THE NEW 52-DETECTIVE COMICS #1

As part of DC's NEW 52 relaunch, Dc ended the run of DETECTIVE COMICS, the book which introduced Batman in issue #27, and relaunched it in September. With all the changes in this new universe, the Bat titles were those that had some tweaking but no major changes...at least not that we know of yet. Tony S. Daniel, long a favorite artist of mine who has developed into quite a talented writer, pairs with inker Ryan Winn to bring the continuing adventures of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego.


Issue #1 begins with Batman searching for his arch nemesis The Joker, who is in the process of dealing with a "fan". First thing we note, besides the change of a costume including the spiffy new razor sharp wrist gauntlets, is that the Joker has only been operating for 5 years. Oh yeah: that's right-this is NEW CONTINUITY. But, it's nice to know, he's the good old psycho we know and love and proves it by ripping out the jugular of his fan and proceeding to slice and dice this guy wearing a skull cap stitched from skin. Yeah-this ain't your daddy's Batman. 


Batman shows up too late but rescues a girl frightened by the whole incident. Then, as if on cue, the Gotham City Police show up with guns drawn to take down the vigilante hero. remember-he's a vigilante and operating outside of the law. A much younger than we're used to James Gordon shows up and chides them.


The next thing we notice different in this continuity is that the entrance to the Batcave isn't him by normal methods. Yeah-it's a hologram. But Alfred is still there as the faithful butler, so everything is fine. 


Bats meets with Gordon, the cops stake out The Joker and get burned in the process. hey-Detective Bullock is still here. Not as fat and ugly as he's been drawn in the past, but at least he's still here. Bats pursues Mr. j and after a savage beatdown, takes him in. He ends up in what I can assume is the version of Arkham in this continuity. There he meets someone who proceeds to fix The Joker. And, in a stunning last panel, the flesh from The Joker's face is seen cut of his skull and mounted on the cell wall. Gory? You betcha! Leaving me wanting more? You betcha!


This is great stuff and I am so glad the architects at DC left this book mostly intact. It's dark and gritty and downright violent. Daniels' artwork is top notch and his writing is crisp. Batman is still the driven detective fighting the good fight despite having most of the police not in his corner. The Joker is still one sick villain and the last page is a winner. Again, this book made me want to keep turning pages and left me waiting for the next issue.

BTW: the hooded woman...yes...she has boobs...is in the 6th panel of page 15 in a crowd shot.