DETECTIVE COMICS #871

[ BOO! ] 

• WRITER: SCOTT SNYDER
• ARTIST: JOCK
• DC: $3.99 – December 2010

THE STORY:

Part one of the ‘Black Mirror’ starts off with a tiered Dick Grayson being requested by Commissioner Gordon to use the Wayne funded Special Forensics Crime Lab, situated in Wayne Tower. Here, Gordon tells Dick about an incident concerning a twelve year old boy who injected a hormonal mutagen – thus the reason for his visit, to analyse this substance. Another reason for this visit is because Gordon believes that the ‘tonic’ which the twelve year old ingested, was once in the possession of GCPD, also that the boy was the son of socialite Gale Redford. Later that evening, Dick, in his Batman guise, visits the Redford home to speak to the butler, Carson Read. But regrettably, before Dick can get any information from him – Dana bursts in – shoots the butler dead – before throwing herself out the window. Dana was under the influence when she committed these grizzly deeds, and this fact is backed up by Gordon who identifies a ‘label’ under her lapel. In a flash both Gordon and Batman ascertain that the mutagen was from Killer-Crock – that the label was from the Mad Hatter – and both of these ‘pieces of evidence’ were signed out by Police Officer Cullen Buck. Batman goes to see Cullen some time later concerning this matter. But alas, yet again, Cullen dies due to a growth expunging itself out from his throat. In the back up feature, Gordon investigates the disappearance of some birds, only to discover the reappearance of his long lost son, James.

THE REVIEW:

I have to say that I really like Snyder’s and Jock’s first venture on this Bat-title – as it really brings back the detective roots of this character, giving it an almost nourish feel and tone. The heavy line work supplied by Jock’s is reminiscent of Edward’s earlier tenure on this book. And as for Snyder – God bless him – he’s starting off a story, which even thoe unoriginal, still has a panache about it. Another thing which I like so far is the way that Dick seems to be finding a voice for himself in this book. He’s not Batman-light, as depicted in the other titles, he’s much more of a stable person, able to differentiate who is he, and why he’s doing what he’s doing. The inclusion of Gordon to be a more pivotal character in ‘Detective Comics’ is a great boon as well, as he’s given the opportunity to comment on the whole ‘Batman Mark Two’ and the ‘Batman Inc.’ pretext, making it seem as if he’s speaking from a grounded perspective. This follows with Gordon in the back-up feature also, where it seems that we will be given the opportunity to delve into his life more so in the future.

THE RATING: A