The Revolution hasn’t been that thrilled with Dini’s work on Countdown to Final Crisis. However, Dini’s run on Detective Comics has been quite enjoyable. Dini has done a good job winning me over to his one-shot issue method of storytelling on this title. I think the longest story arc he has given us has been two issues. I expect Detective Comics #843 to be an enjoyable read. Let’s go ahead and do this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Paul Dini
Pencils: Dustin Nguyen
Inks: Derek Fridolfs
Art Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with Batman arriving at Johnny Sabatino’s new club and diffusing a bomb that was set to explode. We cut to the Iceberg Lounge where Penguin is interviewing a hot young thing for a job at the Iceberg Lounge. Penguin enters his office to fetch something to drink and is surprised to find the Batman waiting for him.
Batman accuses Penguin of trying to blow up Sabatino’s new club that is set to open up soon. Sabatino’s club, Mount Vesuvius, is a rip off of the Iceberg Lounge and is located a block away from the Penguin’s club. The Penguin dismisses the Batman’s accusation saying that he doesn’t care about Sabatino’s club. That the Penguin has brand name recognition that Sabatino’s copycat club doesn’t have. That people want to be at a club where they can rub elbows with the infamous Penguin. Penguin then says that he heard that Sabatino was looking to hire one of Batman’s hero friends to headline at the new club.
We cut to a Las Vegas casino where Zatanna is performing. We see Johnny Sabatino meeting with Zatanna after one of her shows. Sabatino is smitten with Zatanna’s beauty and the fact that she is Italian is a plus. Sabatino continues to hit on Zatanna. Zatanna rebuffs Sabatino’s flirtatious advances.
Zatanna says that she has no desire to work with someone who has ties to organized crime. Sabatino claims that he has gone completely legit. Zatanna agrees to do a show at Sabatino’s new club if he pays $50,000 to a charity of Zatanna’s choice. Sabatino agrees.
We cut to one week later to the opening night of Sabatino’s new club, Club Vesuvius. We see Zatanna shackling Bruce Wayne into a death trap. Zatanna wryly asks if Bruce will be able to escape this death trap as easily as he has escaped long term relationships.
Zatanna whispers to Bruce that she has been watching Sabatino and that she can’t spot anyone who looks like they would want to wreck the club. Zatanna performs the magic trick and just when the crowd thought that Bruce Wayne was smashed by the death trap, we see him suddenly appearing over by the bar. The crowd cheers Zatanna. Zatanna then vanishes from the stage in a puff of smoke.
We see Sabatino telling his two thugs that he is going to get Zatanna to be his woman. Sabatino then gets a call on his cell phone. It is Zatanna and she thanks Sabatino for the roses he had backstage for her and admits that he knows how to break through a girl’s defenses. Zatanna then tells Sabatino to meet her in his office. Sabatino tells his two thugs to leave him alone in his office and to not bother him.
Sabatino enters his office and sees Miss Sugar and Scarface in there waiting for him. Scarface tells Sabatino that he has been trying to bump off Sabatino for a while now.
We cut to outside in the club where Bruce introduces Zatanna to the publisher of the Gotham Globe and a young fashion designer. The designer comments that Zatanna and Bruce seem to be quite familiar. Zatanna answers that their fathers were close friends. The designer then asks if their children are closer than just friends. Bruce immediately answers no.
We shift to Zatanna and Bruce sitting together at the bar. Zatanna comments that Bruce answered the designer’s question awfully quickly. Bruce replies that he didn’t lie, did he? Zatanna answers that Bruce didn’t lie, but that he has never investigation the option, either. Bruce comments that he was never aware that the option existed. Zatanna answers that it is here and it is wearing a top hat.
Batman asks Zatanna if she is serious. Zatanna says that she was thinking back to when she and Bruce took on the Joker. That she knew Batman would tack down the Joker. But, she didn’t know that it would be after Bruce spent all night at her side. That when a girl gets attention like that she starts thinking there is something more to a guy than anger wrapped in a cape.
Bruce replies that there has to be more given their history. Zatanna comments that the past doesn’t interest her as much as the future. Zatanna asks Bruce what he sees for them. Before the conversation can continue, gunshots ring out in the club. Sabatino comes crashing out of his office with his arm bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Scarface tells Zatanna to do nothing or else he will start firing into the crowd. Scarface orders Bruce Wayne to pick up Sabatino off the floor. Scarface says that he is taking Bruce hostage as insurance. Bruce tells Zatanna that he will be all right. Just before walking out the door, Scarface pushes a button on a remote control and sets off a fire bomb in the club. Zatanna uses her magic to put out the flames.
We see Scarface and his thug throw Bruce and Sabatino into their car and take off. Zatanna then uses her magic to follow Scarface’s car. Inside of the limousine Bruce sits facing Scarface and Miss Sugar. Miss Sugar lays down Scarface and then says that she knows Bruce. Miss Sugar says that she was engaged to Bruce’s friend, Matthew Atkins.
Bruce then realizes that Miss Sugar is Peyton Riley. Bruce asks her what she is doing. Peyton replies that it has become a nightmare. That she has hurt people. Suddenly, Scarface wakes up and totally pimp slaps Miss Sugar in the face for talking to Bruce. Scarface then says that Bruce must pay for making Scarface bitch slap his girl. Scarface then shoots several rounds straight at Bruce. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Detective Comics #843 was a fun read. I appreciate what Dini is doing on this title. I love that Dini is delivering compressed stories consisting of one shot issues and two issue story arcs, but still has reoccurring plots and themes that he carries along. This is quite an enjoyable style of storytelling on a monthly title and certainly serves as a refreshing break from the mind numbing decompression that you get on the majority of titles nowadays.
Dini turns in a nicely paced issue. We get a pleasant balance of action and drama. The story moves along with a pleasing flow as the scenes transition seamlessly into each other. Detective Comics #843 is also well plotted as Dini gives us a well constructed story that picks up on previous plotlines and themes while still being very new reader friendly. Dini gives us just enough background information so that new readers can easily enjoy the issue and that long-time readers don’t get bored at all.
Dini crafts some well done dialogue. Dini has a great feel for both Batman and Zatanna’s characters. I adore the wonderfully chemistry that Dini whips up between Batman and Zatanna. The scene with Bruce and Zatanna at the club together was the best scene in this issue and certainly what carried this story. The conversation about their past and, potentially, their future was well handled.
This scene also plays perfectly off the natural progression of Bruce and Zatanna’s relationship that first started with Detective Comics #833 where Zatanna confronted Bruce over still refusing to forgive her for what mind wiping him during the events in Identity Crisis.
We then saw in Detective Comics #834Bruce and Zatanna finally truly reconciling with each other and re-establishing their long time bond between each other. This relationship then evolved even further in Superman/Batman #46 where Batman is tempted by a vision of his perfect life. And this vision of his perfect life includes Bruce together with Zatanna.
Detective Comics #843 is the logical growth of this intriguing plotline. Dini gets the reader to buy into that Bruce and Zatanna are childhood friends who clearly have developed some type of feelings for each other. Personally, I love the idea of Bruce and Zatanna together. It is about time for the goddamn Batman to have a consistent relationship with a woman. Bruce’s romantic life has been moribund for quite some time now.
A romantic relationship might help to spice things up and keep Batman’s character fresh. It is easy for writers to get stuck in a rut when writing Batman’s character. A romantic relationship would also provide a nice source of conflict as Bruce fights against his natural dickish loner personality.
I find Zatanna to be a great match for Batman. Zatanna is a metahuman so she would not be at any increased risk because she is dating the Batman. The same could not be said if it was a regular human that Bruce was dating. Also, Zatanna already shares a long history with Batman so she knows him like nobody other than Alfred does. And Zatanna already knows Bruce’s secret identity.
Zatanna and Batman balance and complement each other perfectly. Zatanna and Batman are extreme opposites. Zatanna is a more positive character rooted in magic. Batman is a more negative character rooted in science. Plus, their personalities work well with each other. And Zatanna is one of the few females in the DCU who can handle Bruce’s personality and break through his defenses.
I dig the appearance of Miss Sugar and Scarface. I like the fact that Peyton has a connecting to Bruce. I like this new version of Scarface and am curious if Bruce will ever be able to get through to Peyton or if she is too far gone.
Dini ends this issue with a great hook ending as Scarface fires several rounds directly at Bruce’s chest. Luckily for Bruce, Zatanna should be able to arrive on the scene just in time to pull his bacon out of the fire.
The Bad: I found Dustin Nguyen’s artwork to be very pedestrian. The art makes this a rather dull looking issue. Many of the panels look rushed and sloppy.
Overall: Detective Comics #843 was a fun read. It is enjoyable to get to compliment Dini for his work on this title. I do think he is a talented writer and it sucked having to give him so many negative reviews over on Countdown to Final Crisis. Dini continues to impress with his ability to deliver compressed stories while building off of themes and plotlines from earlier issues.
Detective Comics is an easy title to hop aboard for new readers. It you enjoy shorter and faster paced stories then you might want to give Detective Comics a try. Detective Comics is one of the few titles on the market not written with a trade format in mind. This is a true monthly title written for monthly readers.
6 thoughts on “Detective Comics #843 Review”
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And I’m back reading this again, because there were only three comics on my pull list last Wednesday and God help me if I’m ever reduced to spending less than ten dollars a week on his habit. Coincidentally, the last issues of this I read were also a Zatanna team-up two-parter.
I generally enjoy whenever Dini brings Zatanna into his stories, because he writes her very well, but I can never quite escape consciousness of his borderline idol worship of the character; particularly now that he’s married to “Zatanna in real life” Misty Lee, so I additionally wonder if he’s making himself Batman.
Beyond such meta-fictional concerns, I think this will be an interesting story direction; Dini knows enough about Batman to know that no relationship will ever stick long-term, but that’s no reason not to do a compelling relationship story and let it play out.
Scarface as a villain I’ve always found a bit too visually ludicrous to take all that seriously, but the new Ventriloquist is at least nice to look at.
If we’re calling how the cliffhanger is resolved, I’ll guess that Bruce wears a bulletproof vest wherever he goes.
I think Zatanna, of all female characters in the DCU, would have the greatest likelihood of having a successful relationship with Batman. I say this because she is a showman, a superhero, and a sorceress, and probably has greater tolerance for all the problems involved in dating the Batman than anyone else. I imagine a woman who’s had relationships with demons and occult detectives would be more than capable of having a relationship with the world’s greatest detective.
How he met her is itself an interesting story (related on the JLU DVD episode commentary for “This Little Piggy”, where Bruce Timm refers to Zatanna as “Paul Dini’s favourite character, and also his wife.”); he wrote a “Zatanna” one-shot comic at some point, and one of her friends read it and gave it to her because (paraphrased) “This is totally you.” She enjoyed the comic, and wrote/emailed/whatevered him to say she liked it; things proceeded from there.
there are two things i would like to see happen to batman to spice up batman comic books. giving Bruce a love interest that wasn’t just a plot device thats killed/maimed early in the story (Zatanna would fill this role nicely for a while). But I think it’s about time that Gordan found out that the Batman and Mr. Wayne are one in the same. DC could even milk this in mainstream media for a few months. It’s not quite Captain America dying, but if written right it would be really interesting to explore. His reaction to finding out, and batman’s response.
Doesn’t Gordon unofficially know who Batman is though, I always thought that was part of their dynamic
I don’t know, but the new Scarface and Sugar doesn’t seem to original on Dini’s part. It seems like a woman being controlled by some crazy boss is much like the relationship between Harley and Joker.
Also, a question. Does Detective Comics and Batman take place in the same universe? Isn’t Batman supposed to be missing and soon dead in the Morrison’s Batman, how does this effect Detective Comics? Ive always thought that DC bigest problem was having storylines carry over in other titles.
My final concern (and its not about Batman or Detective Comics) But whatever happened to those killed in Titans East Special? When is that every going to be discussed again? It seems DC just swept that under the rug.