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DETECTIVE COMICS #766
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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DC Comics
"Bruce Wayne: Murderer? Part One: Procedure"
Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Jesse Delperdang
Colors: Jason Wright
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Bob Schreck
"Josie Mac: Lost Voices Part Four"
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: John Workman
Editor: Matt Idelson
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
I'll be
honest, I've read so many Batman stories at this point, that even the really
good ones don't interest me as much as they used to. But cop stories in Gotham?
That's an untapped gold mine, and it seems to be the focus of "Bruce Wayne:
Murderer?," which gives me hope that I might enjoy the crossover more than I
expected to. Thanks to our point-of-view characters this issue, a pair of Gotham
detectives, we get to see the initial reaction to the murder from the outside,
including speculation about what happened, a media frenzy and what seem like
completely alien reactions from Bruce and Vesper. It's very engaging stuff, and
I was surprised by how well McDaniel's more action-oriented art matched up with
Rucka's very character-oriented script.
As with "Officer Down," this
is a police procedural that involves Batman and his costumed family on the
periphery at best. Rucka and McDaniel do a terrific examination of what might
happen if Bruce Wayne actually murdered someone, including an impressive shot of
a media frenzy outside Wayne Manor and some interesting reactions from
Detectives Montoya and Allen. It's even more fascinating for the readers,
because we know that the detectives are interrogating Batman and an ally rather
than just Wayne and his bodyguard, even though to the detectives it just looks
like both people are covering up a murder. It's an interesting no-win situation
for Bruce and even moreso for Sasha, who is less used to keeping this big
secret.
The way the cops are portrayed is one of my favorite parts of Detective Comics. The banter between Sawyer and her detectives about who gets assigned
as primary, their discussion of the politics surrounding the case and the
theories that Allen and Montoya share are all examples of how I believe
detectives work. Whether it's real or not, it feels real, and that's the most
important element. In addition, it's unusual in the world of four-color spandex
to get such a grisly and real examination of a murder, to see the very human
after-effects of the act. It's easy to sympathize with the detectives and their
feelings, even knowing what the reader knows about Bruce and Sasha. The murder
has been concocted as a very solid mystery, and if nothing else, wanting to know
how it happened will keep me reading "Bruce Wayne: Murderer?"
Scott McDaniel is not someone I associate with this kind of story. I think of his work as suited best to the acrobatic Nightwing and the action-oriented writing of Chuck Dixon. However, his work here, along with a normal color palette (replacing Wildstorm's duotone style, presumably to make the book more approachable to new reades) is some of the sharpest art I've seen on Detective Comics. He
does a terrific job on the expressions of Allen, Montoya, Wayne and Bordeaux as
the interrogation proceeds, and I was especially impressed with the emotional
intensity we see from Sasha.
In addition to the first
chapter of "Bruce Wayne: Murderer?," this features the fourth chapter of the
ongoing "Josie Mac" back-up story, which is excellent as always. I'm finding
Josie's independence a little hard to swallow coming from a fairly young
officer, but I can't deny really liking the character and her fearlessness.
Chiang's artwork also continues to impress, with a cinematic style that matches
Winick's fast-paced script and narration.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
