Review: Detective Comics #1072

Overview: In Detective Comics #1072, the clash between Batman and Prince Arzen turns bloody as the Reality Engine warms up!

Editor’s Note: Due to the anthology nature of this collection, we will feature a synopsis and analysis for each story rather than breaking up the synopsis and analysis. Spoilers are sure to be revealed.

Story #1: “Gotham Nocturne: Act II: The Fall” by writer Ram V and artists Ivan Reis and Stefano Raffaele

Synopsis: Detective Comics #1072 begins in the present, as Prince Arzen, wearing a golden mask, beats Batman brutally and tells him that Batman is about to fall.

Earlier, the Orgham Place grand opening celebration lit the sky with fireworks. Nightwing and Cassandra Cain Batgirl patrol above and below, Oracle connecting them all, and Batman makes his way to the heart of the Reality Engine machine. Nightwing faces a man who transforms into an Azmer demon and flees. Cass takes out several guards but finds the cages she scouted earlier empty, all of the prisoners already attached to the Azmer demons.

Jim Gordon tries to persuade Commissioner Montoya that something is wrong with the Orghams, but she rejects him and denigrates his partnership with Batman. Jim leaves sadly, reminding Renee to ask the right questions.

Batman beats down the Werewolf and Fleshcrafter guards with silver and blood thinners, then passes by the creepy eye lady who warns him of his sacrifice to come. As Nightwing battles the Azmers, Prince Arzen attacks Batman and says he must choose to let the explosives kill the celebrating people or let the Reality Engine bend history to the Orgham’s will.

On the ground, Montoya’s police see the top of Orgham Tower explode.

Analysis: Ram V, joined in Detective Comics #1072 by Ivan Reis and Stefano Raffaele, continues the story of Batman’s extremely long and painful night. Starting at the end of Act 1, Ram segued directly into Act 2 without any real defining events marking the shift in narrative, breaking Talia’s flashback narrative to Batman in half between acts. This issue starts with a flash-forward cold open, with Arzen beating Batman brutally, then skips back. Unfortunately, though Ram V is making use of the Bat-Family – Oracle, Cass, and Nightwing – none of them actually accomplish anything in this issue. While Batman does confront Arzen, he mostly just gets beaten up. Then something ambiguous happens that hopefully will be clarified in the next issue. Overall, plotwise an extremely frustrating installment of the Gotham Nocturne, though Ram V and his art team continue to provide a strong emotional experience.

Ivan Reis provides most of the art, and though Raffaele does a good job of fitting in with Reis’s art, helped as always by the excellent coloring, it remains an intense frustration that DC’s highest-numbered book cannot keep a single artist per issue. The artists, as always, do really high-quality work, but the choice to mish-mash artists in every single issue is beyond infuriating.

Story #2: “Things that Must Die” Part 1 by writer Simon Spurrier and artist Caspar Wijngaard

Synopsis: Looking at the finger and eyeball of her husband, Queen Orgham smiles diabolically, then tells her son his father was murdered – but not that she ordered it as the backup in Detective Comics #1072 begins. Prince Arzen mourns and tries to train with his teacher, Asim, and save the dying gaea fruit tree. The boy does everything he can to save the tree, but as Asim tries to persuade him to let the tree (and his father) go, assassins from Ra’s al Ghul attack and slaughter Asim, turning to the boy next.

Analysis: Dan Watters takes over the backups from Si Spurrier, joined by Stefano Raffaele on art, and provides a really affecting story of Arzen as a boy, picking up where Ram V’s Talia flashbacks left off. Like Spurrier’s work, it’s clear that Ram V is working incredibly closely with his backup writers, and it’s a delight to see the story with different but complementary voices fleshing out the same storyline across the history and geography of this epic opera. Raffaele, since he’s been doing a lot of art for the main stories, fits perfectly into this dark but sometimes sunny world of assassins and demons.

Evan Cagle’s main cover is once again beautiful – an image of Solomon Grundy and Shoes escaping the Orghams – but since neither character even appears in this issue, it’s more than a bit frustrating at the editorial failure. Kelley Jones’s variant (and 1 in 50 foil incentive variant) shows his big-ear Batman perching atop a huge bell, with the Joker hiding underneath – nothing to do with the book, but a fun concept. Mike Perkins’ variant shows Batman weeping pink tears in the rain over skulls and his parents lying dead – again, a bit generic, but a nicely executed concept. Lastly, Sebastien Fiumara’s dark 1 in 25 incentive variant actually plays with Ram V’s theme of Batman vs. Barbatos, with Barbatos taking off the Batman mask (or full head) in a very disturbing, beautifully rendered image.

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.