Review: Batman: Detective Comics #1 (Daniel)

The Joker kills without prejudice. No man, woman or child is safe while the deranged murderer prowls the streets of Gotham. That's why one man takes to the streets, nightly stalking this devil, so that one day — Gotham's pain can be washed away.

Besides the Flashpoint tie-in, which was AMAZING, I haven't read a Batman tale since Judd Winick's Under the Hood. Everything just seemed too convoluted, too contradictory for me to even care about such a great character that I loved as a child. But Tony Daniel's first offering of a Batman solo tale in the DCnU has utterly blown me away!

Though there are new concepts, is Alfred really just a computer hologram? It is the ease in which Daniel settles the reader into a comfy niche of well known Batman concepts that makes this such a great read. You get classic Batman vs. Joker battles, a veritable whose who of secondary characters and the freshness of starting new that leaves the story wide open for virtually anything to happen. And in concordance of being a Detective book, Daniel delivers us a mystery that by final panel — will have you second guessing just why you ate so much for lunch! EWWWW! 

Not just a prose story teller, Daniel has drawn a spectacular tale, as well. I am blown away by the complete attention to detail in both page layouts and as an all encompassing tale. It is something that is rarely seen in the market these days and at this level of precision — even rarer!

With hints of Miller's Batman: Year One and a seasoning of Loeb and Sale's A Long Halloween, Daniel's take on the Caped Crusader is bound to be a classic. With one issue out, he has already brought on one more Batman reader into the fold — the DOC! Pick this up and become a fan all over again!