Detective Comics #874 Review, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopses #4

February 28, 2011 Mike Raub 1 Comment

Detective Comics #874

Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Francesco Francavilla

Hello all, and welcome back to that delightful little corner of the interwebs where I, your gracious host, waxes poetic on these lil’ rags we call comic books. This week, I’d like to dust off one of the longest running books of all time. Way back in 1937, entrepreneur Major Malcom Wheeler-Nicholson’s National Allied Publications produced it’s last comic book… our aforementioned book of the week. Back then? The cover featured an evil looking asian man… and boasted the book would be a “High Stepping Detective Magazine in Pictures!” chock full of novelettes, short stories, serials, and short shorts! Who wears short shorts? Detective Comics, apparently. Fast forward to May 1939, and we get introduced to a spoiled orphan with a jones for justice. The Batman soon thereafter became an American icon of angst, adventure, and tragedy. Fast forward to 2011, and the man beneath the cape and cowl if different… but the noir roots are still in tact. And it’s why I picked it for my review this week.

Detective Comics #874 continues the adventures of Dick Grayson as our titular bat-in-the-tights. Since Bruce Wayne was blasted into the past by an angry demi-god back in 2009, Dick took the mantle of his once mentor. Bruce eventually got back to the present, but decided not to reclaim “Batman” as his sole mission. Nope. Bruce decided it was finally time to reap the benefits of merchandising and horizontal expansion. Get your mind out of the gutters. Bruce launched Batman, Inc., and Dick was given Gotham City to protect. For those worrying about Dick’s former town protectorate (under his then moniker, Nightwing) Bludhaven, it’s alright. No one cared about Bludhaven anyways. It’s like East St. Louis. It’s there, but who really notices it… right? With Bruce managing global threats, Dick’s Gotham adventures are a breath of fresh air to the series, and issue #874 has a charm all it’s own. Perhaps taking a nod from the long-running roots of the series… Detective Comics is all about the small moments, smaller crimes, and the things that go bump in the shadows. Gotham is huge city, with rampant psychopaths, and violent crime. It’s Detective Comics though, that remembers that the seedy under belly of the city is ripe for the picking when it comes to a good story.

Specifically, this issue combines a pair of ongoing plots started 3 issues back by Syder, following both Dick Grayson and Commissioner Gordon in separate story-lines. The basics are simple: Dick followed the trail of an overdose of a “Killer Croc” making serum to a creepy auction house that sells the wares of the psychotic criminal element in Gotham. Whilst doing his best Bruce Wayne/Batman impression, Dick’s cover was blown, and he was attacked with a potent dose of Scarecrow fear gas combined with Dr. Destiny’s own wicked brew. While Dick eventually stopped the man behind the auction house, and won the day… the gas is still lingering within his body. In #874, we catch up with Dick, already on patrol with guest star Red Robin (Tim Drake, the next-in-line for Dick’s job, but ousted when Bruce Wayne’s love-child Damien decided to become a Robin too… are you following all this?!). What appears to be a follow up on a heist of a rare bird (mentioned 3 issues ago) soon turns into a scuffle. I’ll leave you to read the issue for more specifics… but suffice to say, Dick’s not in top form, and it’s right at the beginning of a new mystery to solve. Excellent stuff.

Our second story-line follows the seemingly always beleaguered Jim Gordon. The once only honest cop in Gotham has faced a never-ending poo-storm of bad luck, despite his best efforts. Throughout continuity Jim has been divorced, couldn’t keep his relationship with his second wife, his daughter got shot in the hip at his own front door by the Joker, and his son became a psychopath. Cheery, huh? It seems sometimes the world just sends a storm cloud over Jim’s always trenchcoated shoulders. And guess what? James Jr., the psychopathic son? He’s back in town, and wants to see his dad. Seems James Jr. got the medical help he needed in Houston, and he wanted to tell his father that things are on the upswing. Meeting him for coffee, our heroic commissioner and his son mince some terse words over quickly cooling coffee. James Jr. attempts to joke with his father, saying he lost his cool, and put a recently decapitated head he acquired in the sink in the bathroom. As they continue to talk… a pool of seeping water trickles under the door of the facilities as son and father converse. Creepy? You bet. Enjoyable? Immensley.

The first three issues of Snyder’s run were drawn by the gestural and gritty Jock, and let me say… while some folks find his work a little to skewed for comfort? I loved the scratchy-scrawl, and deeply shadowed look for the book. For #874, Jock is given a reprieve for out-of-towner Francisco Francavilla, who does both the black and white and color work for the issue. The art chores are still a high point to the book, and I say that with a big dose of “phew!”. Normally the post-arc fill-in artist is just there to take up space. Francavilla turns in beautifully rendered pages, that are graphically something to behold at times. His double page spread fight scene by way of the batman logo is well accepted. And his James Junior under a sea of oddly lit panels keeps the “creep factor” high where it’s placed as well. Francavilla’s color work is simple, but fits his heavy line work really well. Pages ooze noir at points, and while I admit that I miss Jock’s hand a bit at times; the art is top notch, and elevates a painfully-minimal-at-times script.

If it’s my only point of contention with the book, it comes with Snyder’s writing. Mind you, above all else, I think the book is superbly plotted, well balanced, and a solid read. But Snyder does miss the mark a few times, and they are the proverbial pea under the mattress. For example, Dick called Tim Drake, a kid we know he considers to be kin, “RED ROBIN”, within conversation, far too often. Imagine these two heroes on a nearby rooftop, scoping out your typical goons unloading a truck, up to no good. “Well RED ROBIN, it seems we have our work cut out for us tonight.” … “We sure do.”… “Alright, RED ROBIN, let’s get them!”. Seriously? I’d almost positive Dick would use just “Red”, or “Tim” before having to use the full name, especially mid-conversation. On top of that, the nearly always needed in a noir book narration is timid at best this issue. To boot, our two page spread features a single sentence caption. The next page? A tepid trio. Within a book that visually oozes drama and noir, there’s a real yearning for that hard-boiled voiceover that Snyder just misses the boat on.

All in all, I’m recommending everyone looking for a little less spandex, and a little more style in their weekly readings to give Snyder’s Detective Comics’ run a real shot. #874 is on shelves, and easy to pick up. If you happen on #871-873, I recommend you nab them as well. Sorry for the lack of snark here, but damnit, when it’s good? It’s good. And Detective Comics #874 is good. Later days, kiddos.
Detective Comics #874 continues the adventures of Dick Grayson as our titular bat-in-the-tights. Since Bruce Wayne was blasted into the past by an angry demi-god back in 2009, Dick took the mantle of his once mentor. Bruce eventually got back to the present, but decided not to reclaim “Batman” as his sole mission. Nope. Bruce decided it was finally time to reap the benefits of merchandising and horizontal expansion. Get your mind out of the gutters. Bruce launched Batman, Inc., and Dick was given Gotham City to protect. For those worrying about Dick’s former town protectorate (under his then moniker, Nightwing) Bludhaven, it’s alright. No one cared about Bludhaven anyways. It’s like East St. Louis. It’s there, but who really notices it… right? With Bruce managing global threats, Dick’s Gotham adventures are a breath of fresh air to the series, and issue #874 has a charm all it’s own. Perhaps taking a nod from the long-running roots of the series… Detective Comics is all about the small moments, smaller crimes, and the things that go bump in the shadows. Gotham is huge city, with rampant psychopaths, and violent crime. It’s Detective Comics though, that remembers that the seedy under belly of the city is ripe for the picking when it comes to a good story.

Specifically, this issue combines a pair of ongoing plots started 3 issues back by Syder, following both Dick Grayson and Commissioner Gordon in separate story-lines. The basics are simple: Dick followed the trail of an overdose of a “Killer Croc” making serum to a creepy auction house that sells the wares of the psychotic criminal element in Gotham. Whilst doing his best Bruce Wayne/Batman impression, Dick’s cover was blown, and he was attacked with a potent dose of Scarecrow fear gas combined with Dr. Destiny’s own wicked brew. While Dick eventually stopped the man behind the auction house, and won the day… the gas is still lingering within his body. In #874, we catch up with Dick, already on patrol with guest star Red Robin (Tim Drake, the next-in-line for Dick’s job, but ousted when Bruce Wayne’s love-child Damien decided to become a Robin too… are you following all this?!). What appears to be a follow up on a heist of a rare bird (mentioned 3 issues ago) soon turns into a scuffle. I’ll leave you to read the issue for more specifics… but suffice to say, Dick’s not in top form, and it’s right at the beginning of a new mystery to solve. Excellent stuff.

Our second story-line follows the seemingly always beleaguered Jim Gordon. The once only honest cop in Gotham has faced a never-ending poo-storm of bad luck, despite his best efforts. Throughout continuity Jim has been divorced, couldn’t keep his relationship with his second wife, his daughter got shot in the hip at his own front door by the Joker, and his son became a psychopath. Cheery, huh? It seems sometimes the world just sends a storm cloud over Jim’s always trenchcoated shoulders. And guess what? James Jr., the psychopathic son? He’s back in town, and wants to see his dad. Seems James Jr. got the medical help he needed in Houston, and he wanted to tell his father that things are on the upswing. Meeting him for coffee, our heroic commissioner and his son mince some terse words over quickly cooling coffee. James Jr. attempts to joke with his father, saying he lost his cool, and put a recently decapitated head he acquired in the sink in the bathroom. As they continue to talk… a pool of seeping water trickles under the door of the facilities as son and father converse. Creepy? You bet. Enjoyable? Immensley.

The first three issues of Snyder’s run were drawn by the gestural and gritty Jock, and let me say… while some folks find his work a little to skewed for comfort? I loved the scratchy-scrawl, and deeply shadowed look for the book. For #874, Jock is given a reprieve for out-of-towner Francisco Francavilla, who does both the black and white and color work for the issue. The art chores are still a high point to the book, and I say that with a big dose of “phew!”. Normally the post-arc fill-in artist is just there to take up space. Francavilla turns in beautifully rendered pages, that are graphically something to behold at times. His double page spread fight scene by way of the batman logo is well accepted. And his James Junior under a sea of oddly lit panels keeps the “creep factor” high where it’s placed as well. Francavilla’s color work is simple, but fits his heavy line work really well. Pages ooze noir at points, and while I admit that I miss Jock’s hand a bit at times; the art is top notch, and elevates a painfully-minimal-at-times script.

If it’s my only point of contention with the book, it comes with Snyder’s writing. Mind you, above all else, I think the book is superbly plotted, well balanced, and a solid read. But Snyder does miss the mark a few times, and they are the proverbial pea under the mattress. For example, Dick called Tim Drake, a kid we know he considers to be kin, “RED ROBIN”, within conversation, far too often. Imagine these two heroes on a nearby rooftop, scoping out your typical goons unloading a truck, up to no good. “Well RED ROBIN, it seems we have our work cut out for us tonight.” … “We sure do.”… “Alright, RED ROBIN, let’s get them!”. Seriously? I’d almost positive Dick would use just “Red”, or “Tim” before having to use the full name, especially mid-conversation. On top of that, the nearly always needed in a noir book narration is timid at best this issue. To boot, our two page spread features a single sentence caption. The next page? A tepid trio. Within a book that visually oozes drama and noir, there’s a real yearning for that hard-boiled voiceover that Snyder just misses the boat on.

All in all, I’m recommending everyone looking for a little less spandex, and a little more style in their weekly readings to give Snyder’s Detective Comics’ run a real shot. #874 is on shelves, and easy to pick up. If you happen on #871-873, I recommend you nab them as well. Sorry for the lack of snark here, but damnit, when it’s good? It’s good. And Detective Comics #874 is good. Later days, kiddos.