Detective Comics #873

         This is my one year anniversary of blogging on Comic Review Warehouse. What started as just a way to vent my feelings about the latest comic book in a very simple manner has turned into a great thing.
The anniversary review is Detective Comics issue 873. Like in Green Lantern Corps, I read an issue and then never got to the next one, but I got Detective Comics issue 872 and 873. I liked issue 872 and 871 and the last arc of this series was incredible and so far this arc has been pretty good.
        In this issue The Dealer has turned everyone at the auction onto Batman. They start to attack him, and Dick Grayson goes through all the calm down rules of the tightrope in his head. The people at the auction catch up with him, but Grayson wakes up in the hospital next to Oracle. He's missing his legs. Oracle then attacks him, but Dick Grayson wakes up again, and again he's in the hospital, but this time he has legs, and Oracle isn't trying to kill him. Dick Grayson gets dressed as Batman and goes after the dealer. He empties the "cargo" off of his plane. When Batman finally catches the Dealer, the Dealer turns into some weird Man Bat creature, but Batman beats him fairly quickly. When he gets home he makes the Wayne mansion his own, and tells Alfred to throw the Joker's crow bar into the river.
        This was a great issue. Messing with Batman's mind is a constantly used tool in all of the Batman series, and now that there is a different Batman DC focus' on that a lot more. Everyone knows that Gotham is evil, and dark, but this arc took that to a whole new level. Auctioning off the crowbar that Joker beat Jason Todd with is just sick. But it was enjoyable to read about. I'm a fan of reminders of "Batman a Death in the Family" and even the stuff that is done with the Red Hood (regrettably I never read Red Hood Lost Days, but maybe if I see the TPB one day I'll pick it up) and this was great. I wasn't a fan of just ending the arc by making the Dealer a weird Man Bat monster, but I do hope that he comes back again with a whole new arc and a whole new crime. His character could either be great or terrible. If they just make him the creature then he will be boring, but if they make him someone like the Penguin mixed with Man Bat (organizes things, but can be strong) then he will be great. I also liked when Dick Grayson was going through the rules of the tightrope in his head. Bruce Wayne always flashed back to memories of his parents and used their teachings in almost every single case, and Dick Grayson does that as well, but since his background is different, it's a different feel. Dick Grayson is a good Batman, I would like to see Bruce Wayne back in this series, but I'm happy that Dick Grayson is his own Batman and not trying to make him exactly the same as Bruce Wayne.
            This is a good issue, a good arc, a good series, and Dick Grayson is a good character.



Grade: 9/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com