Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Francesco FrancavillaFor years, Jim Gordon has been tormented by the possibility that his son, James Jr., might be a killer. Tonight, he’ll get the answers he’s been after. But is the truth about James even darker than the Commissioner, or even Batman, could have guessed?
Hasn’t it only been a couple of weeks since last issue? I’m not complaining. Detective Comics moves into its final act before the relaunch, with the critically-acclaimed team of Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla at the reins. I’m not going to play coy and say “Is this issue as good as I want it to be? Check after the cut!” Spoiler alert: it’s awesome. Still, be sure to follow the cut for the why.
Let’s talk horror for a moment. While the resurgence in popularity of big-screen slasher films of the 2000s might have convinced you otherwise, the constant presence of gory violence isn’t what makes good horror. It’s called desensitization – if you keep seeing violent imagery, you’re going to reach a point where it just doesn’t bother you as much, no matter how awful it is. Really, what makes great horror is what you don’t show, and how long you can draw out that tension before losing it. This issue is pretty much the textbook example of how to pull it off. Throughout the entire issue, there are maybe two panels of violent imagery. Even so, I was teetering on the edge from page one, engrossed in what I can safely say is the most intense comic I’ve read in a long while. Gordon’s sneaking suspicions about James is some of the best dramatic irony I’ve ever seen in this narrative – the cliche of your character having no clue that a monster is lurking right behind the door is nowhere near as intense as having a character that thinks there might be something behind said metaphorical door – and the pages with the Joker serve as an excellent tonal counterpoint to what’s going on with Gordon’s family.
Is it any surprise? Scott Snyder’s work on American Vampire has garnered him a lot of recognition as one of the industry’s best horror writers, and his solid work got him tapped to helm the relaunched volume of the horror classic Swamp Thing. But Snyder isn’t just scary for scariness’s sake. There’s a point to everything. I’ve already discussed Snyder’s great grasp on the Gordons, so for this issue let’s take look at the Joker’s appearance. Up until now, we haven’t seen much of the Joker since he was put away at the end of Morrison’s run on Batman & Robin, and an unobservant fan might make the case that Snyder is only pulling Batman’s arch-nemesis out of the toy box to up the odds. However, I think it’s pretty clear that Snyder is using Gotham’s most insane resident to compare and contrast him with James and give us a closer look at the nuances of psychopathy and the effect it has at people. It’s things like this that make Snyder’s work not just scary, but interesting; sure, we’re left shaking in our boots, but we’re just too hooked to look away.
Of course, this issue wouldn’t be near as good without Francesco Francavilla. As I said a few weeks back in my Friday Recommendation for Francavilla and Matt Wagner’s Zorro ongoing, one of his credits as an artist on that book was how well that he fit with Matt Wagner’s writing style. It wasn’t mere happenstance, though. Francavilla is an outstanding artist on his own, no doubt, but one of his major credits as a comics artist is his ability to modify his style to complement the writer and the story that he is working with. It’s not just a simple “Here’s my horror style, here’s my pulp style” sort of thing; rather, it’s more like “Here’s my Batman as written by Scott Snyder, here’s my Zorro as written by Matt Wagner, here’s my Black P–” well, you get the idea. There are many artists that modify their style to fit the genre they’re currently working in (sadly not all of them do, but that’s a discussion for another day), but not as many seem to take the extra amount of time to draw something that looks just like how their writer’s text reads. Either Francavilla does, or he just has some supernatural talent that allows him to do it without thinking about it. With the excellent line work, the delicious palette of colors, and the fact that he’s working on far more titles than any one artist should without hurting his output in the slightest, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter. If you don’t have his website added to your RSS feeds, you’re doing yourself a terrible disservice.
This is about as good as Batman gets. Which is funny, considering not a single costumed vigilante makes an appearance in this issue. Snyder and Francavilla’s are good enough at creepy on their own, but together they have such an incredible synergy that they don’t just make my skin crawl, they make it peel off and hide in the closet. If this issue is any indication, while other books are just going to fizzle out before the relaunch, Detective should be ending with one of the strongest Batman stories to come out in years. Good show, guys.
Final Verdict: 9.7 – Do I really need to say it?
