Detective Comics #1027 By Greg Rucka
I usually enjoy comic book short stories anthology collections. While the stories themselves are usually of varying quality, I tend to appreciate the fact that these are available for moments where time for reading is shorter, and often they take different and unique approaches to established characters. I am usually quite forgiving towards those, as I understand its difficult to write something compelling in the length of 8 short pages or less.
The previous Batman related commemorative edition of Detective Comics #1000 was actually very enjoyable, and had quite a few interesting surprises. Therefore, I expected something at least on that level, or at worst, slightly below. However, this collection was very dissapointing, especially considering the talent involved. With names like Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka Tom King, Peter Tomasi, Andy Kubert, Eduardo Risso, Walter Simonson, Ivan reis, Chris Burnham, just to name a few, I expected to at least come away satisfied.
However, most of the stories were very dissapinting, or just terribly mediocre, with very little of note to make them memorable.
My individual rating of these stories are the following:
Peter Tomasi/Brad Walker 2/5 - This is basically a tired who's who of Batman villains, something Tomasi himself has done before on a number of occasions, as well as alot of other writer. Artwork is great, but its in the service of a non-story.
Brian Bendis/ Marquez 2/5 - I had never read anything by Bendis before, but both the concept and execution of this story was lacking, and significantly marred down by excessive dialogue that went nowhere, despite the occasional humorous remark. Artwork is very good, though.
Matt Fraction/ Chip Zdarsky 4/5 - One of the best stories in the collection. Good writing and sotrytelling, from both the writer and artists.
Greg Rucka/Eduardo Risso 4/5 - This might have been my favorite story from the collection. Altough this kind of tale of a rookie trying to stay clean in a corrupted police department is reminiscent of his work at Gotham Central, it was very well written, adn Risso's art was pehnomenal as allways.
Tynion/Rossmo 3/5 - The story itself was not bad, but the artwork by Rossmo was atrocious. I really do not appreciate his style at all.
Deconnick/JRJR 3/5 - a cool Bruce Wayne story, but nothing new or particularly remarkable. Also, i really dont like Romita's art.
Wolfman/Lupacchino - 2/5 - Another Bruce Wayne story that was just decent, in both artwork and story.
Grant Morrison/Chris Burnham 4/5 - A very cool concept, that is actually also very well executed, with the autor's usual nods to older Batman eras. Burnham, as allways, brings out very creative panels.
Tom King/Walter Simonson 2/5 - I usually love King's writing, but this story is far too fragmented to really work for me. Simonson, a legend of the medium, does some of the least impressive work of his career.
Scott Snyder/Ivan Reis - 4/5 - One of the more interesting stories, with good artwork. Snyder is a very taented writer, that tends to shine on both long-story narratives, as well as shorter ones like this.
Dan Jurgens/Kevin Nowlan 2/5 - Honestly, this story doesn't belong here at all. It's just a prelude to Generations Lost, so its incomplete. I don't understand why it is included ina collection that is made out of self-contained complete short stories. I did get intrigued by it, but again, its just a preude that leads nowhere.
Mariko Tamaki/Dan Mora -3/5 - A very cool story that, nonetheless, also didn't belong in this collection, as its closely connected to both the the events in Batman and Detective Comics. It's not self-contained either, so despite it being a 4 stars story, i am docking one star due to that.
Overall, a dissapointing collection, where even the pin-up pages were mostly mediocre. Aside from a few exception (Lee Bermejo, Del'Otto, Ben Oliver, and a few others) they were as forgettable as most of these stories.
144 3.5/5.
As usual for these collections, some stories were better than others. Though, I feel like there wasn’t a single -amazing- story, just several really good ones. My favorite was probably Rucka’s or Snyder’s. All in all I think DC #1000 was better, but this was still an enjoyable collection. 144 For such a landmark issue it's surprisingly light. A bunch of unconnected stories with no thematic unity or logical order, no thoughtful essay or notes, and an abundance of filler pictures , pardon me, 'alternate covers', that add nothing to the collection other than page-count. 144 Detective Comics #1027 144-page super spectacular
In the first story, Blowback, written by Peter J. Tomasi and drawn by Brad Walker, Batman is trapped on a death trap and he tries to understand how he got in there and by whom. While doing that he remembers all of his most important villains.
While this story certainly wasn't bad, it wasn't very good either. It was kinda bland. It had nothing too good and at the same time nothing too bad. I think this story would be a good introduction to Batman's villains, for someone who hasn't read any other Batman stories, but as someone who has read a bunch of Batman stories, it was a bit boring. For me the highlight of this story was probably the artwork. While it isn't really my style, I liked it a lot. The writing was just ok, nothing great there.
The second story, The Master Class is written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by David Marquez. In this story, coincidentally, Damian Wayne, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Robin, Spoiler, Red Hood and Batman meet over the body of a murder homicide detective of the GCPD. Together they try to identify the body, find the cause of death and the killer.
This story didn't work for me at all. Unfortunately, the mediocre artwork was the highlight of this story. I think this is a story about teamwork, but it didn't work at all, because they didn't collaborate in a productive way, they were all constantly disagreeing and all of them were ignoring what the others were saying. This story just made me get annoyed with characters I usually love. Also, the way they were talking was very unrealistic. This wasn't a good story at all.
The third story is called Many Happy Returns and it's written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Chip Zdarsky. In this story Batman remembers how Joker, every month since they first met, gave him a birthday present. Even though it was never his birthday, Joker gave him what he called birthday presents. Those sometimes were a fire and some times were a picture of them together. Now, it's the last day of the month, so Batman is certain that today Joker is gonna give him another one of these presents and he's loosing his mind on it.
This was a really great story. The artwork was great and the writing was great as well. Matt Fraction seems to really understand Batman's character and his relationship with Joker very well, on a deeper level than most of us do.
The forth story is called Rookie and it's written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Eduardo Risso. In this story we follow a young woman, as she gets in the police academy and eventually in the GCPD. There she sees corruption. She's not corrupted and unlike the others, she follows the law, which leads to her getting threats from the other policemen.
This is a really great story. The writing is very good and the artwork is beautiful. I wouldn't say it's Eduardo Risso's best work, but it's very good. It's very interesting to see corruption and crime in Gotham, from the point of view of a rookie in the police. This story identifies a lot with what's happening in the real world and it really makes you think. But unfortunately, in the real world we don't have a Batman to save the day and get rid of the corruption, in the real world WE have to fight to become this Batman, because that's the only way we can make a change.
The fifth story is called Ghost Story it's written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Riley Rossmo. In this story Batman helps Dead Man fight a guy who found a way to catch and eat ghosts. Simultaneously we she a flashback story, in which young Bruce Wayne talks with his mother about ghosts.
The writing is alright, but it's not great. We don't really get really deep into anything and/or anyone. Instead we stay at the surface of things. The story is a bit childish, but it's fun to read. Martha Wayne's interpretation of ghosts is very interesting, although a bit weird if you think about it. The best part of this story is certainly the great artwork.
The sixth story is called Fore, it's written by Kelly Sue Deconnick and drawn by John Romita Jr. In this story Bruce Wayne is having a meeting at a golf park, with a guy who wants to make a deal with him. This guy is corrupted and he has many people in the police on his payroll. Bruce is actually working with the police, so that they can find evidence to put him in jail.
The writing of this story isn't terrible, but it's very mediocre. The story is kinda interesting, but it's not great either. Now, about the artwork. I usually like John Romita's artwork a lot, but in this story, his artwork feels a bit lazy. His Batman is cool, but the surroundings are very generic and the facial expressions of the characters are not well done at all.
The seventh story is called Odyssey and it's written by Mark Wolfman and drawn by Emanuela Luppachino. In this story Bruce Wayne goes on an expedition with a bunch of guys who make a podcast, to find the sunk ship named Odyssey. This ship was his grandfather's and inside it had a lot of passengers, paintings and jewels.
The writing is ok, but it's not very good, there's nothing bad I can say about it, but there's nothing great either, it's just a bit above average. The artwork is really great and definitely the high point of the story.
The eighth story is called Detective #26 and it's written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chris Brunham. In this story we go back to the days of Batman's first appearance. Another vigilante named Silver Ghost wants clean Gotham from crime, but as he's about to make his first appearance, Batman makes his first appearance and Silver Ghost retires, intimidated and with the knowledge that there's someone out there, getting rid of the crime in Gotham's streets.
This story was the reason I bought this issue. When I saw that it contained a new Batman story by Grant Morrison and Chris Brunham, I knew I had to read it. The writing was really great and so was the artwork. Silver Ghost is a well rounded and beautifully designed character.
The ninth story is called Legacy and it's written by Tom King and drawn by Walter Simonson. In this story, Bruce Wayne is in this death bead and he remembers a radioactive guy who gave him cancer to kill him, so he can finally have a purpose in his life.
I really liked the idea behind the story, but I think the execution could have been better. It was quite good, I actually don't have something to complain about, but it could have been better. The artwork was also very good, although it wasn't as good as in some other stories.
The tenth story is named As Always and it's written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Ivan Reis. In this story, Batman and commissioner Jim Gordon are waiting for the sun to rise, after a tough night. Suddenly, Batman gets a call from the Justice League and he has to go help them in a very important case.
This was a really great story. The whole story is narrated by Jim Gordon. We can really see in this story Batman and Gordon's relationship in a great way. It's obvious that Scott Snyder is someone who understands Batman and his relationships on another level. The writing was really great, especially Gordon's narration. My only problem with this story was the artwork, which wasn't bad, but wasn't really great either. It certainly wasn't my style.
The eleventh story is called Generations: Fractured and it's written and drawn by Dan Jurgens. This story takes place during Halloween. Batman catches some monsters in a museum, but he's unable to catch their leader who put the museum on fire. Then somehow Batman returns in the 40s and he's taken by Kamandi in another timeline (or something like that).
This story fells very useless and also very boring. It ends with continued at: Generations fractured #1, so it probably has something to do with another story that will be released soon, but I'm not gonna buy it because it doesn't look interesting at all, so this story, as a standalone in this issue, doesn't work at all. The artwork isn't very good either. It isn't terrible, but it's kinda bad.
The twelfth and final story is called A Gift and it's written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Dan Mora. This story takes place during Joker wars and it follows Batman and two police men. There aren't many things I can say about the story, other than, while it is part of a bigger story, like the last one, you can still read it as a standalone and it's quite good. Batman thinks a lot in this story about his father's rules and it's quite interesting. The writing is very good and the artwork is great as well, but the highlight of the story is certainly the gorgeous coloring.
1st story: 6
2nd story: 4
3rd story: 10
4th story: 10
5th story: 7
6th story: 6
7th story: 7
8th story: 10
9th story: 7
10th story: 9
11th story: 5
12th story: 8
Overall: 7.4 144 Detective Comics gets a 1000th anniversary of Batman's first appearance! There are a lot of big authors who provided new Batman stories: Scott Snyder, Brian Michael Bendis, Tom King, Dan Jurgens, Marv Wolfman, Greg Rucka, and Grant Morrison among others.
My favorite story was Bendis's story which involved all of the Batfamily showing up to the same murder scene and joining forces to solve the crime. I also really enjoyed Snyder's story which was told from Commissioner Gordon's point of view when Batman is helping a major Justice League case.
DC Comics has been knocking these anniversary issues out of the park this year! 144
Funny thing, I didn’t even know that this was out until I saw it at the local comic book store this past Wednesday. I was torn between 4 different variant covers, I ended up grabbing the Oliver Copiel one (though I could see potentially buying the other 3 if they still have ‘em).
So yeah I read this comic and gotta say, it’s quite the solid story collection.
What I thought of the stories:
Blowback by Peter J Tomasi, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Nathan Fairbairn, Rob Leigh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A kinda cool way to start this with a lot of Batman’s various villains studied very briefly. Unfortunately the ending is confusing and kinda anti-climactic.
Master Class by Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Alejandro Sanchez, Joshua Reed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bendis did an amazing job here! Bringing the whole Bat-family in a story that mixes the perfect amounts of dark and fun for a Batman tale. Also, the art is pretty good.
Many Happy Returns by Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky, Aditya Bidikar ⭐️⭐️ So in this take on Batman and Joker, Fraction imagines that Joker thinks of Batman as a lover (or something?) that does something special that Batman has to deal with every month. Will say, Zdarsky can definitely draw and there is a surprising subtle nod to Sex Criminals that I liked but other than that this story is a little too goofy IMO and I didn’t care for this version of Joker and Batman. Also, the storytelling is somewhat iffy.
Rookie by Greg Rucka, Eduardo Risso, Tom Napolitano ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Nothing particularly good or bad.
Ghost Story by James Tynion IV, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, Andworld Design ⭐️⭐️ Deadman/Batman team-up with fun potential but I don’t really care for the writing or artwork.
Fore by Kelly Sue DeConnick, John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson, Arif Prianto, Troy Peteri ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another one I considered not particularly good or bad.
Odyssey by Marv Wolfman, Emanuela Luppachino, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jordie Bellaire, Carlos Mangual ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Didn’t blow me away but it was a fun little short story for sure.
Detective #26 by Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn, Steve Wands ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A creative, unexpected story. This one isn’t another Batman-focused story. Only thing I didn’t like was
Legacy by Tom King, Walter Simonson, Laura Martin, John Workman ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well it seemed exciting and I loved the art, was just kinda confused what exactly I read.
As Always by Scott Snyder, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Marcelo Maiolo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A mostly Batman-focused Justice League story. Exciting with great art in a short but full, satisfying story.
Generations: Fractured by Dan Jurgens, Kevin Nowlan, Hi-Fi, Andworld Design, Brian Cunningham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Looks cool but I don’t like how they did some BS “BUY OUR UPCOMING COMIC” thing in what’s meant to be a celebration anthology.
A Gift by Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, Tom Napolitano ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Same as what I just said about the previous story except this ad didn’t interest me as much.
Overall:
A mostly good anthology collection. Obviously with this being an anthology, some parts are stronger than others but it’s mostly good. Most of the writers manage to capture the fun but at the same time slightly dark (or vice versa) tone that I look for in a Batman comic and the artists illustrate it fairly well so I can’t really complain much.
Fun for Batman fans!
4/5 144 Good assortment of stories, the art is a treat throughout but the writing is all over the place as one would expect with a book like this, I’d rate the various stories like this;
Tomasi/Walker 2/5
Bendis/ Marquez 2/5
Fraction/ Zdarsky 2/5
Rucka/Risso 5/5
Tynion/Rossmo 3/5
Deconnick/JRJR 4/5
Wolfman/Lupacchino 3/5
Morrison/Burnham 3/5
King/Simonson 3/5
Snyder/Reis 3/5
Jurgens/Nowlan 4/5
Tamaki/Mora 3/5 144 Damn this was a fine collection of stories. This is better than Batman 80 anniversary IMO.
Let's get it out of the way. There's only two stories that didn't do much for me. It was Wolfman and Snyder's. Weird enough I love Snyder's regular Batman from New 52 but didn't love his newer batman stuff and this is kind of just a okay story about the symbol of the Bat. Wolfman story is corny and not very fun.
Then there's a few stories that were good but not great. But Tomasi was just a gallery rundown, and Kelly Sue DeConnick's story was fun Bruce story but been done a few too many times, and Jurgan's story was setup but it did get me intrigued enough to check out the future they have plan for Batman.
The rest of the stories are great or amazing. Bendis tells a fun story of the Bat Family. I enjoyed Mariko's story of the Joker war and how it's effecting everyone, including Batman. James's story is pretty great about the past and it stars Batman and Robin together. King's is pretty powerful ending to our cape crusader and one I enjoyed. Fraction tells a sick and twisted adventure of Joker and Batman's birthdays together. And Rucka tells a damn fine cop tale that shows what batman means to people.
Overall, if you're a Batman fan I can't see you disliking too many stories here. There's something for everyone. I enjoyed a large majority of it! A 4 out of 5. 144 I did not enjoy this anthology as much as Detective Comics (2016-) #1000. I'm not quite sure why this collection of stories just seemed MEH! Some of the creative teams just didn't mesh well to me. The Tomasi & Walker, Bendis & Marquez and the Tamaki & Mora tales looked the best. The artwork was just especially good on those tales. But even Tomasi's writing which I usually like just came across as just a who's who guide to Batman. Tom King's tale cemented or me that I'm glad his run with Batman is over. His story just came across to depressing although the ending was not that Bat. The Generations story by Dan Jurgen sounds like an interesting idea though it just felt a bit out of place putting it in this book. In short this book was not really necessary although I have immensely enjoyed the anthology books for Superman, Flash and Green Lantern. Its just fun to dive into a short one and done tale. This was obvious a cash grab but was not that bad just not as amazing to as Detective Comics 1000. Do love my sweet Jim Lee variant. Looking forward to the end of Joker War & Three Jokers which have been simply marvelous Batman stories thus far. 144 Holy underwhelming collection, Batman. I hate how much this felt like a cash grab. Even the art in the deluxe edition was surprisingly poor. This is supposed to be a showcase, and it felt like anything but. No stories stood out. Some were bad. And honestly, some of the art was atrocious, especially the laziest Jim Lee art I've ever seen and a comically bad Frank Cho page. If this was a celebration of 1,000 issues, then it felt like that thrown-together office party for the employee nobody likes who hit a big work anniversary. Pretty much a cookie cake and a few two-liters and paper towels from the break room as napkins. 144
Light the Bat-Signal, because Detective Comics #1027 is here! In honor of Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27, this special, book-size celebration brings you the biggest names in comics as they chronicle the most epic Batman adventures Gotham City and the DC Universe have ever seen! The World’s Greatest Detective has a mountain of cases to crack: Who murdered Gotham’s most corrupt police officer? What does The Joker’s annual visit mean for Bruce Wayne? And most importantly, what WayneTech mystery will sow the seeds of the next epic Batman event? All this and more await you within the pages of the biggest Batman issue of them all! Detective Comics #1027