Batman: Detective Comics #10
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Artists: Ed Benes,Rob Hunter, Tomeu Morey, Szymon Kudranski, and John Kalisz
Cover Artists: Tony Salvador Daniel and Tomeu Morey
Publisher: DC
With the Night of the Owls behind us, Detective Comics is back to its regular programming, which in this case involves an army of false Batmen, a troubled relationship, Mr. Toxic, and a Hadron Collider. If that sounds like a lot, it is. The issue was fast paced and filled with a lot of scenes. And while it wasn’t terribly hard to follow or confusing, it felt like too much. Many of the scenes felt a tad rushed and probably would have been better served had they been fleshed out. Ed Benes took over for art duties for a couple of issues, and that’s both a bad and good thing. On the one hand, his art works really well with Tomeu Morey’s colors (which I don’t think work well with Tony Daniel’s art). However, as a whole, this art team’s work doesn’t work well with Daniel’s story. 3/5
Green Arrow #10
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artists: Steve Kurth, Wayne Faucher, Richard Horie, and Tanya Horie
Cover Artists: Howard Porter and HiFi
Publisher: DC
At some point in time, DC really needs to reevaluate the direction of this title and this character. The previous volume of Green Arrow was marred by the chaos that was Brightest Day. Unfortunately, this volume has no one to blame other than poor storytelling. When we last saw our title hero, he was being rescued from a machine loving psychopath and his triplet daughters. The plot was wonky and it felt disconnected from the first arc, but it did set up an interesting story in terms of what was going on in Q-Corp. This issue completely ignores that plot thread and takes us on an absurd journey about people that get turned into robots. The worst thing that happened to Green Arrow during the reboot was that he was separated from the Green Arrow clan. Speedy, Conner, Roy, Black Canary, all those characters really rounded out the character, and keeping them out of this book really hurts the title. A new creative team couldn’t hurt, either. 2/5
Swamp Thing #10
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artists: Francesco Francavilla
Cover Artists: Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn
Publisher: DC
Compared to last month’s showdown between the Rot and the Green, this month’s issue is definitely a breather, though not a boring one. After escaping the rot, Abby takes Swamp Thing to her old home, which ironically is right next to a swamp, so that he can heal and go back to being super strong and awesome. Unfortunately, Anton Arcane has been revived and is out to destroy the Green, starting with Swampy. While some readers might be put off by the lack of action, overall the issue is terrifically written, extremely well paced, and sets up the next couple of issues fantastically. Francesco Francavilla, who filled in on art duties this issue, does a remarkable job. His art works well with the story Snyder has written, as well as with the other artists who have taken up the mantle previously. 4.5/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
