Review: Detective Comics Vol. 2- The Victim Syndicate

Quick Summary

Pros: The villains in this story are great. Character development is absolutely wonderful and makes each member of the Bat-family stand out as an individual. The artwork does a beautiful job in matching the overall tone of the book.

Cons: The main storyline isn’t all that unique.

Overall: In this book, readers get to see a charming cast of heroes take on a creepy cast of villains. This ends up being an alright story that is made great by the characters themselves. The book’s devotion to character driven drama and enhancing the Bat-family is fantastic and makes for a fresh and enjoyable narrative. This is a book for anyone looking for a good Batman story with a heavy focus on the members of the Bat-family.

Story

Detective Comics Vol. 2: The Victim Syndicate deals with the intense fallout of the previous volume while also building up the characters and story elements that were established for this series. As a result, a moderately entertaining Batman story with a unique cast of villains plays out for readers. Though the story, on its own, is only slightly above average, this volume is significantly enhanced by the fantastic character development. Writer James Tynion IV clearly understands and appreciates these characters and, thus, uses them to their maximum potential.

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The actual storyline, in this volume, is not necessarily something new. It sees Batman and his methods thrown under an accusatory light and asks if he is actually any good for Gotham. This theme is meant to be a reaction to the events of Batman: Night of the Monster Men (Review). However the context is not set very well and the blame towards Batman ends up feeling a bit unwarranted. When these problems are added to the otherwise good story, the quality level falls to mediocre and makes the book seem unremarkable.

Luckily, the villains here push that quality level back up to just above average. The “Victim Syndicate” is comprised of five members with unique powers and tragic backstories. They are also interesting because they are not driven by greed or destruction; they simply want to help Gotham and believe that the best way to do that is by getting rid of Batman. At one point in the story, they poison Spoiler but then come back to make sure she is alright later that night. Their altruism plays well into the book’s main theme and makes the otherwise overdone storyline a bit more distinct.

The book concludes with two chapters devoted to Batwoman. Here readers see her origin story and learn how it is immediately relevant to current events. This is something Batwoman fans will love and is also something that is written well enough to make a few new Batwoman fans. It is a bit too short to contribute anything truly remarkable to this volume, but it does provide a solid prelude to the Batwoman solo series and builds up a bit of excitement for the next volume in this series as well.

Though all of this contributes to creating a good book, the character development is what makes it a great book. Seeing Batwoman’s reaction to her own father’s betrayal, watching Spoiler deal with the fallout of Tim’s death, and learning about the struggle Clayface goes through every day are the moments that make this book. James Tynion IV started this series by turning a Batman book into a Bat-family book and is now reaping the overwhelming benefits of this change. Tynion gives these otherwise minor characters the charisma and backstory that many comic books lack from their main characters. This is what drives the book and is the reason that every fan of the greater Batman universe should be picking this one up.

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Art

The majority of this book sees a shift to a new artistic team, consisting of Eddy Barrows on pencils and Eber Ferreira on inks. Despite being a different team, these artists manage to wonderfully match the previous artist’s work and provide a feeling of consistency that many series lack. Their artistic style is bright and cinematic, giving readers the impression that they are watching a high budget action movie rather than reading a comic book. In particular, I loved the character design for the “Victim Syndicate” and thought each member stood out well as an individual.

The closing chapters of the book, which tell the “Batwoman Begins” story, are done by Ben Oliver. This portion of the book is not a cinematic blockbuster; it is a somber tale of a girl who has lost her father. As such, this shift in artists also has to accommodate the shift in story. Oliver accomplishes this by substituting cinematic elements like lens flair for stronger lines and dull colors. This creates a more serious looking visual palate and has the dual effect of putting the focus on Batwoman as a character; Kate Kane’s red hair and jet black uniform boldly stand out against a now muted background. Just like the rest of the book, these two chapters look great and compliment the tone of the story perfectly.

Continuity

Detective Comics Vol. 2: The Victim Syndicate continues the story started in Detective Comics Vol. 1: Rise of the Batmen (Review). There are also a significant number of plot threads, in this volume, that relate to Batman: Night of the Monster Men (Review), which happened in between these two volumes.

The story here continues in Detective Comics Vol. 3: The League of Shadows (Review). The end of this volume also provides a prelude for the Batwoman series, which begins in Batwoman Vol. 1: The Many Arms of Death.

This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• Batman’s first few adventures as Batman are brought up. These adventures are detailed in Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year: Secret City (Review).
  • The flashback artwork showing Batman’s first adventure is a reference to the cover of Detective Comics #27, currently collected in either Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 or Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1.
• Spoiler says that Batgirl told her about Batwing. This is possibly a reference to the fact that Batgirl knows Batwing well, since the two dated starting in Batgirl Vol. 2: Family Business and ending in Batgirl Vol. 3: Minefields.
• The villainous origins of both Spoiler and Orphan’s parents is brought up.
  • Spoiler’s father’s origin is told in the Batman Eternal (Review) series.
  • Orphan’s father’s origin is told in the Batman and Robin Eternal series.
• Tim mentions that Bruce once “put together a network of a hundred global heroes.” He is referring to the Batman Incorporated organization, the origin of which is told in Batman Incorporated.
• The Court of Owls and their nests are mentioned. Their story is chronicled in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls (Review).