DETECTIVE COMICS #760

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Saturday, August 11, 2001

Jervis Tetch, AKA the Mad Hatter, is using nanotechnology to cause Gotham's boys (and girls) in blue to go insane for two reasons: 1) to trap Batman, and 2) for the hell of it. In the meantime, Bruce Wayne's bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux has to come to grips with her boss' double-life and the fact that her boss is far scarier than she ever could have imagined.

I think I may just have to become a regular reader of DETECTIVE COMICS I can't say enough about how amazed I am by this issue. Sure, the "Mad-Hatter comes up with a fiendish plan to create chaos" plotline has been used before, but never quite so chillingly as Greg Rucka writes it. When it comes right down to it, so many of Batman's villains are crap it's always refreshing when a writer like Rucka comes along and reminds us just how dangerous they really can be. Anyone who remembers what a laugh the Joker was (no pun intended) until the early '80s knows exactly what I mean. Rucka also doesn't go too far overboard with the whole "Bruce Wayne's as much a crazed loon as the guys he fights" bit both Wayne and his alter-ego are equally frightening here, but seeing them through the eyes of Sasha Bordeaux, an absolutely fantastic character, somehow humanizes even the scarier aspects of his dual persona. BATMAN titles always seem to overdose on the analysis of that dualism, but Rucka prefers to focus on the duality between the crime-fighter and the detective, which is only fitting for this title.

Shawn Martinbrough and Jesse Delperdang's artwork at first seems to jar with the gritty realism of the story until you sit back and go with it. It's an interesting mix of minimalist colors and caricature that falls just this side of cartoony, yet it's just as effective in communicating the realism as, say, the work of Jim Aparo. That, and it's simply far too cool to dismiss.

Equally cool for a Golden Age fan like myself is the SLAM BRADLEY back-up feature Slam Bradley, of all people! I'm half-expecting to see Speed Saunders, Ace Investigator, and Cosmo, the Master of Disguise put in appearances in future issues. Just in case someone's actually listening up there and takes me seriously (for serious I am), it's got to be Ed Brubaker doing the scripting chores. Even though Slam is (astonishingly) alive and well in the modern world and investigating the trail of Catwoman, Brubaker writes this like it's 1939 all over again, with the obligatory Sam Spade-like first person narration and all the greasy characters on both sides of the law you'd expect from such a tale. What really makes this story stand out is the dramatic irony underscoring the whole thing we obviously know the connection between Selina Kyle and Catwoman, but Slam doesn't, and watching him make the connection without feeling the need to shout the truth out at him is a remarkable experience. Equally mindblowing is Darwyn Cooke's artwork for the piece, heavily influenced both by those simpler comics and by the chiaroscuro of the best film noir.


This is stunning work on the part of both creative teams, and more than enough to make a Bat-phobe like me add DETECTIVE COMICS to his shopping list. If you haven't experienced this book yet, maybe it's time to add it to yours as well. And if you're a Bat-fan...well, you already know how good it is, you lucky devils.

DETECTIVE COMICS

Grade: A

Issue: No. 760

Author(s): Greg Rucka, Shawn Martinbrough, Jesse Delperdang, Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $2.50