Detective Comics #22 – Review

By: John Layman (story), Jason Fabok (art), Emilio Lopez (colors)

The Story: For once, someone fought the law, and the law did not win.

The Review: While I appreciate the maxim, “Your own worst enemy is yourself,” in an abstract, trite sort of way, I can’t say I support writers who take that statement too literally in the superhero genre.  Of all the villain types you can think of, the evil clone probably requires the least thought and imagination.  It’s a cheap way to come up with a “new” character: take your superhero, tweak the background a bit, slap on a new paint job, and set affiliation to Evil.

Thus you have E.D. Caldwell and Wrath, each the parallel of Batman’s civilian and vigilante personas, respectively.  Given their near-simultaneous introduction, it’s pretty obvious there’s a connection between the two, although Layman avoids confirming them as the same person for now.  Either way, they’re thoroughly uninspired characters, with Caldwell being the excessively wealthy entrepreneur without Bruce’s scruples, and Wrath the night-haunting warrior who stalks cops instead of criminals.