Detective Comics #40 Preview/Discussion

[Fuzzy Cactus]

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2015/02...ective-comics/

Well, we get some answers as to Anarky's motive. Art looks gorgeous, as usual.

[GrandKaiser]

I hate how tec is a secondary Bat series next to Batman, or Batman Eternal. I haven't seen art or storytelling done this well in years. I mean when I opened the link and saw that first page I was sitting here in my chair, mesmerized. My mom called to me from the next room: "Grand Kaiser! Grand Kaiser, supper time!" and I could not answer her because Francis Manapul had captivated me once again. When I came out of my trance it had been four hours. Meaning time stops when I am reading Detective Comics. That's powerful. How well does this book sell? I always get the feeling that it isn't popular, and I think these guys should be moved to a big book. I mean a really big book. I dunno, that's just me. Can't wait to read the issue.

[CoffeeCup]

I hate how tec is a secondary Bat series next to Batman, or Batman Eternal. I haven't seen art or storytelling done this well in years. I mean when I opened the link and saw that first page I was sitting here in my chair, mesmerized. My mom called to me from the next room: "Grand Kaiser! Grand Kaiser, supper time!" and I could not answer her because Francis Manapul had captivated me once again. When I came out of my trance it had been four hours. Meaning time stops when I am reading Detective Comics. That's powerful. How well does this book sell? I always get the feeling that it isn't popular, and I think these guys should be moved to a big book. I mean a really big book. I dunno, that's just me. Can't wait to read the issue.

Always amazes me how readers can have such different opinions on a run. I really liked what these guys were doing on the Flash, but for me at least,this has been one of the dullest, most incoherent runs I can ever remember on this title.

[GrandKaiser]

Always amazes me how readers can have such different opinions on a run. I really liked what these guys were doing on the Flash, but for me at least,this has been one of the dullest, most incoherent runs I can ever remember on this title.

Did you like my story about how I was sent into a trance though?

[TheNewFiftyForum]

This looks SO good, possibly the most beautifully illustated title DC is putting on the shelves. It's just too bad that the story doesn't even come close to the same level of quality.

Were we supposed to understand that Lonnie Machin worked with Sam Young and did all the technical stuff with the masks and the data base erasing? Or that Young was somehow a computer genius?

I thought that the plot was too simple, non-sensical and brought up and then forgot about themes at the drop of a hat. And yet, it still couldn't be properly resolved without a huge expositional info dump in the last two pages. And did anyone else get a bad taste in their mouth by Alfred's try to calm down the masses? They were apparently mind controlled, but it still sounds pretty bad when an old, independently wealthy white guy tries telling frustrated masses of people that they shouldn't be angry or act out against society, because they are all really free and can do what they want with their lives. It certainly makes sense for team Batman to be generally conservative in their views on the world, and I guess those pages could be read as simply a desperate attempt to avoid bloodshed, but it still came across as nasty and unpleasant to me.

[AUScowboy]

I for one have no issue with the more basic story. Really enjoy this new take on Anarky, and the potential set up for Lonnie to eventually take up the Anarky mantle. The artwork is gorgeous as always. And to the fella who said Manapul and Buccellato deserve a bigger book? Detective, despite taking financial second place to Batman, is the biggest book that team could ever hope to be on...(when it comes to DC at least. It'd be swell as hell to see these guys on something like this weeks Descender #1, something creator owned by Image or maybe Vertigo!).

[AlexanderLuthor]

It sure is beautiful, but has the same problem as their Flash run IMHO - just plain vanilla. Vanilla can be fine, but I'm starting to think that's all they can write. Time to turn 'Tec over to Selley/King

[Godlike13]

I thought this was kind of anti-climatic.

[ispacehead]

I thought this was kind of anti-climatic.

Yeah, I kinda agree. A great arc, but it sorta fizzled at the end.

Good. Not great.

Beautiful as always.

[Kurisu]

Yeah, this book is all style, no substance for me and I don't think I can do it anymore.

[BatGlamorous]

Booch and co. tell a merely sufficient story and the art is pretty. The book definitely has a problem with substance, I feel like they could have gone a lot of interesting directions instead of "Batman saves the day, everyone's in jail, the end." I was kind of expecting the new Anarky to be inadvertently killed by Bruce, tipping Lonnie over the edge into assuming the role. Would have been cool. Oh well.

Why exactly does DC feel the need to change everyone's origin? Besides the age, Lonnie's original backstory and motivation was perfectly fine. They could have even made Annie from the last arc the new Anarky after what happened, and that still would have made a whole lot more sense to the story than some random politician.

[Nero]

The art tends to sway me into really wanting to get into this Detective Comics run but the stories have a tendency to fall flat towards the conclusion. I was expecting or at least hoping for this storyline to end on a stronger note but unfortunately it fizzled out by being too obvious.

[rhymeswithparc]

I thought the finale was a slight let down too but the story was enjoyable overall. Anarky having a personal vendetta against the Mad Hatter was kind of a boring twist and so was the fact that all the masked people were mind controlled; if Lonnie does become Anarky, he's gonna have a really tough time rallying people behind his cause. Also, I had to back and skim through the old issues to find out who Sam Young was; I think they should have explained who he was better or featured him more prominently in the story. He had something like one scene in the story and it turns out that the scene was pretty important to his motivations.

Were we supposed to understand that Lonnie Machin worked with Sam Young and did all the technical stuff with the masks and the data base erasing? Or that Young was somehow a computer genius?

I thought that the plot was too simple, non-sensical and brought up and then forgot about themes at the drop of a hat. And yet, it still couldn't be properly resolved without a huge expositional info dump in the last two pages. And did anyone else get a bad taste in their mouth by Alfred's try to calm down the masses? They were apparently mind controlled, but it still sounds pretty bad when an old, independently wealthy white guy tries telling frustrated masses of people that they shouldn't be angry or act out against society, because they are all really free and can do what they want with their lives. It certainly makes sense for team Batman to be generally conservative in their views on the world, and I guess those pages could be read as simply a desperate attempt to avoid bloodshed, but it still came across as nasty and unpleasant to me.

I think we're supposed to believe that Young was able to reverse engineer the technology or at least figure out how to use it; there was nothing to suggest that he helped Jervis develop it. As for Alfred, I read it as he was stalling more than actually trying to fight the mind control.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I dunno how to feel about this. I enjoyed it but I wasn't left satisfied at the end for some reason. Anyway looking forward to what these guys bring next, another Penguin story will be good or Killer Croc or Bane.

Also, I noticed that they used the Dark Knight symbol on thr front cover, thought that was cool, really love that symbol hoping they make it canon.

[Bookem Danno]

Were we supposed to understand that Lonnie Machin worked with Sam Young and did all the technical stuff with the masks and the data base erasing? Or that Young was somehow a computer genius?

Say what now? Really? Huh.

And what's with Harvey's solution - 10/6 didn't work and he couldnt' find the real code so he put on the hat and controlled everyone to snap out of it? Whatever he did, Batman should give him a gift basket for saving his butt and the city by himself.