Review: Detective Comics #1082

Batman's psychological/hallucinatory journey through Dr. Hurt's trial continues to struggle as standalone issues, though hopefully it will read better as a collected edition. The story itself seems to be wandering for answers just as much as Batman is. Ram V hasn't shown his full hand for this story yet and its a bit frustrating as it feels like we're swirling in this final arc in Ram V's run on 'Tec. The art by Riccardo Federici in this portion of the book is some of the best ethereal horror imagery you'll ever see. The visuals of demonic clowns which made up this version of Gotham were creepy as hell!

I'm really enjoying the other half of the main story. In this issue, we find The Question teaming up with Cassandra Cain as we see how much Gotham is devolving under the Orghams rule. Cassandra's entry gives readers hope that there is still some form of resistance trying to fight back and I'm excited to see how this unfolds. Stefano Raffaele's art matches the tone of these sequences with a gritty, frenetic style that looks amazing. I loved the use of 9-panel pages mixed in with some bigger splash panels to help establish pacing.

The backup story by Dan Watters had a lot to like and helps build up Dr. Hurt as a truly evil villain who uses mind-control for enjoyment. For a shorter backup, the the pacing was excellent and built up a level of suspense to keep you hooked. The art in this backup was a great homage to classic horror comics and looked awesome.

Ratings:
6/10 (main Batman story)
9/10 (The Question + backup stories & all of the art)