Detective

by Royal McGraw, Paul Dini, J.H. Williams III, et al.

Book Overview

Paul Dini, the Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, joins with J.H. Williams III, the acclaimed artist of the Eisner... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401212395
• ISBN13: 9781401212391
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: DC Comics
• Length: 141 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.6" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

A Great Collection To Pick-up

Batman: Detective is a collection of six stories from Detective Comics #821-826, most written by Paul Dini. The first story is called 'The Beautiful People' and is about kidnappers infiltrating Gotham high society. The second story is 'E. Nigma, Consulting Detective' and features The Riddler and Batman teaming up to solve a murder. The third story 'Stalked' centers around Poison Ivy. The fourth story 'Night of the Penguin' is about Penguin's opening night of his new club, the Iceberg Lounge. The fifth story, written by Royal McGraw, is 'The Return of Dr. Phosphorous.' The last story is 'Slayride' and is about Joker taking Robin on a wild ride around Gotham at Christmastime. This was a fun collection and I liked reading the quick story lines. I think more comics should include a few of the single issue story arcs once in awhile instead of droning on into the next overreaching plot. Again, this was an excellent trade and I would like more of this storytelling from others.

Own This! Do yourself a favor

If you like Batman in the "Year One" tradition, or the Dennis O'Neil "Shaman" or Jim Starlin style then get this book. Paul Dini is great. Possibly the best Batman writer of recent times. I can't say enough good about it. Get this and then get Batman: Death and the City

Blast from the past

It is refreshing and encouraging to see that, in this day and age of the arc, single issue stories, as evidenced by this trade and the monthly Detective Comics from which it was comprised, can still be a viable and entertaining format in the comic industry. Critics will argue that this approach allows for little depth and characterization, and their points are valid. Despite these inherent limitations, they can be an effective way to tell an enjoyable, albeit brief tale, and with that in mind who better to employ for this format than Batman, who can effectively be written in short stories battling antagonists from everyday criminals to brief encounters with his great rogues gallery. To offset the obvious problem that limited pages creates, it is imperative to have a fairly wordy script with a relatively high panel count in order to give some substance to the tale. No decompression allowed here folks. Every word and scene must be able to carry its' own weight and have relevance, which is exactly how any story of any length should be told anyways, but rarely are in these times of extending and padding in order to fill up a graphic novel. This was the bread and butter of DC's heyday during the Silver Age, and while times and methods of storytelling have certainly changed over the years, it is one of the strengths from that era that should be further studied, explored, and emulated. All that is missing is a backup feature starring the Elongated Man. What a blast from the past that would be.

Batman back to Basics.

This is a collection of stories from the "One Year Later" portion of DC's continuity. The collection contains 6 separate story's from the pages of Detective Comics. What makes this book special is that you don't need to have read the last 10 years of DC TPBs to fully understand and enjoy the story. It brings Batman back to his roots, not sulking around rehashing his psyche, but solving crimes in a way which reminds the reader why Ra's al Ghul calls him "The Detective". All in all a great read, for the casual reader and the enthusiast alike.

Paul Dini strikes Gold!

Despite not having long story arcs (think mini stories within a tradepaper back), it harkens back to the charm and great story telling of Dini's (and Timm's) old Batman animated series. My favorite story would be Riddler's, and his little partnership with Batman. Honestly, it's cute in a manly way without being too cheesey. Only Dini can pull that off and for that, I applaud him.