Review: Detective Comics #857 and an unanswered Question

Believe it or not, this blog is still active — let's talk comics!

In particular, let's talk about Detective Comics #857. I've got a problem with the current incarnation of 'Tec, now featuring an updated Kate Kane as Batwoman. The concept behind the four-part "Elegy" storyline (which wraps up with this issue) is pretty derivative on the face of it. A tough-talking ass-kicker in a cowl is chasing a white-faced, murderous looney who is trying to release a deadly poison into Gotham City; sound familiar?

But that's not my problem. My problem is actually that, in spite of it featuring a Batwoman presented as a cookie-cutter, female version of the original guy with pointy ears, I really, really like it. The story is muscular and dangerous; unlike the ever-prepared Batman, the reader gets the sense Batwoman could lose and the bad guys might actually win this time. Her nemesis, a fairly obvious Joker analog (with a bit of Mad Hatter in the mix) called Alice is sadistically and charmingly nuts, and is one of the few new Bat-family villains I've liked enough to want to see again. (Rucka also manages to use her to make the whole Crime Bible/religion thing interesting for a change.)

That update I mentioned — Kate is the military daughter of an Army colonel who helps her in the field — works pretty well, and becomes a vital plot point in this issue. Writer Greg Rucka gives readers a believable Batwoman, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about how she got there.

But the real star of the show is artist JH Williams III, who seems to be determined to single-handedly dragging comic book layout and design forward. His chilly, nearly sculpted artwork is framed — but barely contained — by panels that take the shape of thunderbolts and misty, melting boxes that fan out across the page like a dreamy, bare-knuckled tarot deck. It is impressive, it's imaginative and it's simply beautiful. It takes me longer to read an issue of Detective than most other comics, and that's mostly because I just pore over every panel.

Detective Comics also comes with The Question as a back-up feature, and it's also written by Rucka, with art by Cully Hamner. Unfortunately there isn't much to say about this one. Rucka seems to be phoning it in, and while I loved Hamner on Blue Beetle I just can't get into his work here. I've never been much of a fan of Renee Montoya as the Question, and the work here drags the character down where it should be lifting her up.

You can check out a preview of both Detective Comics #857 and the back-up Question feature right here — and then let me know what you think in the comments!