Detective Comics #859 – Review

Batwoman by Greg Rucka (writer), J.H. Williams (artist), Dave Stewart (colors) , The Question by Greg Rucka (writer), Cully Hamner (artist), Dave McCraig (colors)

The Story: First, Rucka told us the Batwoman arc with her lunatic sister and the crazy religious nuts in Gotham. Then, Rucka set the last issue in Kate Kane’s childhood. Now he fastforwards to Kate being forced out of Westpoint because she’s gay. We follow her drifting after that, until she has a moment of clarity. Rucka also gives us a backup story starring the Question, who is still on the track of an international smuggling cartel. It’s bigger than she can handle on her own, so she calls in some help.

What’s Good: Greg Rucka is writing some really smart comics. There is a whole world of untapped stories with a gay character like Kate Kane and he’s digging to get the best ones. Kate’s personality is very strong and her focus is laser-like. Rucka has given her the integrity, professionalism and obsessiveness of a Bruce Wayne or a Dick Grayson. This makes her a very strong addition to the Bat-family. But, like the best writers, Rucka knows that it’s not enough just to show what she’s got. Rucka tests her, by putting up the two most defining characteristics, her sexuality and her ambition, and putting them in direct, irreconcilable conflict. Her response is what makes her a hero. The Question story was equally smart, but less of a character-builder than out-and-out detective crime-fighting adventure and so was a lot of fun.

Williams has adopted a gritty style and a starkness to his panel interiors for the scenes set in the past that do a great job of telling Rucka’s story. The facial expressions, although rough and scratchy, communicate a wealth of emotional pain and conflict (check out the scene with Kate speaking with her colonel). The art set in the present (the meeting of the religious nuts) is much more realistic and richly textured. I checked the credits to see if the inkers had changed for those two different settings because the art is so different, but it appears that Williams can manage the two different styles at the same time. Pretty impressive. The color work in the past settings is subdued, but you really get to see what Stewart can do with the scenes in the present.

What’s Not So Good: Not enough of either story. Give me more!

Conclusion: Rucka has put Detective on my pull list. If Detective, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Red Robin and Batman are what happens when Bruce Wayne is taken out of the picture, I hope Bruce never comes back. The Bat-family of titles is fast becoming a must-read for smart readers.

Grade: A

-DS Arsenault