3.31.10 Review

Detective Comics #863 (DC): This will probably sound like I’m unfairly picking on a random title, but this issue is kind of exemplary of why I’m feeling out on comics lately. It’s just bad decision making from the company out in the real world and a lackluster story inside the fictitious world. When “competent” is the best compliment you can pay something, that’s not really a strong enough reason to be actively supporting a title or an industry in this day and age. So, it’s the last issue with Greg Rucka as writer on the main feature. There will also be no more JH Williams III, inside or out. I found myself growing tired of the dual narrative steering the story. What began as a clever writer’s touch, now feels like an overwrought gimmick and it’s hard to accept the neat fitting parity at this point. The style of Jock’s penciling is serviceable, but not engaging for me personally. On the rare occasions I am in the mood for a blocky angular artistic style, I’d probably prefer Sean Phillips, and if I want something even more hyper-stylized, I’d look to Ashley Wood for that fix. When you look hard enough, there are a few good investigative bits from Jim Gordon to be found here, I like the “Kord” reference, and still am warm on the inclusion of Flamebird (building their own little BoP paradigm?), but that all seems to run short. How did Cutter nab Bette? That doesn’t seem to be explained or in sync with last issue. In short, every factor that led to me starting to buy this title has now been systematically eliminated. JH Williams is gone. Greg Rucka is gone. Batwoman is gone. Flamebird is gone. Future issue solicits feature Batman, a rotating band of creators I’m not interested in, and the dropping of the Flamebird plot thread. Will that ever get followed up on? It’s just a shame. It’s become a generic story, with a generic villain borrowed from Silence of the Lambs, a generic approach that devalues the art (two artists in the same issue! with totally different styles! one artist can't complete three issues?!), with a generic back up, a generic preview in this issue, and soon to be a relatively generic set of creative teams. Verdict? Here’s a hint… it starts with “g.” Hey DC, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m out. Grade B-.

I also picked up;

A Home For Mr. Easter (NBM): The pencils from Brooke Allen looked interesting, and hey, I needed more to read than just a sad last issue of ‘Tec.