The Depths Of The Batman’s Mind – Detective Comics #999 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Batman faces a younger Bruce Wayne in the control center which ostensibly controls the monsters which he’s faced these past few days. The Dark Knight doesn’t understand how all of this could be happening, but the child Bruce Wayne isn’t hesitant to attack the Caped Crusader. What is happening, and is there a way for the Batman to stop it all?
Detective Comics #999 is a comic that seeks to remind you that, for all of his faults, fears, and heroism, Bruce Wayne/Batman is still completely freaking insane.
I’m not sure if that’s the intended message of the comics–in fact, I’m pretty sure it isn’t–but that’s the final evaluation one could and, perhaps, should easily get from the big revelation at midway point of this book.
Also, the story resolves itself here, so don’t expect it to carry over to Detective Comics #1000.
As far as the reveal itself goes, a good recent comparison is Charles Soule’s and Phil Noto’s The Death of Daredevil story from a couple of months back.
Detective Comics #999 is deflating in a way that story wasn’t, though. The twist in this comic just reminds you, as I already said, that Bruce Wayne is insane. It doesn’t really give a dramatic gut punch in the same way.
On the bright side, Doug Mahnke’s artwork is still brilliant, and it drives home how unnerving some of the plot elements of this story are. In fact, it is the main hint that Peter J. Tomasi and Mahnke might be in on the joke to a point. David Baron’s color work is bleak and absorbing too, which does wonders for the tone.
Detective Comics #999 is a flawed finale for sure, but it has its appealing aspects. The artwork is great, and taking the absolute insanity of Bruce Wayne as the moral of the story does add an entertaining layer to the book. I can give it a recommendation; feel free to pick it up.
Detective Comics #999 comes to us from writer Peter J. Tomasi, artist Doug Manhke, inkers Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, and Jaime Mendoza, color artist David Baron, letterer Rob Leigh, cover artist Mahnke with Mendoza and Baron, and variant cover artist John Byrne with Trish Mulvihill.