Detective Comics #877 Review

DC Comics
Detective Comics #877 Review
By Dan Horn
May 30, 2011 - 10:05

DC Comics
Writer(s): Scott Snyder
Penciller(s): Jock
Inker(s): Jock
Colourist(s): David Baron
Letterer(s): Sal Cipriano
Cover Artist(s): Jock
$2.99 US

While DC's slogan for the coming weeks should read "Let's see how many great cover images we can ruin with our Green Lantern ads (as if we don't already have enough devoted marketing space inside the comic book)," Snyder and Jock's Detective continues to impress.

Last month we saw Dick Grayson, Batman of Gotham, cornered by the Roadrunner, a young crime lord with a penchant for boosting nice rides. In this issue we see that situation resolve, and then we get a bit of good ol' fashioned detective work, which Snyder has deftly interwoven into this series and rightfully so (consider the title of the book and just how long that selfsame title has really meant nothing to many of the writers on this book). Batman begins to learn more about the mystery of the killer whale carcass that was found in Gotham Modern, uncovering the conduit which a new villain known as Tiger Shark used to plant the orca, but, as Grayson supposes to learn more about Sonia Zucco, founder of the bank and daughter of infamous mobster Tony "Fats" Zucco, her motives remain a little suspicious.

Snyder's dialogue and narrative are crisp and deeply perceptive, acutely folding character study into gumshoe noir. Furthermore, this issue was perhaps the first time since Grayson donned the mantle of Batman that I really felt that this Batman is truly divergent from that of Bruce Wayne. Snyder makes Dick Grayson a real person, and I was profoundly affected by that elicitation of character in this chapter.

Jock's art on this issue is electrifying. Continuing his use of provocative splash pages, utilization of blank margin space for panels, and application of an incredibly vivid palette that somehow maintains a noir atmosphere, Jock evokes Gotham and its effete underbelly in brilliant new ways.

Despite a flawed presentation (apart from the bright green ad marring Jock's otherwise beautiful cover art this month, the issue is also encumbered by two previews, one of which being an annoyingly bulky lead-in to a miniseries based on the film Super 8) Snyder and Jock's Detective is still the best Batman book I've read in years.

Rating: 9/10