Big things are going down in Detective Comics #1076 from DC Comics. The book is written by Ram V and Dan Watters, with art by Jason Shawn Alexander, Christopher Mitten, Liam Sharp, and Aditya Bidikar.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Detective Comics #1076 Review:
Batman has been taken over by a demon, which is twisting Gotham City into an even more noir version of itself. And not only that, he’s a few short days away from being hung for crimes against the city. Plus, some equally grim backup stories!
Host Pete Lepage loved a lot of the issue, calling it a “great, great story here. I love the art.” In particular, he enjoyed Jason Shawn Alexander’s take on Catwoman in the front story. He also liked the backup featuring Jim Gordon, and the story focusing on The Question. “This is good stuff.”
Contrasting this book with the ongoing Batman series, Justin Tyler added that the latter has a lot of “continuity things and plot business… This is slowing it down from a pure storytelling perspective. This book just gets to be moody, it gets to take its time.” He also loved the art in the book, with the Question and Azrael stories standouts in his mind. They’re, “both great characters that we don’t see enough of on their own.”
Tyler was also very intrigued by, “this idea that Batman is being taken over by a demon, but even more interestingly like that Gotham City is being split. Feels like such a useful idea to take forward into the rest of the series… As if nobody realizes that demons are literally taking over the street level of Gotham City.”
Alex Zalben agreed, calling out the “noir vibe, in terms of the art and the pacing,” and felt that it was very “’70s, streets on fire type deal where the city is about to explode. So yeah, good stuff.”
Detective Comics #1076 Official Synopsis:
“BATMAN: OUTLAW,” THE FIVE-PART BIWEEKLY DETECTIVE COMICS EVENT, STARTS HERE! Batman, now under the control of an Azmer demon, is to be publicly hanged to atone for his crimes! With both the city and the Dark Knight under the Orghams’ spell, it’s a lawless land, and with the Bat-Family out of the picture after the events of “The Gotham War,” who will help him? It’s up to the ragtag group of Batman’s greatest allies, and enemies, to steal him from the gallows before it’s too late!
