Welcome back, BOFers!
We have a brand-new arc of Detective Comics to break down. Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin are back, and this one starts on the water. The previous issue was an oversized celebratory issue featuring stories from a few writer/artist combos. The arc that preceded it started hot and heavy, but ended on one of the weakest villain reveals in a while. Can Taylor finish this arc, or will Batfans be disappointed once again? We will find out soon enough. “The Courage that Kills: Part One” is here!
Once again, Tom Taylor is off to an incredible start to “The Courage that Kills.” Taylor isn’t trying to reinvent Batman or overemphasize the character’s edge. Taylor knows how to write classic Batman. This is the Batman you read in the 1970s, Detective Batman. Stoic and brave, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. The monologues and dialogue with the other characters are just perfect. From how Batman describes himself and his mission to how he conducts his Detective work alongside his sidekicks, this is what Batman is at his core. Hard to tell in this first chapter what kind of story Taylor is going for here. Is this going to be like “Contagion” and “Journey Into the Knight?” Batman taking on biological warfare is few and far between. What makes this tale different is that Batman is already in quarantine before the end of the issue, and he has enlisted the help of Mr. Terrific to find some answers.
Mikel Janin once again graces the pages of Detective with his bucket of 200 crayons. Wow, this is the most colorful book I have ever read. There isn’t a colorist who can do what Janin does. The way that Janin mixes warm and cool colors on the same page is remarkable. Not just the characters and the backdrops, but even the panels have some color to them, unheard of. Blue Batman has not looked this good since Adams and Aparo. Batman has that wonderful blue/black shadow thing going on that screams old school. Every panel Batman stands out, not in an overly bright way, but just enough so you can see him and notice his presence. I only have one gripe, but a few times when Batman first gets on the boat, the way the light is meant to reflect off his suit makes him look orange-ish, but I know what the artist was trying to achieve. This was not executed as cleanly as the rest of Janin’s art. Not enough to take me out of the moment or the story, but it was wonky.
We are off to a great start once again on Taylor’s Detective run, but can he close this one out? Taylor, as always, leaves readers with more questions than answers. The most interesting one of them all: How can Batman solve this case from quarantine? Forty-eight dead bodies on a cargo ship in Gotham Harbor, one sick child, one infected Batman. Will the World’s Greatest Detective get to the bottom of this, or will he end up being the forty-ninth casualty from this boat?
See you next month, same Bat-time, same Bat-website! – Peter Verra
