Batman: Detective Comics #1010 – Peter J. Tomasi, Writer; Christian Duce, Artist; David Baron, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 9/10
Ray: After a few arcs that didn’t quite click with me, Peter Tomasi’s current arc on Detective Comics has been one of the most unusual and exciting Bat-stories in recent memory – placing Bruce Wayne firmly out of his element and introducing him to a pair of unlikely new allies. The communal jet Bruce was flying on to an economic summit with his fellow billionaires has crashed after a freak electrical storm – just as it was being hijacked by Deadshot, leaving the rich people at the mercy of a trained assassin. The good news in Detective Comics #1010 is that Deadshot wants them alive. The bad news is that everything else on the island wants them dead.
We really only know Lucius Fox and Deadshot from this group, so most of the other billionaires are just ciphers we’re supposed to laugh at as they get terrorized by various island animals. They’re not the real stars of this story, though – Bruce is, as he gets into one of the most unusual adventures he’s found in some time.
Those would be Clarence and Hiroshi, a pair of ninety-something WW2 veterans – from opposite sides – who made the island their home after being shot down seventy-five years ago. They started as enemies and became each others’ closest and only friend – something that allows them to save Bruce’s life and then quiz him on everything from the outcome of the war to the results of the World Series.
I love these two and I kind of hope they come back to Gotham with Bruce, but they seem happy on the island. Knowing his mentor is back at the jet with Deadshot leaves Bruce no choice but to head out – injured and without his gear, in a makeshift uniform that makes him look more like a Talon. We’ve rarely gotten to see a Batman relying more on guile than anything, and this issue portrays Deadshot as a compelling antihero rather than a straight-up villain. My only regret? I wish this story wasn’t cut short by two pages for yet another tie-in of Freeze mooning over a half-frozen Nora.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
