

I am Spartacus

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Art: Bilquis Evely
Colors: Mar Lopes
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 23rd, 2020

There is a movement in Gotham to de-mask the masks, but does the movement speak for the majority of Gotham's people? Are Nakano and The Mirror working together for this goal? And what the actual heck is Damian up to, running around with Bruce's black book and looking like a medieval peasant?

We find out right away that no, Nakano and The Mirror, although they seem to have the same goal of de-masking vigilantes, are not working togther. While Nakano is up late and alone in him campaign headquarters, The Mirror gives him a visit. He offers Nakano fash drive that contains information that will help him win the election, but Nakano would rather lose than cheat. Of course The Mirror is pissed that his help is being refused by somebody who he thought he had an ally in, and he leaves.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gotham, we see what appears to be a teenager or young adult painting the Batsymbol on a brick wall, and another one comes up and does the whole O/ thing over it in red immediately. The two get into a fight, but Batman comes out of nowhere to break it up. The O/ kid clearly hates vigilantes and says "no matter where you go, there's a vigilante on every corner looking the break heads!" to which the Batsymbol kid replies "the only head Batman's breaking is yours for starting this!" And Batman, holding both of them up by the collar, responds with "I'm not breaking ANY heads. Go home and stop destroying public property." This was probably the only part of the issue I actually enjoyed.

We see more of Robin, and this time he's snuck into Detective Podolsky's house. He's uncovered that she is actually Catherine Elliot, the half sister of Tommy Eliot, AKA Hush. He goes on about her corruption, and then he disarms her when she gets upset and takes her gun out. He leaves her tied to her chair, the police on the way, and evidence out for the police to find.

The Mirror is leading crowds of his followers into the heart of Gotham while the Batfamily watches. But The Mirror's and his followers are met by something they didn't expect: Gothamites wearing Batfamily masks. How many times have we seen this lately? It was in Daredevil not that long ago, although that was really well done. And IIRC it was done maybe twice (???) in a DC book recently? Anyways, I let out an uuuuugh. Yeah, so the people of Gotham are standing up and saying how important vigilantes are to them and all that. It turns into a brawl and the Batfamily comes in.

The Mirror goes off on a rant right out of Ghost of Tom Joad saying wherever there's a this and a that he'll be there, and then he legit jumps into the water and blows himself up. Thank goodness. I hated that guy. Batman, prior to the brawl, had gotten a signal to the whereabouts of Damian so now he's got to go hunt him down. But first, he gives a speech to The Mirror's followers and to the other people of Gotham about how they wear masks to protect others. You know the drill.

When Batman calls the Batfamily to see if they're okay, Nightwing says they're fine and that Batman should go find Damian. But, you see, they are not in fact okay....

Bits and Pieces

Like the last issue, the art is pretty darn cool in certain spots but also not in others. Unlike the last issue, I really didn't enjoy it nearly as much. It's just too much like what we've seen lately from multiple other books, with the big climax scene being exactly like other books recently. Also, should Bruce Springsteen get writing credit for The Mirror's fight monologue? ;)

5.5/10