Batman: Detective Comics #1095 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Mikel Janin, Penciller; Norm Rapmund, Inker; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Since the start of this run, Batman has been on the trail of an assassin targeting juvenile delinquents who are used for a blood-based compound that reverses aging. But at the core, there’s a far more personal crisis for Bruce Wayne – the discovery that his parents may not have been killed randomly. Joe Chill was saved by Thomas Wayne’s surgery skills years earlier, and Martha helped Chill’s abused pregnant girlfriend escape and start a new life. Could this have all been revenge? With Joe Chill long paroled and exactly where Bruce Wayne can get him, he’s tempted to beat the life out of him – something that Leslie Thompkins knows is all too possible when Bruce is dealing with something as painful as this. The relationship between these two, with Leslie being the closest thing Bruce has to a mother right now, is really powerful and there are some great scenes between them here.
But while I have mixed feelings about Joe Chill being a known figure and still around, Taylor does a really good job with portraying him as a pathetic, useless man who doesn’t even know what Batman is talking about – and he may face an even worse fate from Asema once she tracks him down. With this all out in the open, Bruce is ready to confront Scarlett about the fact that he’s been using this toxic cocktail made from the blood of the innocents, and there’s a tense confrontation between them – but Scarlett, despite being the leader of the company, may not be the one behind all of this. The end of the issue indicates there’s a hidden hand behind everything, and one who’s powerful enough to bring everything down around them. This is one of the best issues of the series, perfectly combining intense action with some great personal content for the main character and his complex family legacy.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
