Detective Comics #27

Detective Comics #27

The mega-sized anniversary issue. No, not the Golden-Age issue. For those who don’t know, Batman made his first appearance in original Detective Comics #27 back in 1939. That comic went for 10 cents back in 1939 and is estimated to have a value of $300,000 today (#Com-Economics). With the New 52 reboot under the same name, it’s only fitting to do an anniversary issue on #27 as well. It’s kind of 75 years later. Yes, Batman/Bruce Wayne is ¾ of a century years old and is still kicking ass. The cover price of this giant issue is $7.99 and contains 7 short stories all in one issue. Similar to a Batman Black and White style of short stories but this one is meant to highlight Batman’s evolution in the past 75 years. And it’s in color. It is a can’t-miss for your Batman collection. Deanpool doesn’t have many comics from the New 52 Detective Comics series (only issue #1 and a couple others), but this one was an easy choice for this week. Keep in mind, the review for this issue won’t contain full comparisons to much of the Golden Age, Silver Age, or even Bronze Age works that this issue pays homage to since Deanpool himself haven’t read many of those. But we’ll do our best to give an honest review with the background knowledge we have.

Not to be confused with this classic treasure.

The first story is a retelling of the Golden Age Batman story in “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate.” The original story was told with action and mystery and the surprise twist that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one in the same. With the assumption that the readers would obviously equate the two as the same person, the story focused more on Batman’s monologue explaining his drive and motivation to be Batman. The end of this story also incorporates a classic Batman villain into the mix that loyal Batman readers would recognize.

This may be familiar to long-time Batman readers, and perhaps Red Hood fans?

Another story, “Better Days,” tells a more light-hearted story that blends some of the classic “post-Batman” stories such as Dark Knight Returns, Batman Beyond, Damian: Son of Batman. Bruce Wayne is celebrating his 75^th birthday and his appearance looks very much like the Bruce Wayne drawn in Dark Knight Returns. There are appearances by an aged Nightwing and Red Robin (Dick Grayson and Tim Drake), Damian Wayne in the Batman costume, Barbara Gordon (ex-Batgirl), and the almost senile butler, Alfred, in a wheelchair. Where’s Jason at?! A nice moment is shared with Bruce and Damian as Bruce mentions that it’s nice to see Damian present for his birthday (Deanpool is eager and hopeful that this shows signs of a return for Damian soon). Bruce also approaches Barbara and comments on how Gotham wouldn’t be right without a Gordon as commissioner. It’s a nice glimpse into the future for fans to see still see a Batman alongside Nightwing and Red Robin, and Barbara continuing to fight crime even without the Batgirl suit. Bruce mentions that he hopes he has many more years to come so that he can always keep watch over his Bat family. When the Bat signal goes off, the team is off to perform their Bat duties as Gotham’s protector, without Bruce Wayne. However, when Alfred dozes off, the aged, elderly Bruce Wayne break the cane that he looked so dependent upon and slip on the Batman suit as a birthday treat for himself. He does his typical Batman duties around Gotham and explains that it is simply what he loves doing and will never stop doing it. He returns before the Bat-cave before the others as they inform him that Gotham had a record-high number of arrests that night with rumors of people claiming it was because of Batman. Yet they’ll probably never suspect Bruce of slipping into this Batman guise.

Nice to see not much changes in the future.

Have you ever seen Bruce so happy?

Oh, the feelings in this story.

“Sacrifice” is a story that can be considered a shortened equivalent to Flashpoint or Flashpoint Paradox (if you’ve seen the movie instead). Batman is seen at his parent’s graves wondering what could’ve been had his parents still been alive. The Phantom Stranger is there to grant him this reality so that he may see what life could be like if his parents hadn’t died that night in Crime Alley. In the alternate reality, when placed in the same situation with the man attempting to rob the Wayne’s at gunpoint, little Bruce Wayne jumps to the rescue pushing the armed robber. His father takes a shot to the arm but manages to capitalize on the opportunity created by his son and beats the man to protect his family. When commenting on his gunshot wound in his arm he tells his wife, “Like I’ve told Bruce when playing chess, sometimes sacrifices are needed.” From here the story takes a very predictable course. While this may bother others, Deanpool believes it is still a story fitting for this issue and one fans will enjoy. Bruce Wayne is next seen sitting in a family room in Wayne Manor surrounded by family. His parents, his wife (go find out for yourself who it is, Deanpool doesn’t want to give it away), and even a son named Thomas Wayne the Second. But is this the life Bruce wanted? A life where he doesn’t become Gotham’s protector? He steps outside to see that criminals and gangs run Gotham’s streets. Dr. Wayne tells Bruce that as the criminals became more violent, Gotham has become a more dangerous place. In the panel of this explanation, a gang war is shown with one side wearing Joker masks and the other wearing Scarecrow masks. But the Wayne’s are safe in the manor. Bruce already sees what Gotham has become without the Batman and it is even explained that Commissioner Jim Gordon did all he could until the criminals made him a quadriplegic. In the panel, Barbara is shown at her father’s bedside. This alternate reality shows the clever difference of Jim becoming the quadriplegic as opposed to Barbara becoming one at the hands of the Joker. But the one that finally broke Bruce was seeing Richard Grayson on the news being charged for murder. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and someone Bruce cared for very deeply, almost as much as he would for a son, was charged for murdering the man that had killed his own parents. Without

Bruce’s guidance, Dick went down a very different path to deal with death of his parents. Bruce realizes he can’t let this be reality and tells his son to go tell the rest of his family he loves them very much. He then calls the Phantom Stranger to place him back into his own reality, he has seen enough and understands that the sacrifice he needs to make is that of his parents. Phantom Stranger places Bruce back at Crime Alley next to his fallen parents but leaves the reader with the idea that the sacrifice that Bruce made isn’t only that of his parents, but the sacrifice he makes of himself. He sacrifices the reality he always wished for his parents live, to continue to put on the cowl and the cape to protect Gotham. Sure it’s predictable, sure The Flash did the same thing, but it still left Deanpool remembering what makes Batman so unique.

Nice looking suit Batman.

Then there’s the “Gothopia” storyline. This is the first installment of a 3-part story that will continue on to the next Detective Comics issue. Yes, with all the anniversary mini-stories, they still decided to include an actual story that still has the same length of a normal issue within all of this. And with it being the first of a 3-parter, it’s the only story that is left without an ending. Deanpool still doesn’t understand why this couldn’t have waited to just be put on Detective Comics #28, but it happened anyways. Most likely, the publishers knew that all Batman fans would be eager to get this and wanted to hold over new readers to continue to pick up Detective Comics issues. Gothopia = Gotham + utopia (an imagined place where everything is perfect). A Gotham city all-time low crime rates and all-time low unemployment? If this doesn’t sound like a contradiction, you may not fully understand the city of Gotham. Poison Ivy is seen running through the streets screaming, “It’s all a lie!” Gotham’s protector steps in and intervenes before things get worse… but with Catwoman as his partner/sidekick? Actually, she’s not even Catwoman, her name is Catbird. They hand Ivy over to Commissioner Sionis, who is more popularly known in the Batman world as crimelord Black Mask. Later on, we see Batman and Catbird being greeted by Gotham and its mayor, Mayor Cobblepot aka The Penguin. Yeah, something is clearly wrong in this fantasy world. Thanks to Batman’s brilliant deductions, he figures out that what Ivy was shouting in the beginning had some truth to it, it’s all a lie!

Batman realizing the chemical
compounds mixed in his blood.

He analyzes his own blood and a thorn from Poison Ivy and realizes his blood has been mixed with multiple chemical compounds that have forced him to believe in this fantasy world. Catbird and other variations of the Batfamily (Bluebelle, Gothamite, Flying Fox [probably meant to be Luke Fox aka Bat-Wing]) confront Batman, telling him that he is as crazy as Poison Ivy and must be detained. Batman submits to avoid hurting his friends with the bigger picture in mind to win the war rather than just winning the battle. He’s taken to an institution that is run by Dr. Crane (aka Scarecrow), who Batman now suspects is behind all the hallucinations. Duh, Batman. Anything hallucinations related usually always leads back to Scarecrow… or Poison Ivy, or Mad Hatter, or some crazy Joker gas. Okay never mind. Anyways, there are times throughout the story where the panel will flip from the sunny background of this utopic Gotham to the rainy, dark reality of Gotham. And the end we see Dr. Crane and the other doctors at the institution become Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Harley Quinn in what looks like a sewer or some abandoned building. Other Bat titles are tied-in to this story arc, but it’s still not obvious who is all involved in this story. Do the other Bat characters know what’s going on or are they under the same spell? Will any of them be as strong-willed as Batman and realize what’s really going on? What are the villain’s motivations in all this? Kill Batman? Rule Gotham? Who are all the villains actually involved, or who’s the mastermind? Only two more parts left to explain it all. Doesn’t play much in the tribute to Batman like the other stories intend to do and would’ve been perfect fine as its own issue. It builds a story, sets up the problem, but didn’t do a lot in encouraging readers to pick up the other tie-ins.

This partnership should already have Batman readers uneasy.

“Twenty-Seven” was a story written by Scott Snyder, the writer of the current, and popular, Batman run. He tackles the idea of Batman’s legacy in a far, far dystopian future. In his story, Bruce Wayne managed to find a way to leave a part of himself in a clone-like way that will take over as Batman every 27 years. At the 25^th year of each Bruce Wayne, if Gotham still needs a Batman figure, a new one will be made/woken up since the process requires two years. They all start with the memory of the night of Bruce sitting in his study in the Wayne Manor and taking the oath to be Batman. That’s how this story starts as we see a new Bruce Wayne being woken up by an older Bruce Wayne who explains to this Bruce (and to the readers) of how the first Batman came up with this idea. At the end of the 27^th year, that Bruce Wayne will die, and the new one will continue on as Gotham’s Batman. It really is an interesting take on the Batman mythos and throughout this story we see panels of different Batman’s wearing different suits with different technology as they all adapt to the villains that threaten Gotham. There’s even a giant panel of a building-sized Batman mech suit fighting another mech or some sort of giant robot that look like Pacific Rim or Power Rangers megazords.

The older Bruce tells the younger one that when he dies to get rid of everything that is currently in the Bat-cave in order make room for what this younger Bruce will fill it with. He’ll have his own villains and his own allies. The younger Bruce sees a Joker card posted up on the wall and questioned who that card belonged to. The older Bruce simply responded, “You’ll learn soon. We all do.” The idea that for every Batman, there was a Joker to be a villain leaves the feeling that Gotham can never be without Batman. Even when the younger Bruce thought of running and turning down this responsibility of being Batman, as he began to exit he was immediately pulled back in when a distress signal was sent out from the Gotham Police Dept. This new Batman was about to start his first of 27 years. Deanpool really enjoyed this story and wonders if this has any implications to where Snyder hopes to take the Batman series.

Different Bruce's. New threats, new Robin's. All Batman.

The other two stories didn’t affect Deanpool as much as the ones explained above. One titled “Hero” was too short to leave any impressions, unless something totally flew over Deanpool’s head.

The other one,"Old School,"Deanpool had to look up a bit to gain more insight on it. It starts off with a Silver-Age throwback layout. Simple panels, old school coloring and artwork. Batman and Robin are seen taking on villain after villain as they appear but then goes on to a weird a loop when he confronts Scarecrow and is put through a hallucination of his parent’s death. This of course, the defining moment in Bruce’s life that motivates him to be Batman. He is next see in front of many of his popular villains from the Bronze Age as they tell him to be what they want him to be and to bear the weight of their sins and fears. This is Batman's immortal burden. And then he wakes up in a bookstore? Surrounded by comic readers and fans of all ages, he ends this story wondering if these people know what he's been through. After giving it some thought and some research, it became a bit clearer that this story was a clever commentary on Batman’s evolution over the years to reflect what the readers wanted to see. Don’t think Deanpool would’ve figured that one out by himself, but it’s definitely apparent after giving it a second read. There's tidbits throughout the story that hint at Batman needing to evolve to stay alive and to appease the readers by becoming what the readers want him to become, no matter the consequences. It's subtle, and quite ingenious once you understand its intentions.

Detective Comics #27 is a great tribute to the history of Batman with stories that touch upon different aspects of the Batman mythos. It’s an inflated cover price, but it is one that deserves to be read to remind readers of the long history of Batman. The stories are clever and are filled with a wide array of talent. Multiple writers, multiple artists, all Batman. Deanpool loved this issue, despite the “Gothopia” being the weaker story for this anniversary issue, and gives it a 9/10 and also the award of Pick of the Week.

As Deanpool looks back at the history of Batman,
Batman is looking back to his college days as Bruce Wayne.
Batman in the making practically.