Detective Comics #826- Paul Dini returns!
I know you are all breathing a sigh of relief that for the first time in weeks I have not only, not chosen a Superman book to review but that I have finally chosen a Batman title. This week’s best book was Detective Comics #826 and that choice was not an easy one might I add.
This particular story is a one-shot story, meaning that the entire story is told in one issue as opposed to told over the course of several issues like most comic book stories are these days. And the story actually does not focus on the Dark Knight; to the contrary it focuses on his two best supporting characters Robin (Tim Drake) and The Joker. In this story Robin is out on the streets of Gotham getting ready to move in on a gang of illegal arms dealers. Turns out that a rival gang was moving in that night to knock off the other gang; as a result the place turns into a bullet-fest.
While trying to escape from the shootout he winds up inside a car with the Joker at the wheel. The Joker immediately knocks him out and the rest of the issue is spent in the car. The Joker drives the car around Gotham randomly running down people with an SUV that he carjacked from a family who lay dead in the back seat. Robin spends the issue desperately trying to finds a mean of cutting the ropes tha bind him to the passenger seat of the car while enduring the pain of the Jokers psychotic rampage.
This book was a true joy to read for two reasons. The first and most notable is that the writer, Paul Dini, was a co-wrtier and producer of the Batman: The Animated Series you might remember from the mid- 90’s. He was also responsible for co- writing and producing the Superman: The Animated Series, the Justice League animated series and the Justice League Unlimited animated series. After working with these characters on an almost daily basis for over ten years, this man certainly knows the inner workings of these characters and while working on books like this it certainly shows.
The other integral element which makes this book so good is its focus on the villain. One of the most important things about writing comic books and stories in general is to have your hero be only as good and interesting as his villain. This issue truly brings out and uses the character of the Joker as more than merely the concocter of a grand nefarious plot but shows his true nature as a person. That he is a truly dysfunctional human being whose motivation is indefinable and who is unrelenting in his choice of victims and methods in which to kill them.
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