Detective Comics #971 preview

[Frontier]

- Tynion's mission in making us feel sympathy for Basil has been 100% successful.

It feels like it's been a long time since anyone's really dived into Clayface like this, so on that front I think it's been some of Tynion's strongest work on the book.

He's really added the heart and tragedy back to Clayface, on-top of making him a surprisingly dynamic and versatile character in a book you would never have expected him to be in.

- Bruce got a cool moment.

I just found that whole sequence funny.

It felt like Tynion was going "So people think I don't give Bruce enough cool moments in this book? Well watch him take all these guys down...OFF-PANEL!!!!" .

- I'm going to wait to the end...but if this is really is the end of heroBasil, then I am going to have serious words with the last issue of this story.

I sometimes forget how terrifying Clayface could be.

It's all the more powerful given how Tynion had used Basil up to this point.

- This plot does not work at all for me because I fail to believe any of the circumstances going on. Victim Syndicate convinces all the guards to work for them? Don't buy it. They manage to turn the city against Batman? Not the Marvel universe, don't buy it. All of this being allowed to happen because an idiot of a mayor got put in charge because the last mayor got killed by Shiva for reasons I still don't understand? Don't buy it. Cass not rushing Arkham on her own and saving Basil before it was too late? Don't buy it. (Especially since the end showed that Bruce was capable of beating everyone on his own!) Lonnie? Lonnie...

I love how Gordon is all "the kids Batman, it's always been the kids." Like, come on Jim .

- This is entirely Stephanie's fault. They flat out said that the people learning about Clayface was the tipping point. Why is no one holding her accountable for being such an idiot?!

Didn't Steph film Tim on a rooftop once? I guess he was right that she should've been more careful about it.

[Assam]

I just found that whole sequence funny.

It felt like Tynion was going "So people think I don't give Bruce enough cool moments in this book? Well watch him take all these guys down...OFF-PANEL!!!!" .

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also thinking something along those lines. TBF on the last point, most everything in this book, especially fights, happen off-panel.

It's all the more powerful given how Tynion had used Basil up to this point.

That just makes it worse for me. Basil has to go back to being a villain? Fine, but having been one of this book's MVPs for so long, he deserves his arc finished in a much better story than what we're getting here.

I love how Gordon is all "the kids Batman, it's always been the kids." Like, come on Jim .

Yeah, that was really bad there.

[shadowsgirl]

Didn't Steph film Tim on a rooftop once? I guess he was right that she should've been more careful about it.

Yeah, she did, which is weird, because Steph should know better than that. The old Steph was much more cautious, and I don't like that the blame is on her now. Yes, she started the gang war in the old universe, but that was stupid, too. It's character assassination. Steph deserves a new solo series, but her current behaviour alienates a lot of fan. She took photos and videos while they were both without their mask. This is one of the stupidest things what any superhero with a secret identity can do.

[Anarky]

Subtle Rebirth thing # 485, Lonnie Machin and Batman directly talk about his past continuity being back in continuity, more or less.

Surely that speaks to the early Alan Grant stories more than anything, and as we progress toward more modern-day continuity, Anarky's canon gets more fluid - but I still like to think perhaps he was paralyzed and helping Tim Drake out not that long ago, because I really dug Red Robin, natch.

After flashpoint, Lonnie’s career as Anarky was erased, as was his being raised by his (adoptive) parents. All that remained was some form of his time as Moneyspider. He seemed a bit younger in the Sam Young Anarky and the tec endgame stories. As for rebirth, it’s clear some of his story has been restored but the details aren’t clear yet. The newspaper angle in his first appearance is probably going to be shifted to an online one but I think the loss of his overseas friend is increasingly relevant.