Detective Comics #1093, by DC Comics on 1/22/25, finds the Batfamily rounding up the teenagers hunted by the new serial killer in town.
Is Detective Comics #1093 Review Good?
Recap
When we last left the Caped Crusader in Detective Comics #1092, Kai, the teenager Damian stashed in a safe house, was killed by a mysterious assassin. After a quick bit of detecting, Batman learned the new healing drug contains aspects of a teenager's blood, which links the serum to Kai's death. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne "pumps" Scarlett for information about her research. The issue ended with a link between Scarlett's company and the juvenile detention center where all the murdered teenagers were housed.
Plot Synopsis
In Detective Comics #1093, the issue begins with a brief flashback to when young Bruce Wayne first met Scarlett shortly after his parent's death. Evelyn, Scarlett's mother, was scarily remorseful over the death of the Waynes, likely due to her former boyfriend's part in their murder.
Now, the Batfamily rounds up all recently released teenagers from the Faultless Juvenile Detention Center and brings them to a secluded warehouse. Batman arrives and explains the Family is positioned to keep everyone alive, gifting them all clothes that have Bat-help callers built in. Batman fails to disclose that the clothes also have surveillance equipment built in, a fact the Family is quick to point out.
Later, Batman chases down one of many mercenaries who've recently entered Gotham City. He learns the mercenaries responded to a bounty on the serial killer, but the bounty was recently canceled. The trail for the bounty led to Penguin. When Batman confronts Penguin, he gets the usual "it wasn't me" excuses, but Penguin divulges his network learned the killer is called Asema and has the protection of someone very powerful.
Oracle contacts Batman when an alert is raised by one of the teenagers. Batman arrives in time to stop Asema from killing the teen, but Batman couldn't hold his own in the fight. The issue ends with another teenager dead and the killer getting away with a sample of Batman's blood to uncover the Caped Crusader's real identity.
First Impressions
Writer Tom Taylor's mystery almost works until it doesn't, for one specific reason. The obvious conclusion that Asema is really Scarlett may or may not be a red herring, so plausible deniability exists, but the fight between Batman and Asema is where the issue falls apart.
How’s the Art?
The art is great. Mikel Janín is considered one of the top artists in DC for a good reason. The level of detail and cinematic style are on full display. Everything, from the facial acting to the action and backgrounds, is on point.
What’s great about Detective Comics #1093?
The central mystery behind Asema's identity and plan is still holding attention, which is a commendable bit of writing from Taylor. Red herrings can be a double-edged sword if you inject too many clues or withhold too much plausibility, so Taylor infuses the right amount. That praise only works IF Taylor can pay off the reveal. We shall see.
What’s not great about Detective Comics #1093?
The final act is where this issue stumbles mightily. Since taking the Sangraal drug, Batman has gone out of his way to demonstrate he's stronger, faster, and moves with better reflexes. How on Earth is one of DC's greatest and best-prepared hand-to-hand combatants outmaneuvered by a new character on the scene? It's fair to say that if Asema was trained by a master Batman hasn't already met, learned from, and matched, that person doesn't exist.
You'd have to accept that Asema beats Batman readily, and that's a tough pill to swallow.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Detective Comics #1093 keeps the mystery behind the serial killer's identity and intentions afloat, but the issue ends on a sour note. Tom Taylor's script admirably drops enough breadcrumbs about the mystery to keep you guessing, and
Mikel Janín's art looks fantastic, but Batman's inability to stop the killer in a one-on-one fight requires too much disbelief to muster.
6/10
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And despite my previous praise for issue 1 and 2 of Taylor's run of Detective comics against your criticisms, these last 2 issues have been definitely lacking. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and even stood my ground that we should be neutral but last issue and now this have been a downgrade. The whole Scarlett Bruce relationship has been stupid and almost every scene they have together downgrades Bruce's intelligence and I am not even talking about the fact whether she is Asema or not. The simple fact that her company has something to do with this and the utter disregard Bruce has with his identity is baffling. He wasn't willing to submit to an examination because of his scars but he has no problem showing those very same scars to one of the top scientists of that company later??? And her laptop is just open by the bedside??
ReplyDeleteAlso completely agree with you on fight scenes. They simply won't let Batman win fights nowadays and it's very weird and instead have him pull feats of supernatural strength that is illogical when he shouldn't have. As if it's a problem that he bests an opponent (especially female) in combat but coming back down from the moon to earth without an spaceship? Fight a whole squad of metahumans like Bizarro bare handed? No problem. It's utterly bizarre and there is no consistency. At least before they tried to be mostly consistent with power levels.
I still liked the emotional moments of this issue and the incorporation of the Batfamily (wayyyyy better and more logical than Zdarsky's) but it's difficult to ignore the problems now. And this is coming from someone who defended this run till last issue and now this issue nosedived drastically. So I guess you saw it coming better than me for sure!
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