SYNOPSIS: As a werewolf, Gael has lived through many generations, and so he has visited Gotham land before…hundreds of years ago. Take a trip back to the 1700s Renaissance Gotham with Gael on Arkham land to help remember with him exactly where he buried something important he now has to dig back up. And in a twist of fate, a dark knight in town also seems to be looking for something from out of time…his way back home to the present.
We are lucky this time of year and get an extra issue of Detective Comics, the 2022 Annual. Ram V takes the reader on a journey to the past. With a collaborative team of artists, Christopher Mitten, Rafael Albuquerque, and Hayden Sherman. No backup story here; this is just a giant-sized issue of the ongoing tale
Usually, when an Annual goes back in time, it was an Elseworlds tale. Those days are long gone, but this tale does keep in line with the quality. Those annuals like this were never the best story; the only issue here is that this is a continuation of what has been happening in Detective.
Annual 2022 reads like a poor man’s Gotham By Gaslight or a want-to-be Return of Bruce Wayne while trying to retcon this and update that. The art is excellent if you are looking for a Sherlock Holmes type of book, but if you are reading this, you want Batman. That is not me saying the art is terrible, but you can pass the annual.
This is an oversized book that will run you $6. I have fewer nice things to say about this issue than I did about the last issue of Detective — and I already told you that you could pass. If you are a completest, God bless you. – Peter Verra