Batman: Detective Comics vol. 6 — Fall of the Batmen

With a title like that you’d figure that you’re in for a real bummer of a read, right?  Well, in order to actually be depressed about the “Fall of the Batmen” depicted here you’d have to have some kind of emotional investment in the characters’ struggle up to this point.  As James Tynion’s run so far has been the very definition of by-the-book, I found this volume’s efforts to showcase a real Bat-tragedy decidedly lacking. In fact, only one of the “Batmen” experiences a real fall here and it’s not really even his fault.  That’s because when the Victim Syndicate (ugh) make their move, their first act is to remove the bracelet that’s been allowing Clayface to transform back into Basil Karlo and to control his emotional state as well. Without the bracelet, Clayface is back to full-on villain mode and becomes a city-wide threat once he gets his hands on the extra mud that Batman has been keeping for him.

I’ll admit that the efforts to reform Clayface and the character’s relationship with Cassandra Cain have been the most interesting things about this run so far.  To see them come to an end here in a way that renders it all a zero-sum game is, to say the least, disappointing. To say more would be to mention that Clayface’s fall really feels like a cut-rate version of Kid Miracleman’s iconic rampage through London right down to the finale.  (If you haven’t read any of “Miracleman” yet then please go out and read it now and stop wasting your time with this title.) Everything else about this volume, from the happy reunion to resigned parting between Red Robin and Spoiler, to Batwoman’s means-y/ends-y way of handling the situation plays out exactly as you’d expect.  I did like how the villainous alliance between Anarky and the First Victim didn’t play to my expectations, but that wasn’t nearly enough to outweigh the overriding predictability of this volume. Toss in art from several different artists that’s competent but not very distinctive and you have a penultimate volume that makes me consider selling the previous volumes and picking up the final in digital form (when it’s on sale) because I really don’t think this run is worthy of a place on my shelf anymore.