There are a lot of comics out there, but some stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This,” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we look at the current run of “Detective Comics:” ‘Gotham Nocturne.’
Who’s This By?
Primarily written by Ram V (“These Savage Shores,” “The Swamp Thing,”) the series has seen a bevy of artists, starting with Rafael Albuquerque (“American Vampire,”) Christopher Mitten (“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Saturn Returns,”) Hayden Sherman (“Wasted Space,”) Ivan Reis & Danny Miki w/ Joe Prado (“Superman,”) Dexter Soy (“Deathstroke Inc.,”) Stefano Raffaele (“GCPD: The Blue Wall,”) Miguel Mendonça (“Aquaman,”) Eduardo Pansica w/ Julio Ferreira (“Suicide Squad” (2021,)) & Juan Castro (“Aquaman,”) Goran Sudžuka (“Y: The Last Man,”) Dustin Nguyen (“Descender”) & Francesco Francavilla (“Detective Comics.”) Plus, coming up in #1076, is Jason Shawn Alexander (“Spawn.”)
It’s been colored by the illustrious Dave Stewart (“Arkham City: The Order of the World,”) Adriano Lucas (“Suicide Squad: Bad Blood,”) Brad Anderson (“Action Comics,”) Lee Loughridge (“The Batman Adventures,”) John Kalisz (“Batman and Robin”) and Francesco Francavilla. It’s all been lettered by Ariana Maher (“X-Men: Red,”) save for the Annual which was by Deron Bennett (“Dark One.”)
Backups, which are side-stories for this run, have been written by Si Spurrier (“John Constantine: Hellblazer”) and Dan Watters (“Arkham City: The Order of the World,”) illustrated by Dani (“Arkham City: The Order of the World,”) Hayden Sherman, Caspar Wijngaard (“All Against All,”) Stefano Raffaele and Aaron Campbell (“John Constantine: Hellblazer,”) colored by Dave Stewart, Nick Filardi (“Umbrella Academy,”) Caspar Wijngaard (“Home Sick Pilots,”) Lee Loughridge, Triona Farrell (“West Coast Avengers”) and Patricio Delpeche (“Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country,”) and lettered by Steve Wands (“Little Monsters.”)
And the diversion into “Knight Terrors” was handled by Dan Watters, Ricardo Federici (“The Last God”) with Mike Perkins (“The Swamp Thing”) & Stefano Raffaele, Brad Anderson w/ Mike Spicer (“Wonder Woman: Dead Earth”) & Lee Loughridge, and Steve Wands.
What’s This All About?
‘Gotham Nocturne’ is, as the name implies, a gothic opera. Its principal characters: Batman and The Orghams. Supporting roles: Two-Face, The Ten Eyed Man, Renee Montoya, Sorrow and James Gordon. The setting: Gotham City.
The curtain rises on Batman, fighting corpses more alive than ever and stronger than they should. He yearns to know more, and to make sure they cannot harm anyone else. He is Gotham’s protector. He will do anything to keep it safe.
Across the ocean, a mysterious family, The Orghams, set out from the old world. Monied and powerful, they believe Gotham is theirs by right. By deed. Theirs to shape to their whims. They are new to our story, but come with old grievances and even older magic.
And thus, the stage is set for a story that will test Batman’s connection to the city he loves…and the darkness in its soul.
So, Why Should I Read This?
If “Batman” right now is the flagship action series that drives the line – loud, singularly focused, and in-your-face – then “Detective Comics” is the weirder, quieter, riskier book. At its best, it’s an ensemble book featuring Batman that’s allowed to get scary, get pulpy, and really lean into the “detective” part of “Detective Comics.” And boy howdy is ‘Gotham Nocturne’ “‘Tec” delivering on that.
Hands down, I would put this as one of the best “Detective Comics” runs of the last twenty years and maybe my favorite since the New Gotham era in the early 2000s. No shade to Tamaki & Mora’s most recent run, which was doing interesting things but never quite hit its stride, or my other favorites – Snyder’s short stint pre-New 52, Tynion’s excellent, though certainly uneven, rebirth run, and the prelude to the best New 52 book of them all, ‘Batwoman: Elegy.’ V & Co. are simply tapping into something special.
By virtue of its structure, ‘Nocturne’ is not a particularly sprawling story, though neither is it hyper focused. The main narrative, that of the Orghams machinations for Gotham, has a clear trajectory. There’s little mystery there beyond the specifics of their power set, at least once ‘Overture’ is completed. We know what they want and (mostly) why they want it. It is in the uncovering of the details – the hows, the whys, and the back-and-forth complications – where the fun and intrigue comes in.
Continued belowPresent too are the leitmotifs, fugues and countermelodies of the subplots and backups that drop in and out of the story, weaving the ever more complicated melody of the ‘Nocturne.’ Two-face’s struggle with the demon inside him (both, in fact.) The mysterious melody that is infecting people’s minds. Jim Gordon’s buddy flick with a strange boy named Sorrow. Then there’s Bruce Wayne’s seemingly burgeoning friendship with Arzem Orgham, the heir of the dynasty that’s trying to kill him as Batman.
Batman is also reactive through much of these first two acts. It’s not a novel position for him but it does make for a much more interesting story. This isn’t the perfect Batman who knows everything; this is the one who’s three steps behind and falling ever farther back. Of course, we know he’ll get back up by the end. Yet the successfully built tension between this knowledge and the reality of where the character is right now keeps me coming back, needing to know what new development is on the horizon and what price Batman will pay to inevitably win.
Because I truly believe that V isn’t letting him end this one scot free.
‘Nocturne’s’ success would also be impossible without the stellar artists & colorists it has. Albuquerque with Stewart set the stage during the ‘Overture,’ bringing a grounded, slow-burn horror to the project which Ivan Reis & Danny Miki and Brad Anderson took and absolutely ran with, enmeshing the horror with the house style they’ve come to embody. We’ve been eating good with them at the helm and even better when Stefano Rafaele drops in to render the “1001 Nights”-esque story segments during ‘Act 1.’
Then we’ve gotten the guest issues from Dustin Ngyuen and Francesco Francavilla? And the annual with Christopher Mitten throwing us back to Gathome? I could go on – I didn’t even mention the lunacy that was “Knight Terrors” – and I’m already leaving out names from the top. I didn’t even mention Evan Cagle’s breathtaking covers that should absolutely be getting you to read this book on their composition alone.
Through it all, Ariana Maher has been doing career work on lettering. Clear and melodious when it needs to be, discordant and disorienting but still eminently readable otherwise. I love how baroque Barbatos’ font looks, like an old forgotten poem on cracking paper. At first I thought this was a Clayton Cowles joint, as it reminded me of “Wicked and the Divine’s” more than that usual DC fare, but I was wrong!
Currently, we’re about two thirds through the story by my estimation. The hour is always darkest before the dawn. If you’ve been waiting to read this, now is the ideal time to catch up. The tempo is slowing, the movements shifting, and the curtain is ready to fall. Just in time to rise once again.
How Can You Read It?
“Detective Comics” #1075 is out today in your local comics store or digitally wherever you get your comics. The first volume of this run ‘Overture’ (#1062-1065) is out wherever you get books now with volume 2, ‘Act 1’ (#1066-1070, Annual 2022) on the way next month.
