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07/05/2003: comic rec: Detective Comics #784
A new three parter starts in this issue: Made of Wood, written by Ed Brubaker, pencils by Patrick Zircher, inks by Aaron Sowd. As a sidenote, can anyone explain to me this newfangled idea that it's a good thing to put the title at the end of the story instead of at the beginning? Personally I find this annoying, I keep waiting for the opening section to end during the first couple of pages, for a page with the title, a splash page, or whatever, and it never comes.
This minor quibble aside, I thought Detective Comics #784 was a great issue. I'm really curious about the unfolding mystery, that somehow involves the first Green Lantern and started 40 years ago. (I don't really know anything about the first Green Lantern, that didn't hinder my enjoyment, but I can't judge how well all this fits with his continuity, either, however I had a quick look at a Green Lantern biography afterwards to satisfy some of my curiosity about the character.) Anyway, the suspense building worked very well for me. The story also has great character moments between Batman and Jim Gordon (who's back from Europe), as well as parts that focus on each of them. I like the scenes that that explore a bit how James Gordon deals with his retirement, for example.
I like Zircher's art a lot too, especially the views of Gotham City, both the scenic ones as well as the city's details. I think I like it because he makes it feel like Gotham not just by putting looming gargoyles everywhere. As much as I like the gargoyles, they get ridiculous if they're totally overdone, and every building has a like dozen or so. Here, Gotham looks like real architecture and still like Gotham at the same time.
