Detective Comics #1054 Review

 

Jenga!

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg, Mariko Tamaki

Artist: Fernando Blanco, Max Raynor

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: February 22, 2022

I liked the last issue of Detective Comics more than most of the others, but the bar has been set way low since the start of this weekly "event."  Mariko Tamaki has struggled with pacing this weekly book and keeps losing focus on big and small details throughout.  Let's see how this one turns out...

Detective Comics #1054 opens with the Party Crashers attacking the Bat-Family in the sewers.  While they call out for Nightwing's help for some reason, they do end up taking care of the attackers with ease.  That's cool, though, since all of them are kickass characters.  It isn't cool how the Party Crashers found the cave and Tamaki's insistence on making almost all the Bat characters bad at their jobs.

What do I mean by that?  This is one of Batman's micro-caves.  That should mean something by itself, but there's more.  At the start of this story, Batwoman pressed a secret lever for the door to open up to the cave.  Did someone forget to close the door?  Did they want to let some of that awesome sewer air in?  The Party Crasher found them by walking by the cave!  That's it!  The Party Crashers are so easily taken care of and become an immediate afterthought so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

The story continues at Arkham Tower where some guy named Scott is yelling about the decorations and the menu, and for the life of me, I don't know who this is.  I took a lot of time looking through Tamaki's issues and came up with zilch.  He appears important, but like the Party Crasher attack, it will not matter much soon anyway.

If you have been reading this weekly book, you know that the shit is about to hit the fan.  All Dr. Wear needs is for Psycho Pirate to keep everyone controlled for the next hour because that's when Nakano's check will clear.  Of course, that's the cue for Psycho Pirate to lose control.  Remember, he has Nightwing in his office, so you might assume that's what tips the balance, but it isn't.  It's the three main Party Crashers showing up to... crash the party.  Get it?!?!

What follows is the beginning of the chaos we saw back in the first issue as the patients get stabby-stabby (RIP Scott, whoever you are) and take over the tower.  The issue ends with Dr. Wear in a very bad position and me wondering why I keep reading this book.

We also get the House of Gotham "Boy" story by Mathew Rosenberg that I continue to enjoy.  It's the only thing that I'm not angry with every time I read Detective nowadays.

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Bits and Pieces:

Detective Comics #1054 continues showing that there was never enough story to warrant a weekly book.  It looks fantastic, but that's about it.  I continue to enjoy the backup, but nothing else.

4.0/10