SYNOPSIS: WITNESS THE FINAL CURTAIN OF RAM V’S GOTHIC OPERA! It began with a melody, strange and haunting, drawing Batman deeper and deeper into a demonic odyssey. From the sewers under Gotham to a hallucinatory desert, from the brink of death to a strange rebirth, from the iron grip of order to the deadly blades of chaos, it has all led to this moment. And now, the curtains close on Ram V’s epic Gothic Opera!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and fanboys of all ages, DC Comics proudly brings Ram V’s final issue of his Detective Comic run to you! What a run it has been. While this run has fallen way short of my expectations, some fans enjoyed it. My reviews might not have lined up with yours, but I had to be honest with you on how I felt about this title. This is Detective Comics; there is a standard to uphold. This is the book that brought us the Dark Knight decades ago. This was my way to “bang the drum,” as the EIC would say. So, for the final time, let’s talk about Ram V’s Detective Comics #1089.
Like most of V’s run, I am lost on page one. Well, I’m not totally lost. I’m picking up from the last issue where Batman fights what looks like Honor Guard Boodikka and the Foot Clan. Some side kicks show up, and the citizens of Gotham have a cute moment standing behind Batman with homemade Bat-signal flashlights shining in the darkness of night. I wish I could remember what this story was about. At one point, it seemed like we were getting a new class of villain in Gotham who wanted to buy Arkham for their dirty work. Somewhere, we got lost in the world of Six-Eyed Sally, the Wolf-Man, Barbatos, and a ton of pretentious writing. Come issues end, the heroes save the day, the villains get beat, the anti-heroes get away, and somehow Scarecrow was at the center of it all like Dick Grayson in The Dark Knight Strikes Again. The only saving grace about this issue is that we see Batman ditch that horrible bloody Batsuit for some more traditional attire.
I would not believe you if you handed me this book and told me this was Guilliam March’s artwork. This is the JRJR DC version of March. Some of these panels have his sleek, stylized look, while others look like they were drawn by a Frank Miller fanboy who wants to be Jim Lee. It’s like March was ready to mail it in more than the readers. This is one of March’s insufficient efforts, but if we are to get a wasted March, I would rather it be on this horrible book than something worthwhile. This book is about as contagious as the flu, with bad writing and artwork.
I had very, very high hopes for this run. I have loved everything V wrote up until this point, including Catwoman, Swamp Thing, and Aquaman. The combo of V and Dan Watters on Detective has let me down in ways that I could only compare to what GOTHAM did for Batman TV. It was just an utter waste, and a “what could have been”. Let us rejoice that this is over, and next month, we get a new creative team. I hope it can only go up from here.
Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin, you are on the clock. – Peter Verra
GRADE: F
