Batman: Detective Comics by Tom Taylor vol. 1 — Mercy of the Father
It’s too good to be true. That’s what Bruce Wayne thinks when he’s presented with Sangraal, a longevity procedure developed by Scarlett Maria Scott – a brilliant geneticist and one of the last people his mother helped directly. Scarlett is offering it to those who can afford it, people like Bruce, but Batman thinks that something like this should be shared with everyone and not just the obscenely rich. But how does it work and where does it come from? That’s what Batman wants to know and he’s not going to stop until he gets some answers. Answers that he’s not going to like, even before they connect to the death of his parents.
Tom Taylor wastes no time in trying to make his mark on the “Batman” mythos with this volume. Some writers would wait a volume or two before they tried to add a new wrinkle to the Caped Crusader’s origin. Not Taylor, though, and this would be something to celebrate if the results here weren’t a mixed bag.
The part I’m not sold on is the new connection the writer forges between Thomas Wayne and the man who murdered him and his wife, Joe Chill. While the connection is plausible, it feels like a pat bit of dramatic irony. Simple and obvious in a way that doesn’t really add anything to Batman’s origin – in fact, Taylor actually has to go out of his way to avoid it complicating things further – even as it informs the motivations of the villain of the story in this volume.
What I am sold on, however, is something that’s even more obvious that I’m ashamed I didn’t pick up on it before now. It involves the origins of Batman’s rule against killing, which has been touched on before but only in a general sense from the stories I’ve read. Here, Taylor makes the origin specific and it’s all because of his father. Thomas. Who was also a doctor.
That’s right, Batman doesn’t kill because his father was a doctor who valued all life and made sure his son understood that as well. We get to see that happen in flashback here and Taylor, along with artist Mikel Janin pull it off seamlessly. It’s possible that other writers have made this connection before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it and it makes a whole lot of sense.
It also informs the rest of the story, which I wish played out a little less straightforwardly than it does. If you’re reading this, I probably don’t need to tell you that the origins of Sangraal are bad and possibly even connected to a rash of a specific kind of serial killings that are plaguing Gotham right now. With Taylor writing it, the story unfolds with a professional smoothness, but with few surprises and at seven issues it winds up feeling at least an issue too long.
Much as the case was with “Nightwing,” the entertaining bits come from the additional details the writer adds along the way. While the flashbacks are interesting, it’s also fun to see Batman call up Superman to discuss Sangraal (and have him take a look at the knee he injured), plan strategy with the rest of the Bat-family, and see Damien get an extended spotlight where he infiltrates a corrupt juvenile detention facility. Additionally, while Taylor loves to joke about Batman’s emotional unavailability in other DC titles he’s written, that’s kept to an absolute minimum here.
What’s also as true here as it was with the writer’s previous Bat-title is that he’s working with a top-flight artistic talent. Janin has shown he can draw “Batman” really well during his time illustrating issues and arcs of Tom King’s run on that title. He delivers similarly excellent work here, maybe a little lacking in comparative detail due to the extended monthly schedule here, but it’s still striking work. From the retro stylings of the flashbacks, to the slick modern cityscapes of the present day, to the many conversations and fistfights in the story, Janin sells it all in a way that’s effortlessly stylish.
Taylor does hint at a longer-term storyline here, but only just. That leaves the story told in “Mercy of the Father” to stand on its own. Which it kind of does, but only just. It’s a predictable story that won’t surprise veteran “Batman” fans. However, it does boast a lot of entertaining details and great art, as well as an addition to the character’s origin that I liked. I think most Bat-fans will find this story fine – maybe even a little better than that. I’ll be sticking around, though, mainly because I know Taylor is capable of better and I’d like to see him deliver that on this title.