All right BOFers! We are back on the Detective beat after a month. Let’s see what Ram V and the one-two punch of Ivan Reis and Rafael Albuquerque have going on with the up-and-down primary story. At the same time, Simon Spurrier has backup duties with a new one-off tale!
Let’s get right into it!
I know I have not been a massive fan of what V has been doing on Detective, but man. I got to tell you guys, this is one hell of a Two-Face story. V does a magnificent job of balancing the inner conflict with superb dialogue. You see moments of weakness with Harvey, moments of pure evil with Two-Face, and a man battling internal conflict throughout the story. Two-Face remains the most exciting part of what V has been doing, I enjoy the relationship between Batman and Gordon, but the main story overall holds no weight.
Oh, and a brilliant cameo at the end of the story. That is a tease I never thought I would see in a main Batman title; I’m anxiously waiting for the next issue. I know Lower will be over the moon about that.
The combo of Reis and Albuquerque was somewhat surprising. While they have switched off a few issues here and there, you don’t expect to see them together. The combo does a beautiful job of making Batman look like an A-class hero. Wonder fight scenes and glorious action panels. Conflict and fear are among the beautiful use of facial expressions. Having one of these two in a book is usually good enough. Splitting duty is spoiling us.
Spurrier is reaching Morrison’s level for me. Sometimes they write bangers, and sometimes I am left scratching my head. I was not sure where this one was going on. This backup story felt like a previous Gordon tale by Spurrier, The Coda (Detective #1062-1064). I was not very kind to that story if you guys don’t remember.
Detective Comics #1068 is the best example of what V can do with this title. I love what he is doing with Two-Face. I have not been blown away by one character in a book in a very long time. If you are a big fan of Two-Face, you can’t pass this one up; it could be a “stand-alone” tale that shows how great he is in the book. That said, can one character cover up the flaws of the main villain and the actual plan to destroy Gotham? Well, for one issue, yes. Like I mentioned earlier, I am not interested in the Wolf-Man or his crew, but Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and that end cameo; give me those bad guys any day of the week. – Peter Verra