DETECTIVE COMICS #41

[ URBAN STYLE. URBAN PRICE ]  

In June, 2015, DC Comics launched their brand new direction, aptly titled DC YOU. However, do you know what the YOU in DC YOU actually stands for? Does it mean, oi YOU, Francis Manapul, when are you going to get yourself a real job? Or does it mean, wait a minute, Fernando Blanco, didn't YOU once sing in One Direction? Want to know the answer? Then what are you waiting for? Read. Read. Read.

To QUOTE Mister Spock: 'Its life Jim, but not as we know it'.

THE REVIEW:

There is one thing I want you to keep in mind when you get around to reading this issue of Detective Comics. Certain events which transpired happened sometime prior to this months installment of Batman (issue 41 for those of you who can count). So if like me, you start getting confused when Harvey says to Sawyer that he wants Jim to be reinstated in the GCPD, now you know; that this confrontation happened sometime within the three month hiatus depicted in that other bat book.

Now don't get me wrong. My slight confusion didn't really spoil the enjoyment I received from reading this story-line. On the art-side of things, I loved the way Fernando Blanco's film-noir inspired art-work complemented Brian Buccellato's muted and atmospheric color pallet. I also liked the way that France's and Brian's tale, despite being a bit confusing in places, was bookended in such a way as to introduce us to the new Batman (who's fighting a gang of crooks with the GCPD by his side), before thrusting us back in time to what is essentially a Harvey Bullock tale.

Well, to quote and old quiz show host from a dart themed eighties British television show, you can't beat a bit of Bully! And to me, you can't beat a decent Harvey Bullock tale either (for which this is).

In it, you will see him going around town and basically laying it on the line like he usually does. He does it to his boss, Maggie Sawyer (great to see her back again). He does it to his partner, Detective Yip (who I'm surprised to see he's sleeping with now). And last but not least, he does it to the one, the only, grateful return of Renee Montoya (Yahoo! Finally she's back in the DCU. This time with less baggage, and a slightly revised origin story where Harvey trained her before she was shipped on out to Bludhaven).

So overall, yeah, a pretty decent issue of Detective Comics. As it had some great art-work, a decent story-line, plus some revelations and fighting sequences that I thought was a cut above the rest. Particularly that one between Bat-Jim and the hoods, hint-hint!

THE MUSIC:

Tonally this comic book was like a cop based version of a film noir. And as we all know, a film noir, cop based or otherwise, is always complemented by a great jazz inspired soundtrack. So Mister Jazz Man, it's now over to you.  

THE COMPARISON:

Now there was a scene in this story where Harvey and the ladies have a fight at a bar with a couple of bikers. And to me, whenever I see that sort of scene I always remember a monkey. Or to be more precise, an orangutan: That one seen in the Clint Eastwood movie, High Plains Drifter.

  

Sorry. I meant, Any Which Way You Can. Ogga-Ogga!

THE CONCLUSION:

At the very end of this issue Detective Yip receives a sudden phone call instructing her to do something to both Harvey and Renee. So just for fun -- please -- let's see if you can guess what that something is out of the following eight options.

1. Wax them.
2. Give them a massage.
3. Kill them.
4. Show them how to dance in a provocative fashion.
5. Peal them.
6. Hand them both a discount code for superherostuff.com.
7. Flash them.
8. Illustrate to them that being a slim woman is far more difficult than being an overweight man, using mime.   

Nuff said