Comics! Detective Comics #5

Detective Comics #5

Main Story
Written and Pencilled by Tony Salvador Daniel
Inks by Sanou Florea with Rob Hunter


Backup Story
Written by Tony Salvador Daniel
Art by Szymon Kudranski

The Comic
What the fuck is going on with this comic?

Its split between a twelve page main story and an 8 page backup. Coolness. I think this might have been put on since Tony might be a little behind with the artwork, and in order to keep the schedule they have brought in a back up artist to allow Daniel a break. That's cool, and one I've seen before. I can appreciate it since that means that the same story tellers, or in this case story teller, stays on the book and is able to finish it.

First up is the main story. Quite frankly, I don't like it. It reads like nothing but a mess through and through. You know those lingering questions you had from last issue? Don't look for any type of answers here. Instead, we are left with a bunch more questions about what is going on.

We start off with Batman going through a park that is occupied by Joker fans who are upset that the face of Joker is not in their hands with the people. Batman then goes on a mission to follow some mobsters. The mobsters quickly are killed by someone in a Joker mask. Batman tries to stop the masked man, but gets sprayed directly in the face with acid. From the spray of the acid, it looks like it hit the entirety of Batman's face, but somehow only the top half is affected.

Next, Batman decides to chase the masked Joker by running through the crowd filled with Joker fans. Seriously. I wish I were joking, because this is BATMAN running through a MOB, most of whom are dressed as the JOKER, in order to catch a guy, who is wearing a JOKER MASK.

Cut to the masked guy escaping by boat, takes a briefcase to what I assume is the owner of a casino, and then cut to said casino. At said casino, we get introduced to a couple of people and Bruce's girlfriend of the moment who happens to be an investigative reporter and dresses herself up as a maid in order to do some investigating. Of course, while she is changing, Penguin is watching her. He decides to send the troops after her. End of main story.

So again I must ask, what the fuck is going on? If last issue was supposed to be the end of one story line, and this is the start of a new one, what is going on? Who are these people? What is the reporter investigating? Who are the three women behind Joker in the last panel? Apparently they are some sort of bad-asses, but I wouldn't be able to tell by just looking at them as they strike that pose.

But it all looks pretty, sorta. Heavy, heavy duty on the dark colors. Usually the art some what makes the book entertaining for me so it can distract me from the bad writing. Not so much this time.

Then let's look at the back up story. It is actually an improvement over the main story. Seriously.

We get a kid who gets the chance to sit down with the mob and play a card game. Nice intro to everyone around the table. I get a good sense of what is happening at the poker table. Artwork is really dark. Really dark. REALLY dark. Then the kid wins a card game. With Jokers being wild, his opponent has 2 jokers and 3 aces, so a 5 of a kind. Nice hand. The kid wins with a straight, all spades except for the king of hearts. If you know poker, you know that that isn't a winning hand. So the mob suspects he's a cheat, he has a bunch of cards tied around his wrist under his shirt to confirm their suspicions, and the Catwoman shows up. She declares everything hers, kicks some ass, and then the boy leaves. He is being watched by who I have to assume is Hugo Strange.

Who is Hugo Strange? In the previous DC he was a psycho psychologist who figured out what he thought was Batman's secret ID. Who is he in this? I have no clue. None. Apparently he has a son, who was playing the card game, and he has some sort of criminal history.

I'm lost. I've read this comic a couple of times and I'm just lost. This isn't a mystery story. A mystery story would give you more clues as to what is going on and would clue you in to some basic facts that you need in the story that this entire book just isn't doing.

Like I said before, usually the art is the saving grace with this book that makes it at least halfway decent. Not here. The first half falls flat and the back half looks like an ink spill with some occasional white spots to it. I understand what goes on behind the scenes enough with a comic book to know that this went pass an editor who approved the look for the final book. Why didn't the editor stop it from being printed and tell the artists that this book needed to be clearer with the art? That in sequential story telling you need to have some clear artwork to tell the story.? Why weren't these questions asked? Several people were put in charge of making this comic and this is what came out?

The back up artist needed to have a look that was more in tone with how Alex Maleev drew Daredevil back in the day. That would have worked better. That would have been a better direction to take.

The Cover
This cover has nothing to do with the comic. You only see Penguin on the last page of the first half of this book, yet the cover makes it seem like this comic will be about those two. If you were to judge a book by the cover, it is an almost failure on all accounts for me.

Grades
Main Story:
Words: 3/10
Pictures: 5/10

Backup:
Words: 4/10
Pictures: 2/10

Overall Issue:
Recommend: This would be a comic that you could use to see how not to make a comic. I don't like saying that, because I know hard work is put into each comic by every creator and editor. It just seems like a lot of people had a lot of bad days in a row and this is the product of those bad days.
Buy Next Issue: I am only buying this comic to complete my collection of Bat-comics. Which is a very stupid, stupid thing to do. You should not buy a comic just for the collection, because then it is selling and the publisher will think that the comic must be doing well since it is selling.

Previous Issues
Detective Comics #4
Three Issue Trial