Sep
19
2016
0

Detective Comics #940 Second Opinion

Just so everybody knows, there are going to be spoilers here. It’s really the only way to substantively discuss this issue. 

Written by: James Tynion

Art by: Eddie Barrows

Publisher: DC Comics

Anyone who listens to the Comics Dash podcast or has read any of my reviews of Detective Comics thus far knows that it has been one of my favorite books. Not only of DC’s Rebirth line, mind you–the book has been one of my favorites of the past few months. It’s done some incredible work with characters that I already loved whilst weaving an interesting narrative. Considering that Detective Comics #940 was the culmination of the first arc, I was really looking forward to reading the book.

Unfortunately, I found the book to be a cataclysmic disappointment. To be fair, there are parts of this issue that I quite liked, at least the first time through. However, on revisiting the issue, the moments that were particularly potent felt cheapened. Of course, it’s impossible to recreate emotional highs and lows experienced when first consuming a piece of media, but this felt like more than the usual drop off.

Alright, I put a spoiler warning at the top and haven’t explicitly talked spoilers yet, so I’m going to get into those. At the start of this issue, Tim Drake dies. After redirecting the drones to come after him, he is killed before Batman or any of the other members of the team are able to show up and help.

At least, that’s how it appears initially. As it turns out, Tim didn’t actually die; instead, he was warped away by Mr. Oz, who you may or may not remember from the Rebirth special. And if you haven’t been reading other DC books, well, joke’s on you, because you’re not going to have any idea what’s going on. It took me a moment to figure it out, considering I haven’t seen Mr. Oz since I dropped the failed abortion that is Action Comics.

Why did I expect anything different? In favor of letting the emotional impact resonate, Tynion or editorial or whoever came up with a contrived explanation to keep Tim alive. The last three pages of this issue do literally nothing good. Sure, they serve a larger story, but I simply don’t care about that story whatsoever. Detective felt like it was doing its own thing, isolated from the DCU at large. And now it isn’t anymore.

Honestly, that’s just not for me–I don’t like it when larger events meddle in books I’m enjoying. This is especially true considering I’m not reading everything that DC is putting out right now, and have no interest in reading most of the books that are relevant to the Watchmen plot that was introduced in the Rebirth special. So yeah, the ending bothers me.

Plus, moments that had emotional resonance–particularly the scene in Stephanie’s apartment–don’t feel as genuine. As the reader, I know Tim isn’t dead, so why should I care about any of this? It feels like a lazy cop out to me, and stinks of editorial intervention more than anything else.

Detective Comics #940 also completely ignores a third of the team: Cassie and Clayface maybe get a panel each, and no dialogue whatsoever. I mean, sure, Tim’s “death” doesn’t impact them as much as it does Steph or Bruce, but giving them no material is a bummer. I’ve loved them thus far, and their absence is definitely felt.

There’s also zero levity in this issue. For the first time, it feels like the book is taking itself seriously, and that’s a bummer. Of course, cracking jokes right after an important character dies may be in poor form, but that’s not an excuse to lose sight of the book’s identity.

Ultimately, the issue just feels like another generic Batman comic. It loses nearly all of the identity that it’s been developing since it came back earlier this summer. Even the character moments feel forced and insincere, as the book’s uniqueness is eroded in favor of… brand synergy, I guess. It’s a bummer, and this issue just left me feeling kind of empty.