Detective Comics #21

Detective Comics 21 did something most Batman books don’t do, it made me cheer, punch the air in excitement, then feel warm and fuzzy. It wasn’t hard to do. John Layman made Batman the superhero do what I want a superhero to do; save the day and touch the lives of normal people, well, if they really existed, then wrap it up with a positive human moment.

So this issue is, for me, John Layman expertly charts out what a superhero should be. Of course, Batman being Batman, we get a little bit of sadness in the background. In this case, it is a conveniently young and beautiful assassin Bruce met in an earlier episode of his life. Of course he didn’t know she was an assassin until it was too late. Being young and attracted to each other, they fell in love but it was not meant to be. But events put them on a collision course and Bruce thought that he had killed her. (Thank god the ham handed, artistic versions of a monkey play with his feces that is The Dark Knight team of writer and editor did not get near this.) So Bruce thinks Mio died, life goes on, and we end up back in Gotham.

However, the highlight of the book is another young woman in Bruce’s life: Harper Row. She captured the audience’s attention in the issue immediately after the Court of Owls in Batman. Now she shows up in Detective and gives us more of the same reasons many of us wanted to see more of her right away. She is the kind of character we cheer for. She is young and resilient. She protects her brother, lifts herself up by her bootstraps, then wants to help Batman because he protects those who can’t fight back. So that she will fit into the Bat universe, she is clever and quick witted, and able to use her understanding of electricity to protect herself and help Batman.

So of course, Harper is at it again. Never mind that Bruce doesn’t want her there. As gruff and controlling as he is, he honestly does not want her to get hurt. But Harper doesn’t listen, so in this book, she is back on the case. And she is staking out a big event at Wayne Tower with her brother just in case Batman needs her. And who should show up? No one dies in comic books unless you are a poor innocent bystander or a child. (DC has serious issues in its top editors.) So two of the women in Batman’s life come together.

Mio is not much of a character in this book and her ending is a mystery to Batman but not the reader. Remember what we know about comic book characters? But Harper saves the day along with her pal from before, Alfred. That is one of the best parts of the Harper development in Batman and Detective. Alfred has a touching, older gentleman fondness for the rough around the edges Harper and defends her in discussions with Bruce. Think back to Alfred’s interaction with Harper at the Gala at Wayne manner. In this issue, Alfred is talking only to Bruce but you get the sense that he has a fondness for this young woman and her determination to help and her self-sufficiency in a tough neighborhood. It is rather endearing.

Then the final scene is the “all right!” moment when Batman meets Harper again His attitude toward her has evolved and you are left wondering how that relationship will continue. Not that it is one yet. But he isn’t the over bearing parent anymore. As this goes, our hopes are that Harper keeps being Harper and shows up in more books.

Detective doesn’t have the over bearing Operatic nature of Snyder’s Batman or the interesting Villain-ography that inevitably descends into an over the top grindhouse gratuitous blood fest of Hurwitz’s TDK. It has a great her feel. Batman is tough and distant, but not a anti-hero demigod. Alfred is wonderfully captured as the wise and wry butler that is as much a guide and sage as a helper. And we get other characters that are more than just props that bring the next set of body parts and blood splashes into the next panel. Altogether, this was a triumph and one of my favorite superhero books in some time. Highest Recommendation.