Detective Comics #40 Review

Personal revolutionaries.

Even as a bleeding Batman attempts to save both Bullock and the Mad Hatter, Gotham goes to war with only Alfred left to stop it.

Manapul and Buccellato cap off their second arc on this book with a grand flourish which give the supporting characters some good moments and sheds more light on Tetch’s early days.

The artwork as always is fantastic, and the opening page revels in it.

SPOILERS FOLLOW……………

Anarky beats up Jervis Tetch, even as Bruce is contacted by Alfred about the standoff in Gotham between the Anarky supporters and the police.

While Bruce deals with Anarky – who is revealed to be Sam Young himself, Bullock helps Alfred in locating the mind-controlling signal which Anarky is broadcasting using the Mad Hatter’s technology.

Apparently, Sam Young had a sister named Alice. While at the Blue House (called a safe house for some reason), Tetch (a farmhand) murdered her with the complicit support of Jeb Lester. Then he followed it up by murdering all of Sam’s friends as well.

Sam escaped but nobody believed him. So, he took up the Congressman title and then Anarky to punish Gotham, Lester and Tetch.

With Batman at the mercy of Anarky’s followers, Bullock finds a secret passage with one of Tetch’s hats in it. Putting on the hat (after a failed attempt to block the mind-controlling frequency) stops the followers in their tracks.

We see Bullock recovering in the hospital ward with a temporarily suspended Yip alongside him, Lonnie being discharged alongwith his effects (which include the Anarky mask from earlier), Sam Young and the Mad Hatter is their respective cells and Bruce wondering how relieved he was that the Gotham people were being controlled and not rampaging on their own free will.

Alfred mentions that when they came out of the mind-control, the first thing they did was restore the peace – proving Gotham can be saved. And one day, it might not need a dark knight like Batman to protect it from the darkness.

But that day isn’t today.

This was a satisfying ending with some gaps in between. We never got to truly explore Sam Young, and his erratic change from corrupt Congressman during the Icarus arc to mad vigilante in this one was a weird change. And wasn’t there a child-trafficking angle that never was revisited?

Coming to the Hatter, we are left with a very ambiguous origin tale. What was the Blue House? An orphanage? What were Lester and Tetch doing there?

But these things don’t detract too much as we saw Alfred and Bullock rise to the hero mantle. Alfred physically tried to stop the standoff using a makeshift mask, while Bullock saved Bruce and Gotham in one fell swoop by wearing the Hat – making up for his indecision at the waterfront back in the Icarus arc.

And Lonnie getting the Anarky mask means the writers have plans for his version of the rebel anti-hero in the future as well.

SPOILERS END………………

Some fantastic artwork accompanies a satisfying resolution to the Anarky arc, with some minor annoyance here and there.

Manapul and Buccalleto cap off this pre-Convergence run with some deft character moments and striking visuals.

So, I give it 8.5 out of 10.

+The artwork

+A satisfying conclusion

+Some great character moments

-Some questionable reveals

-Vague on some important details