Detective comics #870

          I've really enjoyed this arc, it showed the mayhem of what the Joker, or even someone who was joker gassed can be. The last couple of issues have been fantastic, they've been nearly perfect. I've liked David Hine for a while, because of his work with Batman and his villains, but he has out done himself.
          In this issue the "Impostor War" is on its last day. War has broken out in the fair that Winslow Heath set up. Batman goes and hunts down the Impostor Batman. He fights him and then rips off his mask, revealing that he is Winslow Heath/Impostor Joker. Heath says "I found that spot when I was exploring the rooftops. I used to climb around up there where it's quiet, away from the crowds and the hustle. No one else ever went up there, just me and Beth, we'd get stoned...I was planning to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me." That is when the Joker gassed him and Beth. Batman rescued Heath, but no one noticed Beth. The two survived because of some drugs they took, but Beth was hidden and frozen, as the birds fed off of her, while she was still alive. He blames Batman "We're collateral damage. You're the reason [the Joker] comes to Gotham. You're the reason they all come. The impostor Joker escapes and goes home to the skeleton of Beth.
           This is a great issue. Hine really pulled the watch the world burn thing down. I especially liked how Winslow Heath was the Impostor Joker, and the Impostor Batman, he just wanted to see the world burn. As I've said before the art in this is amazing, not because it's especially good, but it captures the insanity of the Impostor War, it's even better now that Winslow Heath was trying to accomplish just that. The part with Beth I thought was done very well because that combined with Joker gas, and a little bit of being awake during a coma, is enough to make someone crazy. Although I didn't like the "you bring the Joker here" bit, because like in Superman #705 I've seen it so many times before. While I do know with thousands of Batman stories, and it's probably getting hard not to recycle things, but those past two events have been constant themes in series of comics, and each time the authors think it's going to be as shocking as last time. My last complaint with this issue is that Winslow Heath being the Impostor Batman was really predictable. So I wouldn't say this issue is a must buy, just a check it out if you have nothing to do. Although if you've been a fan of the series then pick it up.          
      




Grade: 7/10
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