Last month Knight Terrors: Detective Comics opened up its story with the focus on Jim Gordon and his own internal conflict regarding how he’s protected Gotham all these years. This issue continues to press into those questions, and explore the idea of Gotham’s future in the face of protectors who have been there for years.
Before I dive right into the review I wanted to first of all let you know this will be my last review with the site, I have one more Upcoming Comics to share with you all, but this’ll be my last chance to share thoughts on Detective Comics with you all. I already announced that I’m stepping back from reviews in Upcoming Comics a little while back. In case you missed it there, I wanted to just thank everyone so much for keeping up with me while I’ve been writing reviews. I’ve genuinely had so much fun over the past few years, and I’m glad you all have joined me on this adventure.
I’m also a little selfishly happy that this issue of Detective Comics was so good. I’m excited about getting to gush about a great issue as my fond farewell review. So let’s dive in!
Jim is the star here even as he hurries to find each of the three members of “The Good People of Gotham” who made the deal with the Pentapriests, the three terrifying beings summoned in the last issue who issued twisted gifts of knowledge, power, and wealth. As Jim tracks them down, the story explores the various ways Gotham could be saved through these wishes the people had. From having the wealth to fix things to solving problems with pure force. They are not only ideas frequently brought up when considering Gotham’s issues, but questions posed directly to Jim as well based on the work he’s done in Gotham in the past.
The Superheavy idea is especially brought into play here, as Jim’s faced with someone taking that idea to the extreme. The man has been turned into a monster who is growing with every violent action, and who doesn’t care about people who might end up as collateral damage. This section, is also, the one with the most action as Jim goes head to head with him, finding a creative way to stop him without shattering.
Speaking of shattering, the idea that he’s brittle as glass is also continued here and really emphasized. Jim is incredibly fragile, as his body threatens to shatter in places from something as minor as bumping into someone else. Which makes solving the issue of a huge hulking beast a big problem, and one he had to creatively solve. I love how Jim quite simply refuses to stop in this story, it’s really a reflection of who he is. Even coming apart at the seams physically and mentally he puts others first, and this story makes that shine.
The final good person of Gotham pitches the idea of the future, Jim has been around a long time, and so has Batman. The question now is what will Gotham become without both of them, and that’s what drove that person to try and find an answer. This plays well with the greater themes that have been running through Detective Comics lately, and as well as a stand alone question about what Gotham might look like without these two very tenacious people keeping the city safe.
Honestly the only aspect of the story that didn’t totally work for me was the group of artists on the title. This month Riccardo Federici, Mike Perkis, and Stefano Raffaele all worked on the book, and the shift between them is awkward. All three have a more realistic style, but the differences in the detail of those styles is distinct enough it’s noticeable. The shift between them goes from very detailed to less so gradually, and almost gives the book the feeling that the art team ran out of time. I think each one on their own is fine, and if the whole book had been done by one would have worked but the shift, when you have one style that is very detailed, versus one that flows more didn’t quite do it for me.
The book wraps up fairly quickly, resolving the nightmare issue in a way that leaves you slightly unsettled, but the story complete. It also pushes some of the ideas presented forward in a way that could easily be brought back up later on in the series if a creative team wanted to. It also ties together in a way that feels very much like a stand alone story that you could pick up or recommend to a friend with little worry about the greater event happening around it.
I was delightfully surprised by both the previous issue and this one. In the face of other Knight Terrors titles that focus on pointing out the nightmare elements of the story, this one instead uses the nightmare to dig into Jim’s psyche, and to gently push forward the thematic narrative Detective Comics as a whole has been following under Ram V’s run. Additionally, the two books work really well as a standalone story most people could pick up and enjoy in a bubble as it probes at Gotham itself and one of it’s longest running protectors.
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