Achieving quadruple digits on issue numbers is no mean feat, and Detective Comics is every bit as respectable an institution as that longevity implies. DC’s confidence in their namesake title (Detective Comics Comics, anyone?) is such that this milestone doesn’t feature any splashy events or attention-grabbing status quo changes. The issue is nothing more than four short stories in the life of Batman, all of them focused on the Dark Knight’s more street-level crimefighting. The prevailing vibe could almost be called ‘friendly neighbourhood Batman’—and I’m incredibly here for it.
While the first and third stories are arguably the best, the issue is overall remarkably consistent in its sweet, humanistic characterization of Batman. In the first, Tom Taylor’s “Lost and Found”, told entirely without captions or speech bubbles, Batman goes out of his way to find a deaf boy’s stolen dog. The last panel then reveals that he regularly follows up on missing pet posters throughout the city. It’s an unexpectedly heartwarming take (reminiscent of the memetic squirrel rescue in James Gunn’s Superman) that brings to the fore the depth of Batman’s commitment to his city—something that often gets lost when all we see are big-picture Joker attacks and evil Bat-robots.
The third story, Greg Rucka’s “The Knife and Gun Club”, does something similar, echoing his work on Gotham Central. The focus here is on two exhausted hospital workers. At first, they bemoan the amount of thugs—and corresponding broken bones—that Batman sends their way, only to remember how bad things were before he showed up. The talkiness of this tale, although the polar opposite of Taylor’s beautifully wordless storytelling, does not distract from the fact that both share the same message: the little things Batman does make as much of a difference to the people of Gotham as the times when he saves the entire Multiverse.
The other two stories, Mariko Tamaki’s “Your Role in the Community” and Dan Watters’ “The Fall”, don’t make as much of an impression, but I can see what they’re trying to do. Tamaki’s tale seems like a pointed rebuttal to the standard critique “Why does Bruce Wayne not contribute more to Gotham with his wealth?” The answer, of course, is that he does, but his work as Batman is arguably more powerful as an inspirational beacon. Maybe I’ve just heard this talking point rehashed too many times, but it felt a bit basic for me. Watters’ story, meanwhile, follows Batman as he dives to save a killer from falling off a building, which again only goes to show his commitment to all life, even the most undeserving. There’s not much else to this one, but at least we get some nice Bill Sienkiewicz art. Overall, despite some thin sections, this issue succeeds at its goal: celebrating Detective Comics and its star since #27, Batman. Some might call these stories light and inconsequential, but to me that’s precisely their strength: they show the infinite variety of possible Batman narratives, from the smallest to the largest. Enough for another 1,100 issues, hopefully…