Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Detective Comics #853
DC Comics
Gaiman & Kubert
The second and final part to the arc “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” delivers a terrific story that was enhanced by a very creative ending. The first installment had some stories about Batman’s death told by those that have interfaced with him over the years while the narrator appeared to be Bruce Wayne witnessing the funeral. This issue picks up the same idea but dives deeper into Bruce’s thoughts and moves more quickly through the tales of his deaths making this issue more comprehensive in telling a story about where Batman has really gone off to. It’s a very good issue.
The issue opens with more character walking in to view the body of Batman. This first page is important because Kubert does a good job of displaying the various incarnations of Batman’s costume throughout the years. The scene also has characters like Azrael to drop in characters that represent specific eras or story arcs into this story. It was a very good way to start this comic off and the issue moves immediately into more characters speaking of his death.
There are quite a few characters that speak about how Batman died, but the two that stuck out because of their positioning were the Joker and Robin. They spoke one after the other, both mentioned humor as part of the makeup of Batman. This was an interesting way to view Batman as the Joker (for a time anyway) saw Batman as the humorless opposite of him while Robin was brought on board to help ground Batman and keep things light. The disappointment here was that the characters didn’t change as if to depict the characters across the generations as some of them did in the first issue.
Eventually the comic begins to peel away the mind of Bruce Wayne. This has been done to death, but the uniqueness with this version is that it’s his mother that asks the questions to get at what makes Bruce tick. Bruce’s mother doesn’t comfort Bruce, instead she attempts to set him free. She reminds him of what made him happy in life and what the ultimate reward is for being Batman. It’s a very different view on Batman in that it shows just how being Batman won’t ever fulfill Bruce. He needs more and in some ways, he will never get what that is.
The issue ends with an outstanding reference as the comic pays homage to the 1947 book, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Bruce essentially is read Goodnight Batman. Having read this story just about every night for last two years to my own offspring this struck a chord with me. I don’t know if everyone reading this comic will have the same connection or the even get the reference, but to me Goodnight Moon has a touch of loneliness and darkness in it, but in a strange, comforting way. It applies to Batman very well.
The artwork is tremendous as so many character and their representations are captured to perfection. The comic provides some sketches in the back to see just how much is packed into each page. The comic has some terrific splash pages as well, none better than the full shot of Gotham. The only downside is the decision to not alter some of the key characters throughout the ages as had been done in the first issue.
This issue is a fantastic cap to the Bruce Wayne era, until he returns that is. I’m not sure everyone will enjoy the ending to the comic, but for me the Goodnight Moon parallel made this comic take unexpected and very creative turn. I enjoyed this story tremendously and I definitely recommend it.
4 out of 5 geek goggles
