Someone, Please Change the Station
Writer: Mariko Tamaki, Nadia Shammas
Artist: Ivan Reis
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: May 24, 2022
I have not enjoyed much of Mariko Tamaki's run on Detective Comics. She barely could tie into Fear State with her mouth monster story and then topped that off with an awful Arkham Tower story that came out weekly and weakly. Thankfully, it's almost over, but she has one last story to tell before she leaves. Let's see if it's any good.
The issue opens with Bruce Wayne on a date with Judge Carolyn Donovan. It seems like a fact-finding mission which is odd since the few question Bruce asks are things that would be public record. It continues the Tamaki trend of making Batman horrible at his job. Besides that, Bruce comes off as a prick the entire time.
The issue continues with more Riddler Radio... or is it Riddler television... or is it a Podcast. I have no idea, but Edward continues with his "riddles," which don't feel like riddles, while Batman remains as perplexed as I am about what is going on in this story!
Things continue with Deb Donovan needing help after an after-hours break-in at the Gotham Gazette has her spooked. Tamaki and Shammas have to jump through hoops to set up the scene, and things quickly become a convoluted mess. What started as a Riddler story has become a jumble of past sins, blackmail, and corruption. On top of that, Talia al-Ghul shows up to make it feel disconnected from the rest of the Bat-Books. I could forgive that if the story was good. Unfortunately, this story is far from good!
The issue ends with twists and turns, but they feel forced out of nowhere. I laughed out loud at how ridiculous the cliffhanger was, and I am guessing that isn't the reaction the writers were trying to achieve. The only bright spot was the art by Ivan Reis, even though I'm not too fond of his design for the Riddler. The big mystery is how Tamaki and Shamas can salvage this stinker with one more issue to go.
There is also a Gotham Girl backup by Sina Grace that is not good at all. I promised that after the last issue, I would just pretend it didn't exist, but not mentioning it felt wrong.
Bits and Pieces:
I am unsure how this story became a mess after only two issues, but here we are. Detective Comics #1060 looks good, but that's the only positive. July can't come quick enough!
3.5/10
No one can ever blame me about being a Tamaki fan but I think there's more to this story than it seems. If I caught a clue right, I think it's not the Riddler behind this and it's actually the Court of Owls. But to be completely honest, it wouldn't be the first time a Tamaki story starts somewhat promising and ends up with a big thud. The Sina Grace story is... I don't know, "atrocious" would be a compliment. I'm curious about your review of Robin #14.
ReplyDeleteremember, there is only one more issue left so I don't know how it can ever wrap up well!
DeleteEric reviews Robin, but we will be talking about it on the Podcast - I was right though!
DeleteSo was I, even though I wanted it to be Grant in my heart. I didn't know there's just one issue of it. Anyway, I'm not getting my hopes up for Ram V's run either. He's definitely an upgrade from Tamaki, but he really isn't my cup of tea. Too much decompression and he seems to repeat the same themes over and over. I do root for him because it's been a long time since Detective was actually good, I think Tynion was the last writer who did a good job on Detective. And I say that as someone who hated his Batman from his guts.
DeleteNot a Ram V fan either, but I think it might be cool to get a horror thing going. I think we are the only 2 non Ram V fans out there!!!
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