COMIC REVIEW: DETECTIVE COMICS #s 817-818
Author: Cary Ashby
Monday, April 17, 2006

Story Arc: "Face The Face"
Story Title: "Face The Face," Parts 1 & 3 of 8
Writer: James Robinson
Art by: Leonard Kirk and Andy Clarke
Cover Artist: Simone Bianchi

“All is well in Gotham town.”

OK, that’s not exactly the case, but the line from Prince’s 1989 Batman-related song “Vicki Waiting” strangely fits “Detective Comics” numbers 817-818.

The Gotham City Police Department is investigating the murders of two super villains, KGBeast and Magpie, within 24 hours. Both were shot twice by a double-barreled pistol and the wounds were the same distance apart.

This naturally leads Batman to suspect Two-Face. However, Harvey Dent’s face is no longer divided between scarred and unscathed. The former district attorney apparently has been cured of his obsession of committing crimes based on the number two. Dent also has been watching Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo, in action while busting The Mad Hatter’s gang.

So what’s so good about all that?

Batman has returned from an unexplained year-long absence from Gotham City. Better yet, Jim Gordon is back from retirement to be the Gotham City Police Commissioner.

Writer James Robinson and artists Leonard Kirk, Andy Clarke and Wayne Faucher create a wonderful sequence of panels in issue 817 that will get many Batfans pumped.

Gordon tells a puzzled rookie officer, “Come on. It’s time.” The commissioner then leads her up the stairs to the roof of the police station where he requests two officers remove the tarp from the long unused Batsignal. The three officers are stunned to hear cheers from the treets below and witness the Dynamic Duo appear out of nowhere within seconds.

Gordon and Batman reunite with a heartfelt handshake.

It’s a great time to be a fan of The Dark Knight. The better news is it’s a fantastic time to be a DC Comics reader.

DETECTIVE COMCIS, like every DC title, is in the middle of the “One Year Later” storyline. Each storyline takes place 365 days after the catastrophic events of the “Infinite Crisis” limited series, which has promised death, destruction and the possible return and/or reconciliation of the multi-universe concept.

DC’s Big Three (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) have not been on speaking terms ever since Princess Diana broke the neck of the villain Maxwell Lord who had been using mind control over the Man of Steel. Maxwell Lord even had Superman "brutally beat Batman," according to the Wikipedia entry for Wonder Woman. ("Comic Shop News," in fact, named issue #219 of WONDER WOMAN the 2005 comic "with a twist." Those guys are sick!)

The trio disappears from the DC Universe for a year after "Infinite Crisis" and the aptly titled limited series “52” will focus on the lesser known heroes’ lives during this time.

So, abruptly starting each title in the middle of the events, separated one year’s time from the previous issue, has made for some interesting revelations in DC. It naturally has led to a ton of questions.

Why is Hawgirl taking over Hawkman’s jurisdiction? And where is the Winged Avenger anyway? How did Catwoman get pregnant? How did Ollie Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow) get elected the Star City mayor? Why are there two people calling themselves Nightwing? What happened to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman during their absence?

“Detective Comics” numbers 817-818 obviously has its fair share of head-scratchers. The biggest is: Who is killing off these super villains? Readers are even left to wonder if the Ventriliquist (and in turn, Scarface) survived being gunned down at their apartment.

[POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT]: It's quite possible Jason Todd is behind these murders, although the conversation between Batman and Alfred in issue #818 leads us to believe Batman thinks Dent is back to his murderous Two Face ways.

Keep in mind Todd threatened to shoot The Joker at point blank range while holding him hostage and Todd started a one man campaign against Black Mask. Todd also isn't afraid to impersonate villains, so he could be attempting to lead Batman astray by making all the clues similar to murders Two Face might commit. Plus, we don't know the final outcome of that same confrontation in "Batman" between The Dark Knight and the resurrected Boy Wonder because the final panel abruptly jumps 365 days ahead. [END SPOILER]

“Infinite Crisis” has been nothing but confusing, despite my valiant attempts to “get it” while scanning the series’ pages and reading reviews and news articles. The exciting part of “Crisis” has been seeing the promise of “One Year Later” and “52.”

The climax of this "Face the Face" storyline should naturally lead up to the run by writer Grant Morrison and artist Andy Kubert, starting in the July issue of BATMAN.

“All is well in Gotham town.”