Batman The Detective #4

Batman The Detective #4

DC Comics 2021

Written by Tom Taylor

Pencilled by Andy Kubert

Inked by Sandra Hope

Coloured by Brad Anderson

Lettered by Clem Robins

Bruce Wayne is facing charges for the attempted murder of former mentor and teacher Henri Ducard and faces a grueling Interpol interrogation. Nothing is as it appears, however, as the Gotham expatriate charges into a lion’s den of mystery and duplicity without the benefit of Batman’s tools. Will the onetime Dark Knight escape unscathed?

One of the first things I noticed opening this issue up is that Bruce looks like a grizzled old leather daddy. The military hair cut and the sheer bulk of him he screams leather daddy. I have to say that the opening here is quite spectacular from a strong powerful story standpoint. The writing is phenomenal and how the back and forth between them all showcases why Tom is one of today’s most amazing writers. The whole issue ties what we’ve seen thus far and how the story is going to progress from here creating something of an almost beautiful bridge between the two sections, the beginning and the ending of the arc. What I want after this however, is seeing more Bruce in Europe and for this series to continue or at least have another arc on the horizon.

I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to flesh these characters out magnificently! The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we get caught up in this exceptionally well.

I am really liking how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen while new ones emerge. The avenues we’ve seen being explored and those that are just opening allowing for new directions to emerge allow for that extra depth, dimension and complexity be added to the story whether they work with the main arc or swirl around it. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably well done.

The interiors here are really quite impressive. Yeah Bruce is definitely turned into something I’m not used to seeing but that’s okay I've gotten used to seeing him this way and I kind of actually like it. The linework is superb and that we have a separate inker in Sandra and the work looks seamlessly like one person has done it all is fabulous! I’d like to see more backgrounds being utilised but how we see the composition within the panels bringing us depth perception, a sense fo scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is extremely well done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work exceedingly well rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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This is a crazy book where a woman in a white bat suit is killing those saved by the Batman. In her crazed mind those people deserved to die the first time around and she sees it as her solemn duty to ensure they die to balance out the Equilibrium. It sounds crazy and in many ways it is but Europe to my knowledge doesn’t have an Arkham and even if it did she would get out and continue her murderous rampage so how you put an end to her scheme? This is an engaging, exciting and riveting story that encompasses every aspect of storytelling in writing and visuals.