Review: Detective Comics #1027

Quick Summary

Pros: About half of this volume’s stories are great. The entire volume is a great celebration of the world of Batman. The artwork is positive throughout the book.

Cons: About half of this volume’s stories are just alright.

Overall: This is a collection of mostly positive Batman stories. About half of the book tells captivating and meaningful stories that are backed up by beautiful artwork. However, the other half tells stories that are alright but ultimately forgettable. In the end, this is a book for fans who are looking for a collection focused on celebrating every aspect of Batman’s world, even if not every story is great.

Story

Detective Comics #1027 is split pretty evenly between great stories and average stories. The great stories are ones that celebrate the world of Batman while also managing to craft a solid narrative. There are stories about the Bat-family coming together to solve a case, the twisted relationship between Batman and the Joker, Batman’s ties to multiversal events, and more. Unfortunately, a little under half of the volume features stories that are just average. None of these average stories are bad but they simply aren’t that memorable at all. Overall, the entire volume is a nice celebration of Batman but not every story within is a winner.

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A good portion of the stories in Detective Comics #1027 are really good. The full Bat-family team-up, by Brian Michael Bendis, is a fun narrative and a great chance to see the entire Bat-family get together. The story about Joker giving Batman “birthday” presents, by Matt Fraction, manages to effectively get to the heart of their hero/villain dynamic in a surprisingly short time. Greg Rucka’s story of optimism in a police department littered with corruption is a solid non-Batman story. The “Detective #26” story is a unique and interesting return to Batman’s origin. Batman’s fight against Doctor Phosphorous, by Tom King, is great in that it is a rare example of Batman actually trying to make a change in a villain, instead of being a creature of pure vengeance. And, finally, Scott Synder’s story of Batman jumping from a normal day in Gotham to an apocalyptic situation with the Justice League serves as a reminder of Batman’s immense character range. These stories take up about half of this collection and serve as a way to highlight some of the best features about Batman.

The rest of Detective Comics #1027 is just alright. These are decent stories that also highlight fun aspects of Batman’s world, like his rogues gallery or his connection to his parents. The only problem is that many of these stories simply feel generic. For example, the opening story features pages that each provide a quick summary of the individual members of Batman’s rogues gallery, yet the story tying together these summaries together is poorly paced and forgettable. As mentioned above, none of these stories are downright bad, they simply aren’t that good either.

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Art

The artwork in Detective Comics #1027 is more consistently positive than the story. The entire collection is laid out well and contains artwork that looks nice. I particularly enjoyed the chapter from Ivan Reis, which provides beautiful depictions of Batman, Gotham City, and the Justice League; the chapter from Riley Rossmo, where wild and weird visuals perfectly suit the “ghost story” theme of the tale; and the chapter from David Marquez, which beautifully handles the entire Bat-family. Plus, the collection of pinups and covers within this book are a real treat, as many of these feature stunning depictions of Batman, the Bat-family, or even his rogues gallery. Overall, this book manages to impress when it comes to visuals.

Continuity

Detective Comics #1027 mostly stands on its own, as it does not reference many stories from before this point. However, it technically takes place after the events of Detective Comics Vol. 5: The Joker War (Review).

After this volume, the events of Detective Comics Vol. 6: Road to Ruin take place.

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

• The “Case of the Chemical Syndicate” story is a reference to Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27, collected in Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1.
• The “Generations: Fractured” story is a tie-in to the larger DC Comics: Generations narrative.
• The “A Gift” story is a tie-in to The Joker War (Review) (Reading Order) crossover event.