Batman: The Detective #1
- WRITER
- Tom Taylor
- Artist
- Andy Kubert
- Letterer
- Clem Robins
- Cover Artist
- Brad Anderson, Andy Kubert, Riccardo Federici
- Publisher
- DC Comics
- Price
- 3.99
- Release Date
- 2021-04-13
- Colorist
- Brad Anderson
As Batman faces an uncertain future for Gotham City at the start of DC's Infinite Frontier era, acclaimed comic book creators Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert team up for a six-issue miniseries free of the burdens of main DC Universe continuity in Batman: The Detective. Taking the Dark Knight far from the comforts and familiar territory of Gotham, the story provides a harsher, more brutal approach to the Caped Crusader as he confronts his own legacy as he faces a new evil rising overseas. And in their inaugural issue, Taylor and Kubert launch a hard-hitting story that meditates on legacy and impact that's shaping up to be a dark, searing look at DC's flagship superhero.
After an explosive, horrific tragedy rocks the United Kingdom, Batman discovers that the international incident directly puts his legacy in the crosshairs. Teaming up with familiar faces as he leaves Gotham for merry, old England, an older Bruce Wayne contends with his own existential crisis as he questions if his life's crimefighting work has actually amounted to anything as he reckons with his advancing age, the dissolution of his usual support network and a world still rocked by violent crime as Batman squares off against younger, deadlier villains calling him out from the shadows.
Across most of his work involving DC characters, Taylor has approached the characters thoroughly unafraid of taking risks as he deconstructs some of their most established tropes with postmodern aplomb; the respect for legacy and reputation is there, but so is the self-aware methodology of picking them apart. This is visible in Injustice and DCeased as a sort of a definitive closing statement on entire superheroes and universes. With that in mind, there is a sense of mortality that permeates throughout all of the opening issue of Batman: The Detective, the feeling that every punch the Caped Crusader throws in this particular story could be his last. The creative team isn't pulling their punches, literally or figuratively, as they set out to take the Dark Knight from his comfort zone into the ultimate, globe-trotting adventure.
Kubert, working with colorist Brad Anderson, deftly pull off that tricky balance between unflinchingly hard-hitting fight sequences while still maintaining that sense of fun; this is a book with consequences but the entire creative team keeps sight of the fact that, at their core, superhero comic books are supposed to be fun. This is an aging, isolated Batman but one who has not let the passage of time and literal foreign territory slow him down or diminish how much of a badass he comes off as on the printed page. And there are plenty of fight sequences to draw readers in immediately to the proceedings, with the creative team wasting no time in already putting the Caped Crusader through the wringer.
Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert have kicked off what feels like a last Batman story with their new miniseries and make it clear that, even hundreds of miles away from home and growing older, the Dark Knight has no intention of going down without a fight. Batman: The Detective has all the trappings of a classic Batman story, celebrating the Caped Crusader's legacy while quietly deconstructing it in the face of a direct attack on Bruce Wayne as he finds himself at a personal crossroads over his own efficacy. And with the creative team firing on all cylinders, this story is quickly shaping up to be one that shouldn't be missed.