In this review of Detective Comics #1085, Batman’s campaign against the Orghams kicks into overdrive. But in the shadows, the Joker stirs…
This review contains spoilers.
Detective Comics #1085 main cover by Evan Cagle (Credit: DC Comics))
Detective Comics #1085
Gotham Nocturne: Act III – Crescendo part 2
Writer: Ram V
Artist: Stefano Raffaele
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Main Cover: Evan Cagle
Variant Covers: Javier Fernandez, Steve Beach, Gene Ha, Sebastian Fiumara
Release Date: May 28th, 2024
Selina tells Joker Batman is back to fight the Orghams again, but will fail because he and Orgham are both agents of order. Joker is needed as an agent of chaos, she goads him.
Batman conducts a massive campaign against the Orghams, and their Queen rages. She orders her henchman Neang to prepare a mysterious armored figure.
In an abandoned factory-type area, Jim Gordon meets Batman – a back up Batcave. Batman tells Jim that victories only matter to the mask, and all that matters is the struggle. Jim acts as mission control as Batman attacks Blackgate – leaving a gasoline fiery bat on the ground, and recruits a violinist called the Maestro who can create music that sends the azmer demons to sleep. Breaking the Maestro out, Batman then has Jim find the coldest spot in the city, where he finds Mr. Freeze. He convinces Freeze to prepare his eternal winter for Gotham to freeze the azmers.
The Orghams bring out the Scarecrow to fight Batman’s grip on the Gotham peoples’ hearts.
Selina and Joker share in a chat. (Credit: DC Comics)
Analysis
As Ram V’s Batman Opera builds to its finale, he plays with the themes he’s been weaving throughout the run – themes of order vs. chaos, tyranny vs. resistance, victory vs. endurance. For all that Batman claims to have abandoned his need for victory, it feels a bit hollow if he then defeats the Orghams. However, by having Selina set up the Joker to perhaps defeat both of them, Ram may be setting a thematic defeat with Batman rising again as his answer to “Batman must always win” that too many writers have made an explicit part of Batman’s writing. It’s an interesting idea, though frustrating. If a reader really likes the ending of Grant Morrison’s second volume of Batman and Robin, in which Batman loses every battle and everything he cares about, but ends with the statement, “Batman always comes back, bigger and better, shiny and new. Batman never dies. It never ends. It probably never will.” then such an ending might be satisfying. I personally much prefer when Batman is able to face defeat that doesn’t destroy everything – one of the biggest problems with the increasing escalation of threats Batman has faced since Morrison’s run started. If it’s not Gotham City being mind controlled by magical “reality engine” technology, it’s a bomb that destroys the entire world, or villains taking over Gotham one after another. When you raise the stakes that high, of course Batman can’t lose. But if Batman is facing a deadly crime lord, then he COULD lose, but rise again to fight another day, and it won’t feel so empty.
Be that as it may, Ram V continues with the Orgham/Reality Engine plotline, with the continued hollow masks of the Orghams being perhaps literally mirrored by the masks on the Orgham walls. With so much of their story told in fairy tale style, their defeat of Batman and taking over of Gotham has an otherworldly, ludicrous feeling. There’s no tangibility to their motivations, abilities, or consequences for their actions. Ram V also hasn’t drawn any strong obvious parallel to a philosophy or group, making them feel both thematically and narratively hollow. Perhaps this is a strength – it avoids the sense of shallow preaching through the villains – but given how obvious and on the nose Batman’s dialogue about his “change’ is, it doesn’t seem to have gained much in that department.
A practical criticism – given that The Maestro last appeared in Detective Comics #1063, over 20 issues (almost 2 years) ago, an editor’s note seems appropriate.
Stefano Raffaele’s art, aided beautifully by veteran colorist Lee Loughridge, continues to hold up high standards for this run, and it’s very nice to see scheduling back on track with only one artist credited on the main story. The choice to make the Batsymbol on Bruce’s chest be bloody, messy red perhaps symbolizes Batman’s lack of polish – a primitive force of “resistance” rather than a polished, trained knight – though odd considering Selina’s description of Batman as a force of “order” needing the chaos of Selina and the Joker. It definitely fits the thematic and mood goals of the run, though it once again highlights just how disconnected this entire run is from any other title. One can’t really imagine the “Ram V bloody bat” costume being as fondly remembered as the yellow batsymbol of the 90s or the simple gray and black of Jim Lee’s Hush suit. But perhaps I’m wrong, and 20 years from now in the 2040s a writer and artist will bring it back. That would be something, indeed!
Backup Story:
Mr. Freeze in “Auto-De-Fe”
Writer: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Christopher Mitten
Colors: Trinoa Farrell
Mr. Freeze meets his old friend, Magda, now a lobbyist, who sheltered him years ago when he was first starting out as Mr. Zero. She campaigned against the corruption of the city politicians and police, and he saved her during the NML. She asks him for life-extension so she can fight longer, and he gives her a recipe that will kill her. He decides Gotham’s corruption has left her corrupt too, and continues his plans to save the city with an ice age.
Analysis
Alex Paknadel, taking over from Dan Watters, who took over from Si Spurrier, has a similar solid grasp on the mood with which Ram V and his collaborators have permeated this run. This Mr. Freeze talke is dark, moody, and tragic – but unlike the previous two collaborators (and Paknadel’s last backup story), this tale doesn’t push anything forward. If it has a plot, it’s just Mr. Freeze murdering his former friend Magda, with most of the story being them meeting for coffee and talking about old times in flashback. Christopher Mitten’s art is a good blend of appealing, sketchy lines, with a nice line in darkness. However, Mr. Freeze’s plan to blanket Gotham City in ice, which Batman plans to use to stop the azmer demons, doesn’t gain or lose anything, leaving it ultimately feeling very pointless. A disappointment, as it could have been Freeze getting something important to push the plan forward or jeopardize it – but instead, it’s just showing Mr. Freeze is still torn between good and evil, leaning towards evil.
Evan Cagle’s main cover shows Batman perched in a gothic style window, looking like a giant demonic bat with wings dripping far below him – classic atmospheric Batman in the city stuff! Javier Fernandez’s variant splashes a black and yellow only colorscheme on a Batman fleeing a spotlight over a concrete bridge – classic Batman/manhunt imagery – very thematically appropriate, though perhaps moreso for earlier issues. Steve Beach, perhaps better known for his excellent run on Action Comics main covers for Phillip Kennedy Johnson, shows Batman’s mouth with clenched teeth, dripping with rain, over a red cityscape – extremely intense, reminiscent of Alex Ross’s photoreal painted style. Gene Ha’s AAPI Heritage Month variant shows many of DC’s AAPI heroes from the We Are Legend three miniseries last year. Lastly, Sebastian Fiumara’s 1 in 25 incentive variant shows an upside down Batman highlighted in blood red, really emphasizing a jagged bat motif.
Final Thoughts:
Five issues from conclusion, Ram V adds a new element to the final struggle, perhaps to avoid the predictable outcome of a Batman vs. supercriminals story he’s setup. Raffale and Loughride provide suitably operatic visuals, but the story continues to move glacially, with too many thematic frustrations.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advance 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 Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
