Detective Comics #958

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Alvaro Martinez

Colourist: Brad Anderson

Publisher: DC Comics

This issue beings a new arc, one focused on Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael.

James Tynion IV has a smart approach to structuring his title. Having each arc focus on one character allows said character to be at the forefront, and it's Azrael's time to shine.

I've been interesting in learning more about Valley since he first showed up in The Victim Syndicate arc. There was a bit too much backstory exposition for my taste. I understand that we have to know more about the Order of St. Dumas, but we could have had this information sprinkled over the course of the arc, mostly for the sake of having a better paced issue-by-issue story, but also so we can slowly understand why the Order is as villainous as it is and why it needs to be stopped.

The art over the past arc or two has been really weak. The team of Alvaro Martinez and Brad Anderson is an interesting one; I'm not sure if they've worked on the series before but it seems like a match made in heaven. Anderson is one of my favourite colourists and his work shines here.

As for the story, we get a dual story of Azrael dealing with the return of the Order and Bruce on his own doing some detective work, which is always nice to see. Some of the dialogue was very contrived and could have been handled better. I'm of the opinion that Tynion should leave the book for another writer to make better. I don't want Tynion to be writing the stories leading up to #1000.

This issue is a promising start to this new Azrael-focused arc, but Tynion's persistent dialogue and pacing problems arise again here. The art team of Martinez and Anderson shines here though, and I'm looking forward to what they do with the story.