![]() ![]() Francavilla's art normally gives me a feeling of happiness but seeing the way he drew James Jr and the colors mixed in gave such a disturbing feeling, even if he was innocently smiling. With their different styles, each added a copious amount of detail and fully captured the mood and vibe Snyder's script called for. I'm not normally a fan of collected stories having multiple artists but both Jock and Francesco Francavilla made a superb story even better. Great stories are complimented even further when they are accompanied by great art. Because there still might be those that haven't read the arc, I won't go into specifics and spoil things but doing things like bringing back the crowbar that Joker used to killed Jason Todd, re-introducing James Gordon Jr in a completely unexpected fashion or even giving us a different take on the Joker are just some of what makes this book stand out. It's the way he did it that made it remarkable. He introduced some concepts and character development that didn't seem as if they should be allowed. Snyder also did the unthinkable in some ways. We've seen stories where we know that 'anything goes' but with Snyder, that truly was the case. There is always a hidden layer of darkness beneath an already dark surface. Snyder has the ability to fully tell a story on many different levels. I have to admit I wasn't aware of Snyder's writing prior but immediately became a fan and raved about DETECTIVE COMICS each month on our podcast when a new issue was released. The second major thing this arc showed us was how great of a writer Scott Snyder was. Dick was finally growing into the type of hero that Gotham City required. It helped that we had an extremely dark story that Dick was immersed in. His actions and behavior became a little darker as he moved and spoke the way Bruce would. You could get the sense that Dick finally got over the fun of it and evolved into becoming Batman. It was Scott Snyder's depiction of Dick as Batman that made it believable. I always felt this was because he was caught up in the thrill of actually being Batman. We saw him jumping around more (because of his acrobatic fighting style) and even cracking a smile on several occasions. It was difficult to accept Dick as Batman. In his early stories dressed as Batman, it never felt right. The logical choice was Dick, even though he didn't feel it was what he was meant to do. When Bruce Wayne was thought to have died, there was a question of who, if anyone, should step in and take his place as the Dark Knight. The first deals with Dick Grayson finally showing he was worthy to wear the cowl of Batman. ![]() Besides the surprise of how good the stories were, it is responsible for establishing many important things. ![]() This final run of DETECTIVE COMICS before DC relaunched the DC Universe with 'The New 52' was a surprise on many levels. Despite owning each individual issue, I knew halfway through the arc that it would be one I would have to own in hardcover. There are many great Batman stories being told but this arc stood out from the rest. Without a doubt, Batman: The Black Mirror was one of my favorite story arcs this year. ![]()
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