Detective Comics #1004 Preview and Discussion

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I take back my previous disappointment over the Arkham Knight's identity. That backstory was perfect. This issue was perfect (But Good Lord, how old is Harley supposed to be?). Figures it would be Tomasi who'd swoop in and save the day just as I was this close to abandoning DC comics.

I do wonder how differently things would have been, had Jeremiah told Astrid the truth. At that point it seems like she was already too far gone for it to matter. But I'm curious if that would have made any difference.

I don't know, I was excited at first that the AK was not shoe horned into Batmans history, and here we go. Also, the time line makes absolutely no sense. Even in Pre-Flashpoint it would not make sense. Batman would have to be over 40 for it to make sense or the AK would have to be under 15. Either way, it doesn't make sense.

[Fergus]

Great to see Arcane and Phosporus.

[Jackalope89]

I don't know, I was excited at first that the AK was not shoe horned into Batmans history, and here we go. Also, the time line makes absolutely no sense. Even in Pre-Flashpoint it would not make sense. Batman would have to be over 40 for it to make sense or the AK would have to be under 15. Either way, it doesn't make sense.

Sure it does; Bruce is an old geezer.

[Chubistian]

I still haven't made up my mind about the AK's identity. On one hand, I like Astrid for the time being, the dead mother is a classic trope but I guess it still works and I buy her motivation, though his father's reason to not tell the truth is ... meh. But I don't believe that Batman didn't notice a little girl walking through Arkham in all those years, especially with how regular a visitor he is (how many times has he went through Arkham's halls since the N52 started at least?). And you have to be deranged to believe Joker and many of the other inmates aren't that bad after some atrocities they have commited in stories like Death In the Family and Endgame, but well, she's an Arkham, hard that she's sane. And nobody has mention her before? And every time a new inmate is jailed he becomes friends with her or she only interacts with "old" rogues?

Overall, I liked the issue, Tomasi is always fun to read and Walker is doing a cool job with characters' expresions and with the layouts. Looking forward to the rest of the arc

[Coco Loco]

Hate to be all negative but this story is really dumb. The logic and plot errors are so bad I’m surprised they got past editorial. Astrid’s parents meet, fall in love, conceive her and bring her to term, and she grows to be.. what.. 20+ years old or so... and everyone else apparently stays the exact same age. Not just Batman, but all the Arkham inmates.

Arkham’s wife is killed during a riot right after giving birth and no one but the inmates knows? Did no one notice Mrs. Arkham was gone? Did she not have any pre-natal care? Astrid grew up in an insane asylum and no one noticed? Come on.

Astrid’s entire vendetta against Batman could have been avoided if Arkham had just.. y’know.. either *told* her Batman wasn’t the killer or shown her the footage proving it, but he can’t be bothered because he doesn’t want her to blame him for his wife’s death? That makes no sense whatsoever. Even if Arkham initially thought that way, at some point wouldn’t he say “hey Astrid, this whole Batman vendetta seems to be getting a little out of control - there’s something you should know”? He doesn’t do that, entirely because he needs to not do that for the story to continue.

Also as of yet Astrid’s plan makes no sense, what with Arcane and Unmen and all that. What is she trying to accomplish? Kill Batman? Seems like a rather roundabout way of doing that. Destroying Gotham? That’s silly. Showing Gotham “the light” of truth about Batman? Okay - doesn’t really seem like setting off a bomb and then having a bunch of supernatural monsters show up is going to do that - but you do you. I’ll of course concede that the story isn’t over, so maybe this will make more sense with time - but for now it’s a hot mess.

Robin’s quip was funny. I liked that.

[adrikito]

WOW.. All this happened between 15-20 years ago..

ARKHAM ASYLUM&ARKHAM DOCTORS CAN´T CURE ANY PATIENT..

What would be Dick Grayson(1st Robin) current age after this? Batman has been active 15 years min..

[STAGARMS]

i agree with your points , how could batman not know who she is ? it is a good story though. after all it is a comic book .

[HsssH]

Yeah, Tomasi jumped the shark for me with this back story, especially how he tried to integrate Astrid into Batman's mythology.

I also don't really understand what kind of an insane person you have to be think that you are doing something good and work with people like Arcane. And speaking about Arcane, what the hell he is doing in Gotham and following someone's orders?

[bishopcruz]

Still hoping that the backstory is a misdirect. Could she somehow be a Saturn girl driven crazy?

[Red obin]

I enjoyed this. I was rather annoyed when the arkham knight was an unknown character but this backstory go me invested again.