Jesus Marimba!
Tom Taylor has just delivered his best issue of Detective Comics to date! Side kicks you never expected, a search and rescue that will rival any action book this month. All while keeping the reader in the dark about the Elixir. There are many great things to discuss, so let’s break it down!
In the last issue, Taylor gave us one hell of a tale with Batman and Bullock, a team-up issue that no one saw coming. Now, is Tom Taylor crazy enough to try it again? You bet you ass he is! Picking right up from the last page of the last issue, Batman has hunted down who he thinks to be Bullock, but is miserably surprised to see none other than Oswald Cobblepot, tied up in the back of this truck. From here on out, Taylor delivers some of the best back-and-forth you will ever read between Batman and Penguin. Readers will enjoy witnessing Penguin getting an inside look at how Batman operates, from gathering information to the people he consults. Bullock, Penguin, or Oracle Taylor’s script is superb; regardless of who is speaking, this story moves at an incredible pace with excellent dialogue between all characters. Taylor is being coy about the new bad guys in town, the Elixir. We don’t know much other than they are a secret society with ties to Ras Al Ghul, and even the mighty Oracle is having a hard time gathering any information outside of what Bullock has collected. The torture scenes can be a bit rough and wartime, but they add the emotional weight that this action tale needs.
Lee Garbett is an absolute all-star! Garbett’s clean art is not overly stylized, yet vibrant at the same time. Each character looks like a vintage version of themselves, the version that you see when you close your eyes. Not one page in Garbett’s book resembles another; not one layout is the same. It’s a mix of rectangles, squares, and splash pages that will make veteran readers jump for joy. So many great Bat-moments, the opening of the book, Batman jumping into action, a wonder close-up of a squinting eye that will make some think of the BTAS opening. Even the small details, like Bullock’s bleeding fingertips, make this a gorgeous book!
This artistic team is a double dose of Lee; Lee Loughridge should not be forgotten in this issue. Loughridge finds the perfect shade, color, tone, whatever you want to call it, for the right moment. Cool blues for Batman popping out of the shadows, that sepia-like yellow for the pain and suffering of torture, to just the right amount of black for those Bat-shadows. These two owned this book, cover to cover.
Taylor is doing something incredible and fun, two issues into his new arc, “Elixer.” Great action, compelling storytelling, and some beautiful artwork. Batman is in his element, excelling at what he does best, working alongside sidekicks, cops, villains, and both classic and new characters. What else does a Batman fan want? Detective Comics #1098 is a perfectly balanced book and the Bat-book to pick up this month!
GRADE: A