Detective Comics #39 Review

Through the looking glass.

Its dark days for Gotham….well actually, when is it not?

But seriously, Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato shine light on Gotham’s double-faced nature excellently.

It isn’t just Anarky, but the entire Gotham ecosystem – its citizens, its police – that is on display here in the worst form possible.

And Batman is lost trying to find a way through the mire that is Gotham now.

SPOILERS FOLLOW………….

As I had guessed, Lonnie isn’t dead. Especially with his past associations with being Anarky, he feels like more than a cameo role.

But that doesn’t change what has happened. Gotham is out for blood for the one who hurt ‘one of them’ – and the cops want to pin it on Batman instead of Detective Yip.

It was an accident, but Harvey Bullock knows that despite the resentment he has for the caped crusader – this isn’t right. But he assures Yip that he won’t be the rat.

At the Batcave, Bruce notices a familiarity of the mask’s facial structure with one of the victims’ – the skulls he found at the waterfront.

Bullock rants about the current justice system – where power and money matter more than bloody hands. He tried to get a print from Council-man Sam Young to match with the briefcase he found at Jeb Lester’s murder site but poof! The suitcase was gone.

With all the pictures in Bullock’s possession, Batman understands that they are related to his case – finally getting an ID after Anarky’s blackout killed off Gotham’s ID system.

They locate the ‘blue house’ located in the background of the people in the pictures, but are ambushed by Anarky’s followers.

Meanwhile, the Mad Hatter aka Jervis Tetch is busted out of jail by Anarky – and apparently Jervis thinks the mask resembles Alice.

During the fight, both Batman and Bullock are grievously hurt but the latter is distracted by one of the portraits lying on the ground. As Batman manages to fend off the last of the assailants, Bullock manages to crawl across and show Bruce the portrait.

Jervis finds himself in the foot of the car with gasoline cans and Anarky masks – mumbling that he’ll protect Alice.

As Bruce and Bullock try to get their wits about them, outside Anarky brings out Jervis infront of a mass gathering of Anarky supporters, claiming whether Tetch is ready to die.

So, you must be wondering what this is all about? Manapul has dropped a few clues, but left the rest in the air. The fact that he doesn’t explicitly state the reasoning is a credit to the reader’s intelligence.

In the portrait, we see three people prominently featured – Jervis Tetch, a younger Jeb Lester and the woman on whom the Anarky masks are based (as shown by going from her face to the reconstruction and then the skull).

So, what happened at the Blue House? That woman may have been the original ‘Alice’ – the source of Jervis’ obsession. Him seeing Alice in Anarky’s masks do point in that direction. Obviously, Lester was also involved in the deaths of the children of the Blue House – but what about Sam Young? That is one point Manapul keeps close to his chest.

And the artwork! This is the best looking comic DC is currently producing. The variety of the palette and unique paneling designs make this a gorgeous read. And if there’s one thing this team has over Snyder/Capullo, it’s that the artwork tells the story by itself – not needing numerous narrative dialogues (not that I don’t love that in a different way).

The only problem is – I still don’t understand Bullock’s animosity towards Batman.

Bruce was proven innocent, and Bullock has had good relations with Batman even after Bruce Wayne publicly declared his position as financial backer to the Batfamily. I’m still trying to figure out where this happened – Bullock tried to prove Bruce was behind Icarus but let it go when he found otherwise, he accused Batman of covering for Bruce…but why is he still on Batman even after everything that happened. Does he blame him for the waterfront incident?

SPOILERS END………………

A beautifully drawn and crafted issue, it also delivers on content and appreciates the intelligence level of the readers to draw their own conclusions without any expository dialogue.

Manapul and Buccelatto’s run on Detective Comics has become one of the stellar standouts of the New 52 run and I hope they can continue to give us such high quality work.

So, I give it 9.5 out of 10.

+The gorgeous artwork

+Uses the art and panels to tell the story, doesn’t need to resort to exposition

+Respects the reader’s intelligence to piece things together

-Still don’t get Bullock’s animosity towards Batman