|
DETECTIVE COMICS #762
Recommended (8/10)
|
DC Comics
"Passings"
Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Rick Burchett
Inks: Dan Davis & Rodney Ramos
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Bob Schreck
"Slam Bradley: Trail of the Catwoman, Part 4"
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Sean Konot
Editor: Matt Idelson
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
For the past three months,
I have been praising this comic as great from top to bottom, with a top-notch
backup story and a main story to match. This time out, I had a couple of
problems with the direction of the main story, but overall this is still a great
title and probably the best of the Batman titles for the most part. There are
two divisions in the book, but there are really three stories: The consequences
of the "Officer Down" story, the continuing development of bodyguard Sasha
Bordeaux and the wrap-up of Slam Bradley's Hunt for Catwoman. Two of these
stories, I thought were excellent... the other one, not so much.
The problem I have with the book comes with
the direction Sasha's story is going. I love the idea that brought her here, a
bodyguard assigned to Bruce Wayne, and didn't even mind the rapid revelation of
his identity to her or the growing jealousy with Vesper Fairchild. However,
putting her into a costume seems the wrong move, as it just makes her yet
another spandex costume rather than a more interesting character, and I really
don't want to be reading a Sasha Bordeaux mini-series in a few years where she's
running around fighting crime like every other Batman spinoff. Rucka has been
doing interesting and unconventional things with this book, and while Sasha's
reaction to the training (particularly her sheer joy in using the swingline) was
pretty fun, turning her into another costumed sidekick is a fairly conventional
angle.
Fortunately, despite my distaste for the
direction, the execution was still carried off well. Sasha's complaints and
willingness to stand up to Batman for her job make a nice contrast with other
sidekicks like Nightwing, Robin, Huntress, Oracle, etc. etc. And I'm enjoying
the jealousy that builds between Sasha and Vesper, which seems right now to be
at the stage where Sasha just doesn't like the woman, but I'd bet it will
eventually be realized as a romantic interest in her client. Also, while I
wasn't wild about the Batman/Sasha story this issue, I loved the fallout from
"Officer Down."
It was implied at the end of that story
that Harvey Bullock had murdered the man who shot Gordon. In this issue, we find
out that there are more complications than that, and it was interesting to watch
the consequences of his actions come down. I like the character, and so it was
sad to see it unfold, but it was completely realistic and utterly involving,
particularly the confrontation between Montoya and Harvey. Burchett's artwork
has always been good, but he's been at this best lately when collaborating on
Batman stories with Rucka, and this issue was no exception to that rule.
Then there's the conclusion to the Catwoman
prelude, which is as stellar as I've come to expect from the first three
installments. Catwoman and Slam have instant chemistry, the classic gumshoe and
the classic femme fatale put together for a conversation, and Cooke's work is
possibly the best it's been on the entire series thus far. The use of shadows
from blinds is a classic noir technique in comics and film, and it happens to be
one of my favorites, but more impressive was his juxtaposition of the beating
and Slam's final meeting with the mayor, aided by Hollingsworth's choice of an
unusual color to highlight the beating against the darker tone of the rest of
the story.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
