Review: Detective Comics Vol. 1- Faces of Death

Quick Summary

Pros: This book has all of the action and suspense one would expect from a Batman book. However, it really succeeds by showing off what makes Batman the “World’s Greatest Detective” as well.

Cons: Cliffhangers are a little too abundant here and become a little obtrusive to the plot. This and a few other pacing issues end up making the reading experience a little jarring at points.

Overall: This collection feels like a combination between reading Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, all wrapped in a Bat-costume. The mystery in this book will leave any reader interested from the start and wanting more and more after each page. The only problem is that there are moments where the plot gets confused which may end up confusing the reader as well.

Story

The “World’s Greatest Detective” is back for a story that will prove he is worthy of that title. Detective Comics Vol. 1: Faces of Death feels like it is a standard Batman story with a focus on mystery, and that is not a bad thing. By that I mean that this story is not doing anything crazy or new by itself. It is not introducing a new member to the Bat-family, it isn’t bringing on a new and more terrifying villain, and it isn’t having Batman face some new inner turmoil; it just tells a good story done right. Sometimes fans of the Dark Knight simply want to see Batman take on some of his rogues gallery without anything else getting in the way, this book provides just that. Basically, while Scott Snyder’s Batman is great because it is introducing new threats and taking Batman in different directions, Tony Daniel’s Detective Comics is great because it is giving more of that classic Batman action we have come to know and love.

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This story set out to provide a good mystery and it did a great job in that. A lot of times, comics will give the reader the key to the mystery right off the bat. The comic will show the villain planning and carrying out their scheme and then show Batman’s attempts at figuring out what the villain is doing. This leaves the reader with all of the information, and causes them to wonder how Batman is going to figure out what they already know. This comic does not do that, it puts the reader in the same position that Batman is in. This means that when Batman is questioning something, the reader is right there in the same boat. Overall, this writing style makes for a much more suspenseful storyline and makes the book into a real page-turner.

I already spoke on how this book is great because it tells a classic Batman story rather than trying to do something new and radically different, yet another thing that makes it great is it lowers the stakes. It seems like nearly every modern comic deals with a villain who is literally threatening the fate of the world, or all of Gotham City for Batman. Every now and then it is nice to get away from this and focus on a story where a hero is simply trying to stop a criminal from committing crimes. This book provides this and ends up being a nice change of pace overall.

In addition, I was very happy to see that this collection actually contained some character development for Bruce Wayne. Sometimes a book will conclude without Batman ever removing his cowl, so his face is a welcome sight in this one. Specifically it was nice to see Bruce doing non-Batman things like rock-climbing, having a business meeting, and especially going out on a date. The struggle to maintain a personal life despite being Batman has always been something that has intrigued me so it was nice to see that in this volume.

The biggest problem with this trade is its use of cliffhangers. I have no problem with authors using cliffhangers, they can actually make the story more suspenseful at times, yet they have to actually pan out. In this collection, one comic ends with Penguin sending his security after Charlotte Rivers, yet they never end up going after her and are later shown to still be at Penguin’s side. Around this same moment, Charlotte and her sister have a confrontation that ends with her sister breaking a glass and threatening her. Yet, shortly after this, both characters have gone their separate ways with seemingly no incident. While annoying, these clickbait moments would not be too much of a problem were it not for the fact that they make the story confusing for anyone trying to follow all of its threads. I had to re-read specific parts many times because I thought I had missed a cliffhanger’s conclusion that ended up just not being there at all.

Another plot-related note is that this issue is clearly divided into two very separate stories about halfway through. I went in not realizing this and ended up very confused when the switch happened. I was expecting a more thorough conclusion of the Dollmaker plotline, yet the story instantly moved on with the next issue. This isn’t too big of a problem, it just made for a little more jarring of a reading experience.

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Art

Tony Daniel also provides the art for this collection, and does a pretty good job with it too. Being the artist and writer works out rather well here as he manages to convey the tone of the work perfectly in the art. This isn’t too simple of a task as Daniel manages to stay away from the common problem of simply making everything a shade of black or grey to set a dark tone. Sometimes things are brighter and more colorful, yet those things clash with Gotham itself in a very satisfying way. Overall, the art works out and is especially nice to see in a Batman book.

Continuity

Since this starts at the beginning of the Detective Comics New 52 series, there are not a ton of connections to other works. This collection will lead directly into the next collection, Detective Comics Vol. 2: Scare Tactics, since it continues the same story.

• Batman and Alfred talk about a “‘Vampire’ case file” and the incident surrounding it. This is a reference to I, Vampire Vol. 1: Tainted Love.