Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Sebastian Fiumara
Cover: Sebastian Fiumara & Brad Anderson
Variant Cover: Mark Brooks
Editors: Dave Wielgosz & Chris Conroy
Group Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Publisher: DC Comics
I do like dark comics, but as I grew older, plain dark for the sake of dark did not cut it anymore.
Detective Comics #982 gives us the resolution for the emotional turf battle between the Bat and Deacon Blackfire. Given that the enemy is a ghost, I did not expect much of fisticuffs in this issue, but the way things go, with Batman losing his mind only to regain it a few pages later, all the while reminiscing incessantly about his childhood in captions that almost become obnoxious… I don’t think it was the way to go.
The story starts relatable enough, with Batman projecting himself on the manipulated goon he is interrogating, But then the first claim of “my parents are dead” comes, and almost everything from there feels like a parody of itself – Batman has used that line so much that the writer needs to be extremely careful on how to place it.
Next comes the apparition of the Deacon himself, and he sends the Caped Crusader away on a symbolic death, where he ponders about Gotham and the need for Batman, and how he is not letting Blackfire take over the city, gaining just enough strength to come back and face his foes, attempt that is not completely successful, and sends Batman back within his mind.
Another apparition takes place then. Batman sees his loved ones, almost the whole Bat-family, and is reminded that he is not alone in his fight to protect his city, and that he has a knowledge over it that others don’t have.
Yawn.
This has been done before as well. Batman is an introspective hero, but it takes the right writer to deal with it, and Detective Comics it’s not quite there yet.
Overall: 5/10
![Patricia](https://comicbuzz.com/wp-content/litespeed/avatar/41c915c39ee2fbea71cd8e5eccdc834d.jpg?ver=1725209309)
Patricia Loupee is a collector of skills: wannabe tattoo artist, seamstress, sculptress, cartoon artist, and most importantly comic book colorist, inker and writer. Her work in the world of comics can be seen at indie titles by Red King Press, Correct Handed Productions, Phoenix Dreams Publishing and the Boston Comics Roundtable anthology Being True.
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