Emphasis on "Detective"
Easily the most misunderstood of the new 52's bat books, detective comics returns to the more isolated, shorter story arcs that have little to no effect on going continuity. I think the main reason this title is getting left behind critically is because people simply don't know what to do with it. A new villain, a much different take on the joker, and a loner batman, goes a long way to convince this reviewer that even if the story is supposed to take place in "present day" continuity it reads much better as a early batman story.
That little note out of the way, there is no reason one can't enjoy this story for what it is, a noir-ish murder mystery with no messy continuity threads to worry about. For myself, on the heels of years of complex and intricate batman arcs it felt like a nice break and my oh my, its a beautiful diversion as Tony Daniel has outdone himself on the art. Expressive and colorful, the art for this book is a moody feast for the eyes and drives home a excellent mystery tale featuring one of the most creative batman villains featured in recent years.
Issue #3 builds the story toward a climax, the true motivation of the menacing doll maker hinted at, as well as the involvement in the murderous joker. While issue #1 was setup, and #2 focused on playboy bruce, Cold Blood gives us the detective work and showdowns one always looks forward to in a good batman yarn, and few have looked better.
I love the batman mythos, but sometimes its nice to see him work alone, not having to share the spotlight with other heroes, or play father-figure to any number of hopeful students. Tony Daniel is giving us old fashioned Batman mysteries, and so far he's done a damn fine job.
