Review: Detective Comics #1085

‘Crescendo Part 2’ feels like a misstep in an otherwise promising storyline set up in the previous issue. Batman’s personal vendetta against the Orghams seemingly outweighs his mission to save Gotham from their evil control. It’s starting to feel like a “Bruce Wayne revenge tour” rather than a heroic crusade.

Catwoman seeks out Joker to try & stir up some chaos, while Batman seeks out the Maestro and Mr. Freeze for different parts of his own plan. It all raises questions about the ends justifying the means. When you need to enlist the aid of villains, can your end-goal still be considered heroic?

The art team delivers solid work. Stefano Raffaele provides really cool designs for Batman’s new HQ & the scene with Freeze. Lee Loughridge’s colors are sharp w/ unique color palettes that help each scene stand out. Ariana Maher’s lettering is helpful to keep the various speakers & transitions in order.

The backup story, written by Alek Paknadel & illustrated by Christopher Mitten, w/ colors by Triona Farrell, & lettering by Steve Wands, had potential to add depth to Mr. Freeze’s actions, but ultimately felt inconsequential.

We’ve only got a few more issues on Ram V’s ‘Tec run & it doesn’t feel like we’re picking up the pace at all. This is still a slow drip of building drama that would make more sense at the start of a run, but here it feels like we’re starting to run out of time.

Rating: 6/10