DC Comics
Detective Comics #953
By Avi Weinryb
March 24, 2017 - 10:05

DC Comics
Writer(s): James Tynion IV
Artist(s): Christian Duce and Fernando Blanco
Colourist(s): Alex Sinclair w/ Allen Passalaqua
Letterer(s): Sal Cipriano
Cover Artist(s): Renato Guedes and Romulo Fajardo



Detective_Comics_953.jpg
Lady Shiva is continuing to wreak havoc in Gotham and the Bat-team are on the run. Poor Commissioner Gordon has to cut his tropical vacation short in order to deal with the mess, and Shiva’s estranged daughter, Orphan, is not feeling the love.

In order to connect with her mom, Orphan will first need to defeat Batman -- no big task for one of the world’s deadliest assassins.

While Orphan is anything but, she might as well have no parents considering how insanely evil and far gone her mother is here. With an unrelenting desire to destroy the lives of others, Shiva uses Joker gas, teams of criminals, and pure mayhem to bring the city to its knees. James Tynion IV continues to pen an intriguing tale about family, friendship and kicking butt. And not necessarily in that order.

The dialogue is quite solid, with emotional conversations never coming across as cheesy or trite. The pacing is well layered, leading to a powerful final page that alludes to an unlikely team-up we can expect in the next issue. After an arc in which Spoiler was struggling with her own identity and personal issues, we’re now experiencing the same via Orphan. And for every member of the Bat-team, the roadway of anxiety and buried emotion runs directly through their pasts and into Batman. He’s not just the leader of a pack of heroes; he’s a den father, tending to his brood. The guy with no parents has become a parent to a diverse group of people. That, combined with fighting criminals, can’t be an easy job.

Christian Luce and Fernando Blanco deliver some very detailed, immersive work in this issue. When a colorful mix of people are riding a helicopter over Gotham City, the soft, blurred, but still detailed cityscape glows through the window, creating a great sense of depth. In fact, everything popped in this issue. Action sequences demonstrated a keen understanding of anatomy and martial arts. Creative layouts made everything flow, packing a lot of action into these pages. The only thing missing was a thumping soundtrack. A good time to be had here, but based on where things leave off, the next issue will be an especially memorable one...


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