Batman – Detective Comics, Volume 7 by Francis Manapul

Buccellato's Endgame issue isn't especially notable except for starring Machin - and, coincidentally I think, about half the cast of the post- Rebirth Detective Comics - but that he gets center stage surely means something for the future (I also thought it was nicely against trope that Buccellato didn't give Machin a lot of angst for his mother working in a strip club).īut the real star of Buccellato and Manapul's Detective run so far has been Harvey Bullock the writers take advantage of James Gordon's circumstances in Batman Eternal to bring Bullock to the forefront. That Machin has an untold past with Matches Malone was unexpected, and it's a story that begs to be told in a sequel - which, with the writers leaving Detective shortly after this, probably won't happen, but it's fodder for other writers to play with. The writers also demonstrate that Machin isn't in the story just for name recognition, as they create an entire backstory for him and also devote the entirety of the Detective Comics: Endgame special to him. It's even better that all turns out not to be what it seems and that Mad Hatter is sort-of behind it (or at least his technology) the writers certainly leave it open-ended that someone else, including Machin, could take on the guise of Anarky in the future. Neither fact concerned me, since I'm eager to see writers do their own thing in the (now-ended) New 52, and since the concept of a Purge-like anonymous crime spree in Gotham is quite riveting. The writers continue their spotlight on Harvey Bullock, and the Bullock-centricness of this run might be its chief selling point.īuccellato and Manapul completely reimagine the concept of Alan Grant's Anarky Lonnie Machin here there's an Anarky, but he's not Machin, and there's also Machin, but he's not Anarky.

7: Anarky is enjoyable and well-paced, with an intriguing mystery at the center, and uses a couple of Bat-foes strongly. Nonetheless, following the last volume's equally 'street level' tale, Batman: Detective Comics Vol.

As is often the case, Detective Comics ends up the title with the least going on on another day, Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul's tale of an 'Occupy Gotham' uprising might be notable, but in comparison it's downright tame. Just before the Convergence break there's clearly a lot going on in the Batman-verse - Endgame in the main title, side-by-side with cosmic shenanigans in Batman and Robin, not to mention Batman Eternal reaching its apex.

Batman – Detective Comics, Volume 7 by Francis Manapul