Detective Comics #868

          I've said it a thousand times, but I'm going to say it again, I love the Batman villains. So naturally copycats interest me. The previous issue was pretty good, it wasn't the best thing I had ever read, but I'm glad I picked it up. So I wanted to continue with the story arc.
         In this issue the Jokerz are still  in the streets. But where there are copy cat Jokers there are copy cat Batmen. So now there is a war between the Guardian Bats (who use guns) and the Jokerz.  Batman tries the Joker gas so he can see how it feels, and then the head of the Jokerz announces free money day. Then we find out a plan that the Jokerz have to hide the gas in pharmaceuticals.
        Free money day, and hiding the gas (in what I think was) pharmaceuticals, that is exactly what the Joker did in Batman. (the one with Jack Nicholson, and Michael Keaton) If that was done on purpose I think that is pretty cool, because it's a copy cat Joker, lets have a copy cat Joker crime. But if that was done by accident, then that ruins the comic, if it's just a complete copy off the movie then I've lost all respect for David Hine. I thought the Guardian Bats were okay, I've seen things like that hundreds of times, but when there's a copy cat Joker, there is a copy cat Batman.
        The scene where Batman tries the Joker venom was fantastic, he's been fighting the Joker for years, trying to get inside his head, and now he knows how he feels, the only thing that would have made that better, is if Bruce Wayne was alive, and he's the one that went through that. Plus it would be cool to see that done in more serious art. But for the most part I really like the art.
         Scot McDaniel's pencils and Guy Major's color were both great in this issue, they captured and enhanced the insanity that was shown in this comic. You have people dressing up as clowns and going on crime sprees, and then you have people dressing up as bats, and killing the clowns. That is just plain crazy, and the art really magnified it.
        I can't really grade this comic because I don't know if what David Hine did was on purpose or not, and just hearing that would be the difference between a great comic and an awful one, so I can't grade it, but I'll recommend buying it.



Grade: N/A/10
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