Welcome back, BOFers!
If you are here, it means one thing: a new issue of Detective Comics has graced comics shops nationwide. A new issue brings a new creative team to the book; writer Tom Taylor and artist Mikel Janin are now running the show. Can this new tag team restore Batman’s oldest title to its former glory?
Only one way to find out cool kids!
If you have followed along for the past two years, you know that Ram V’s run did not meet the standards or expectations of writing this title. V’s run has come and gone; we are turning the page. One issue into Taylor’s run, and he has cleansed the palate of the past two years.
Taylor’s Batman feels proper as soon as you open the book; Batman is in a dark room, with a hostage and a figure standing opposite in the dark. Has DC been reading the reviews? Have they been listening to the Batman Book Club recap shows? Because it feels like Batman is Batman again. Gone are the pretentious overtones and the Universal Monsters. Back are the crime scenes, the detective work, the childhood memories. This is not a linear tale; Talyor takes the reader back and forth between past and present, Thomas and Bruce. There are twists, turns, new characters, and surprises that will leave the reader flipping for pages that will come next month.
The tale of Thomas Wayne will not surprise veteran readers; Dr. Wayne and his oath always seem to find him in a sticky situation. This time with someone who has very close ties to Mr. and Mrs. Wayne. While that is an intriguing story, the basics of Batman stand out. It feels like it’s been far too long since we have seen Batman in these scenarios within the pages of Detective—crime scene investigations, back and forth with Oracle, and playboy Bruce Wayne out and about. For two years, readers have sat back and tried to piece together one of the most incoherent Batman tales ever. In one issue, Taylor returns to the basics: less is more, evoking a sense of nostalgia and connection to the character’s roots.
If you are new to Mikel Janin, you will fall in love fast. Janin delivers crisp, clean art, sharp lines, and beautiful details in splash pages and panels. Janin loves rectangles; his layout rotates more than a game of Tetris. Never once is the reader lost as each panel flows into the next. Janin’s Batman soars through the sky with grace; crashes through windows with rage and tenacity; and investigates with a sharp eye, slow and methodical. This is what Batman is meant to look like. Janin’s Bruce Wayne fits the Affleck mold: a tall, broad-shouldered businessman. The only difference is the clean-shaven look.
One issue in, and we are in a place we have not been in two years. Batman is acting like Batman, solving a murder mystery all while looking back at some Wayne family history. This feels like a vintage Batman tale early on, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to readers. Tom Taylor has been one of the most successful writers for the past few years, and he looks like he is about to put the detective back into Detective Comics. Taylor and Janin are the defibrillators this book needed, sparking excitement and hope for future issues.
We are back, baby! We are so back! The old Batman, the one we all know and love, is back in action, reassuring readers and satisfying their expectations. – Peter Verra
