By: Scott Snyder (writer), Francesco Francavilla (artist & colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Janelle Asselin (associated editor) & Mike Marts (editor)
The Story: Now that the cat is out of the bag about Jim, Jr.’s true nature, is there anything that could make this Detective Comics issue creepier?
What’s Good: [SPOILER WARNING] After the reveal at the end of Detective Comics #878, we readers know that Jim Gordon, Jr. is one disturbed dude. So, this issue is the first time that we readers know more than the characters in the comic. That’s a pretty big reversal, because previously in this great run by Scott Snyder, Jock & Francavilla, the reader has been just as much in the dark as Commissioner Gordon and Dick-Batman.
I honestly had a small worry about how this issue would turn out with that big change. I also wondered how Snyder & Francavilla would keep the tension high in this issue because watching Gordon, Sr. coming to the realization that his son is depraved (when we already know) probably wouldn’t be that interesting. But, I should have known to trust Snyder as he brings in this added touch that Jim, Jr. is not only disturbed, but how he’s truly evil. It’s one thing to have a natural chemical imbalance in your brain that causes you to have no feelings of emotion or empathy, but it is something else to actively do things to further suppress your emotions so you can be a better psychopath.
And how about the showing off that Francavilla does when Joker is revealed. I guess the lilting story that Joker is telling (complete with some nice lettering by Fletcher) is pretty creepy, but Francavilla’s design and depiction of Joker in a Hannibal Lecter mask with nothing peering out but those buggy eyes is freaky as hell. Of course, during this scene, we don’t know that this is Joker and the not knowing makes it more unsettling. In a way, once the mask comes out and we see Joker, it is almost a sigh of relief: “Oh thank God it’s just Joker.” That is now twice in this run that Snyder and Francavilla have teamed-up to give readers a true edge-of-the-seat reveal (the other was the clogged toilet scene). It is really hard to do that with today’s desensitized readers and it’s nice to see that Snyder and company aren’t afraid to pull any punches.
Francavilla just nails it on this issue and Snyder smartly knows when to stand back and let the artist roll. These scenes would not be improved by more words and Francavilla tells the story effortlessly. He knows when to jumble up a bunch of small panels to create a tight and harried feeling. He knows when to tilt the horizon to make us feel unsettled and he certainly knows when to go with a tight shot to build tension. And, what a master of color! The way he bathes his pages in reds and yellows are perfect for the subject matter. And, he does it all with virtually flat colors. More colorists should be trying to copy this style of coloring (also practiced by Val Staples on Criminal/Incognito) and move away from the focus on coloring anatomy onto the characters.
What’s Not Quite As Good: Well, there’s no Batman in this story. I really don’t miss him, but you’ll surely get some whiners if you have issues of Detective Comics without an actual Batman sighting.
On a personal level, I have a little, tiny disappointment that Joker has shown up. This story was firing on all cylinders and had a wonderful sense of the unknown. Now that Joker is in the story, it may be hard to recapture that sense of unpredictability because Joker is such a known commodity. I’m aware of the counter to this argument that the whole point of Joker is unpredictability, but I haven’t enjoyed a Joker story in years and there is a huge difference between not knowing what Joker will do next (because he’ll do anything) and not knowing what a new character will do (when you don’t understand their limits). I’ll just have to trust that the creators know what they’re doing.
Conclusion: Another really strong issue. We’ll have to see how the story ends over the next month or so, but so far the Snyder/Jock/Francavilla run on Detective has all the makings of something that DC will be able to sell as a hardcover collected edition for years and years to come. That’s a pretty rare thing in the world of utterly disposable superhero stories.
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
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