Detective Comics #981 Review

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Eber Ferreira
Colourist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Sal Cipriano 

James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows end their run on this title, and I have mixed feelings on this conclusion. While I was fairly satisfied with the way Tynion sends off these characters to their futures, I was also disappointed with how the general plot concluded. I was never entirely compelled by this Batman of Tomorrow storyline and the fact that Tynion chose this story to end his run is problematic for me. Essentially, one half of this issue was utterly boring, while the other half worked and had me excited for the future of this series. 

Eddy Barrows drew the first issue of the run with #934. It’s only fitting to have him finish it off. Barrows’ work is highly stylised but this isn’t his strongest outing; some of the art looks rushed and his facial expressions never bother me as much as they did in this issue. The action is still clear and Barrows’ storytelling is as strong as ever, so there isn’t much to complain about in that regard. I feel like Eber Ferreira and Adriano Lucas can bog down Barrows’ pencils in a very digital heavy look, though. 

Back to the plot. The story feels rushed as well. The first half of this issue was pretty bad; Tynion is so concerned with wrapping up this story in the most succinct way possible that he simply doesn’t leave the reader any room to breathe. It’s much too reliant on exposition, and comes across as very stilted and contrived as a result. Tynion doesn’t even wrap up plot points that he brought up earlier in the series: who is the First Victim? How does the fate of a certain character make any sense whatsoever? What Tynion does really well in this issue is putting the toys back in the toy box so to speak. He leaves the characters in interesting places which should provide for some interesting stories down the line, but there are characters I’d rather than deal with for a long time, namely Batwoman, Spoiler, and Tim Drake. These were the weakest characters of the run and Tynion doesn’t do much to redeem them beyond simple scenes here and there that are supposed to erase any animosity between them. 

I have overall negative feelings about this run but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the final few pages of this story. I’m ready for this book to move on to better things. The art is mostly nice too.