These covers… Geeze. Manapul and Buccellato are delivering some of the most unique covers on the stands. Last issue left me wanting more, and these guys just keep kicking all kinds of anus. The story feels compelling, the 'detective' is living up to that name, and I feel like I'm watching a movie when I read this. The layouts of the panels are crazy; more unique than most comics I've seen, and yet, it's easy to follow along, and has a very pleasing flow to it. There is a fight scene in particular, where Batman cracks some glow sticks, so he can see in a dark room… Here's where both Manapul, and Buccellato shine, there are 14 panels on one page. And to top it off, the colors are very simplistic (because of the glow sticks), but very beautiful and attention grabbing.
Spoilers from here on out:
Bullock believes that Bruce has a stash of Icarus, and used it to kill Elena. Of course, he is just following his gut, but doesn't have any evidence to back this up. Later, that night, Batman goes further down his property, where she was injected. This reminded me of the motion-capture-recording Detective Mode on Arkham Origins, as it plays out what happens. Was very cool to see. Bullock goes back to the prison to interrogate the guys who were caught last issue, only to find them killed in their cell. Bruce disguises himself, and is able to place a tracker on a drug dealer, and then follows him to the docks. It is here, where he rescues some from human trafficking, and then we get the awesome fight scene with Sumo. Batman gets the information he wants, and leaves. It then closes with the biker gang from last issue, shipping someone off in a semi saying he's going to blow up soon.
Gosh, this book is just so freaking gorgeous. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there is no interior monologue from Bruce AT ALL. In fact, there is no interior monologue from anyone in either of these issues. Which makes this an interesting, different way to tell a Batman story. I've really enjoyed these two issues so far. These guys are at top notch on the art, it's really never looked better. A lot happened in this issue, including Bullock mentioning Gordon is in jail (see Batman: Eternal), which I thought was interesting. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on my first read-through, however, it was early, and I was on the road when I read it , so that might be why, but I'll be giving this a…
Detective Comics #31:
Reviewed by Corbin Pool
