DETECTIVE COMICS #27-The Anniversary Issue

This represents an anniversary issue recognizing the first appearance of Batman in Detective Comics(although DC had an over sized anniversary issue with issue #19, which would have been the 900th issue of the original run). Within this issue are seven stories and a bunch of pin-up pages, all of which I will touch on BEFORE the main story, which is the first part of GOTHTOPIA. I chose to segregate this from the rest of the NEW 52 this month because you need to know the GOTHTOPIA set up, to follow the rest of the connecting stories.

 
The first tale is "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” by Brad Meltzer and Bryan Hitch. Two partners at the A.C.E.  Chemical Company fear for their lives as someone is killing off partners. Come to find out one of the two, named Paulie, is responsible. Batman intervened, escapes several traps, saves the other partner and , unfortunately, Paulie ends up in the chemical vat. The police arrive just as he departs, listing this as the first entry in The Journal of the Bat-Man, as Paulie’s green tinted hand tries to pull himself out of the vat. The highlight for me was Meltzer’s narrative from the Journal at Bat-Man tells why he does what he does. Is this supposed to be the origin of the Joker from the PRE-CRISIS OLD DCU? It certainly isn’t Snyder’s ZERO story.
 

Next is a nice Pat Gleason pin-up featuring the original Batwoman, Bat Mite, Batman, The Riddler and The Penguin. Nice coloring and great looking, old school Ben-Day Dots!
The trend continues with the next story, “Old School” by Gregg Hurwitz and Neal Adams. The tale zips along through many art styles beginning at the beginning up to Adams current style. The story has the Dynamic Duo battling their most famous criminals but Batman gets a whiff of Scarecrow gas and relives the night of his parents’ deaths. Eventually he wakes to find himself the guest of honor in a comics shop that is celebrating his 75th anniversary. Okay-nice homage, some cool looking faked period art and that’s about all this has to offer. It’s cute and fun and brings back nice memories, but that’s about all.
 
A dark and brooding pin-up by Jock leads into the next tale called “Better Days”. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and illustrated by Ian Betram, the Bat Family all gather to celebrate Bruce’s 75th birthday. The whole gang is there, well except for Jim Gordon. But Alfred, with oxygen mask and all, is there as is Commissioner Barabara Gordeon, Dick and Tim Drake. A call comes in and the family leaves. Not long after, Bruce suits up and, looking like he stepped out of Miller’s classic tale, he goes out, takes out some bad guys and makes it home in time to finish the celebration. Again, this is a nice nod to the classic tales, specifically Frank Miller’s.
 

"Rain" is the next story, although it is mislabeled “Hero” in the Table of Contents. It’s four pretty pages with Batman saving a young boy who looks an awful lot like James Gordon jr. as a young boy. Story and art by Francesco Francvilla. A killer Kelley Jones pin up brings us to “The Sacrifice”, a Mike Barr and Guillem March version of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE starring Batman and The Phantom Stranger. Bruce parents never died. Bruce Wayne is married to Natalya Trusevich and has a nine-year-old boy named Thomas the Second. Gotham is at war with gangs wearing Joker and Scarecrow masks. Jim Gordon is a quadriplegic as a result of the gang wars. Ra’s Al Ghul controls 1/3 of Europe and Dick Grayson is on Death Row for the murder of Tony Zucco. So, in the end, Batman has it all good back, just like Jimmy Stewart. 

Two more pinups by Graham Nolan and Mike Allred highlight the issue, along with the story 

“Twenty-Seven” by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy. It’s a future history tale where Batman finds how to replicate himself so that there is always a Batman. Nothing to write home about here.
John Layman and Jason Fabok are responsible for the start of the epic tale GOTHTOPIA. Poison Ivy is yelling at the Gothtopia, America's Safest City, to wake up. Batman arrives with his new sidekick, Catbird and they quickly dispatch Poison Ivy, handing her over to Commissioner Sionis. Taking out a whole host of other bad guys and helping assist on other crisis with the help of Bluebelle and Brightbat follows this. Later in the day, they all receive medals from Mayor Cobblepot. While all this seems like good news, we discover that Gotham’s residents are committing suicide at an alarming rate. Back at the Batcave, Batman goes for a walk and accidentally injects himself with one of Ivy’s thorns, which allows him to realize that this is all an illusion. He goes out on the prowl, after having Alfred analyze the contents of the thorn. Soon he is approached by Catbird and the rest if the family including Bluebelle(Barabra Gordon), Brightbat(Kate Kane), Gothamite(Dick Grayson), Flying Fox(Batwing Luke Fox) and the Wings of truth(Dinah Lance, Strix and Condor). They battle and he lets them win, so they will take him to the Center for Health and Wellness, which is run by Doctor Jonathan Crane. Inside, he realizes he is at the mercy of Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Professor Pyg and Harley Quinn.

Bottom line, this story looks great, reads really weird until Batman realizes that Posion Ivy drugged him on purpose and we all realize that telling everyone to WAKE UP was part of the warning. This is a great start to a fun storyline that I wish someone would explain where this fits in continuity. Obviously, it’s BEFORE FOREVER EVIL. Unless Gothamite is Dick Grayson’s NEWEST identity after the outing. I can’t wait to see where this goes.

As far as Eight Bucks for an “Anniversary Issue”-I could have done without MOST of the stories within, had a SMALLER Anniversary book and gotten away with Five Bucks. It’s just tough for Eight dollars on top of FOUR ANNUALS this month too.