From DC COMICS: "One of Bruce Wayne's oldest friends is found dead in Gotham Bay, ripped apart by a mysterious sea monster. As he investigates the bizarre death, Batman is drawn into a fatal encounter with the murderous creature."

For me, DETECTIVE #828 titled "SHARKBITE" was Dini’s first bump in the road during his run on the comic. Not that it sucked or anything, it was simply a tad underwhelming to yours truly.

The basic story of D828 goes as follows: Bruce Wayne is hosting a fund-raising costume party on his yacht (Bruce is Zorro, I believe -- that's sort of a nod to one of Bob Kane's inspirations for Batman). During the event, a drunken friend of Wayne’s falls overboard, is attacked by sharks, and dies.

Hey, where is some 'ol Bat-Shark Repellant when you need it?

Anyway, Bruce believes that there is something more to this accident than meets the eye, so The Batman begins to investigate. Also looking into the case is The damn Riddler -- P.I. Edward Nigma that is (In case you’ve missed it, The Riddler is now “reformed” and working as a private investigator in Gotham).

Like the previous issues of Dini’s DETECTIVE, #828 features a self-contained story in which the mystery is solved at the end. Now that I have no problem with, although I wouldn’t mind seeing a 2-parter every one in a while. It’s that I found “SHARKBITE” a tad cliché and a bit goofy at times. The whole shark attack thing was a little lame -- in fact, the issue featured news reports on how The Batman attempted to save the guy. What, is The Dark Knight working with the Coast Guard now?!

Also -- and maybe it’s just me -- but I’m not really liking the “Riddler is a P.I.” thing that they’ve got going on. If you are going to use that angle, then change up the story a bit. The Riddler basically did the same thing that he did the last time we saw him in DETECTIVE.

As far as Don Kramer’s art, I LOVE his Batman. However, many of his people -- including Bruce Wayne -- look very similar facially. Maybe I’m being petty here, but I’m just calling it as I see it.

In conclusion, I’m not going to recommend DETECTIVE # 828 for y’all. It’s OK, but unless you simply collect each and every issue of this comic book, I’d say pass on it.

You can always read it in store the next time you visit your local comic shop -- not that I recommend that sort of thing. ;)