Detective Comics #1 (DC -Daniel / Winn)

DC’s flagship title is relaunched for the first time ever, with new Batman adventures from acclaimed writer/ artist Tony S. Daniel!  A killer called The Gotham Ripper is on the loose on Batman’s home turf – leading The Dark Knight on a deadly game of cat and mouse.

I really never cared for DC comics much. I tried numerous times to get into the universe, but it was always so hard to understand what was going on with all of the huge events effecting the individual comics. I always saw it as a very inclusive thing that only longtime DC fans could get into. But at the instant I heard that they were rebooting all their titles, I prepared to spend a lot of money towards these books. And what better way to start the reboot with one of my favorite fictional characters of all time? Detective Comics was an extremely long-running comic and gave DC comics a name so I cant imagine the stress this put on Tony S. Daniel (writer and pencils), starting the series back on number one. Though many were pessimistic and doubtful, I was very hopeful that the DC reboot was going to be astounding, which Detective Comics #1 definitely was.

Prior to this comic, I have not read anything that Tony S. Daniel has written, but I must say that I am very impressed. He captures classic Batman greatness and puts it in a new modernized storyline. Bruce narrates the story, which gives you a perspective of what’s going on in his head and makes the reader feel like part of the story. The comic starts out with Batman running after a murderer who has been horribly mutilating bodies, removing organs, faces, and all that fun stuff. It soon becomes a chase after the Joker, who is wearing no clothing for some unexplained reason. During the chase, Bruce also has to deal with the Gotham City Police Department, who are also chasing after the Joker but the same time are chasing after Batman since he is a feared vigilante. Within the police force, is Jim Gordon who as always, is working with Batman and supports what he does. Daniel does a fairly well job capturing Bruce’s character and as well as all the supporting characters. Gordon is the same lovable cop, Joker is his hilarious and criminally insane self, and Batman is the goddamn Batman. Obviously a lot starting issues are slow and have nothing in it, but this one is full of content and includes a very shocking ending that make you want the next issue more and more.

For some reason, I love it when the writer of a comic book is also the artist of the book. Tony Daniel’s art is very detailed and he does not fail at setting the tone on paper and making the characters look as they should. There were just a couple panels that looked a little “off” and awkward, but with amazing art everywhere else. All the facial expressions and body language are spot-on most of the time and gives a great dramatic Batman feeling to the book. The only true complaint I had about the art was that in some fast paced scenes, I had no idea what exactly happened. Despite this, he does a great job and so does the rest of the crew who worked on it. As all of you artistically intelligent people know, inkers add depth to the artist’s work and bring it to life. Batman is all about depth and shadows, so in order to capture the feel of a real Batman book, you need an inker as good as Ryan Winn. The heavily used shading and depth he gives to the art is astounding and makes it a very dark book. Tomeu Morey’s coloring adds to the darkness Daniel and Winn created and knows exactly what to do. On the second page of the book is a large picture of Batman running with a landscape of Gotham city behind him. When I saw this, I saw how great the three artists worked together and knew this was going to be a great arc.

Detective Comics #1 brings us to a wonderful start of the new series, and a great start to the new 52 as well. It has a good plot, amazing art, and makes us want the next issue already. My advice for all Batman fans out there is to pick this comic up as soon as they can, because this book does not disappoint and is going to be one of the biggest books in the new 52 DC titles.