Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Detective Comics #40 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato
Art By: Brian Buccellato, Francis Manapul
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 4, 2015

Anarky's End


*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

In the last issue of Detective Comics, we saw Anarky take Mad Hatter out of his cell and man, it didn't look like he wanted to be best friends forever.  While Anarky was at it, Batman and Bullock had themselves a hell of a hunch when they used Mad Hatter's previous ranting and raves to track down a old boarding house that apparently holds the key to solving not only the question of who Anarky is but to those children skulls that Batman found in the first issue to this story arc.  It all gets wrapped up here, so let's check this out and see if Batman can save Mad Hatter from Anarky's vengeance as I wrap up my last late review....... Hurrah For Me!

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Anarky's group just beating the shit out of Batman and Harvey Bullock isn't really able to help since he sustained a knife wound last issue........ very convenient Harv.  Well, I guess it is kind of convenient because while Batman is taking a beat down barrage, it's up to Alfred and Harvey to find the transponder that is making everyone wearing masks act the way they are........ So yeah, Gotham isn't completely corrupt, it's due to a mind control device.  Good on you Gothamites for not delving into your baser instincts just because you put on a mask.


Once Batman breaks free from his attackers, he calls out Anarky because he knows who he is and even though I've said over and over that Sam Young was just a red herring that the writers were throwing at us.......... Apparently they threw him at us as someone we'd believe was a red herring when in actual fact, he was Anarky all along........ So yeah, it's Councilman Sam Young and the reason for all this Anarky-ness is because of Jeb Lester and Jervis Tetch taking advantage of him and all the kids that lived in this boarding house.  I said in the last issue's review that Jervis Tetch being a caretaker at some orphanage was a strange thing for a genius to do, but if he was going with this whole using mind control to act out sick fantasies with kids......... Well, I still can't go with it because it's creepy and sick but I understand what the writers were going for.  Now it's time for Mad Hatter to pay for his crimes against Sam and Hatter's first victim; the original Alice and also Sam's sister.  Apparently Anarky's mask is supposed to be a representation of Alice's face and Sam saw her face in every child that was murdered by Lester and Hatter and wanted everyone to wear the face, so that no one would ever forget her............ This is some deep dark shit right here.


In the end, Harvey Bullock saves the day by putting an end to the riots in the streets and the people attacking Batman by dawning the Hatter's hat himself and getting everyone to take off the masks.  The revolution is over and as we leave this issue and the story arc we see that Harvey is getting medical attention and that the young boy who was shot two issues ago is getting released from the hospital.  Let's just hope that young Lonnie Machin doesn't do anything more with the Anarky mask in the future.


That's it for this issue of Detective Comics and now that it's over and I can get beyond that strange clue that led Batman and Harvey to "The Blue House" and look at this story for what it was........ A dark twisted tale that made me feel very creeped out by the end.  Seriously though, this is what I like Detective Comics to be and Buccellato and Manapul are doing a damn fine job in telling serious detective stories.  Add that to excellent art and you have yourself one hell of an issue.  I can't wait to see what we get when this series returns in June.

Bits and Pieces:

One of the best looking books in DC Comics doesn't disappoint as it wraps up the Anarky story arc in a dark and twisted fashion.  While I maintain that this Hatter comes off more as a Freddy Krueger type figure than what I usually think of him as, it's a serious take for a serious story and I'm happy as hell that I read it.  Go get your detective skills on as we finish up the Anarky story.

9/10

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