Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Detective Comics #864

By Dan Horn
April 28, 2010 - 22:54

The artistic team, writer David Hine and artist Jeremy Haun, behind the 2009 Arkham Reborn miniseries from DC comics reintroduces the crazies to Detective Comics.

As Jeremiah Arkham, aka the newest incarnation of the Black Mask and former asylum psychologist, settles into his new role as an inmate inside Arkham's padded walls, he realizes the great potential he has to manipulate the other lunatics locked up with him. Meanwhile, a financier whom Jeremiah's Black Mask persona blackmailed by way of a surgically inserted explosive forces Batman to make a judgment call: go toe-to-toe with Arkham when the madman has the home field advantage or let a fellow Gothamite die.

This first of two parts in Hine's "Beneath the Mask" arc sets readers up for a mind-bending psychological thrill ride. With a keen sense of Arkham's mental malady already established, David Hine reeks pure cerebral havoc in this suspenseful narrative.

Hine is in fine form and Haun's artwork is, as always, a great accompaniment to the scribe's dark storytelling. This story is a refreshing break from Greg Rucka's run on Detective, but this story isn't yet a worthy replacement, per se, for Rucka's acclaimed Batwoman saga.

Rucka also offers his Question featurette in this issue, pitting the Question and Huntress against the seemingly unbeatable Vandal Savage.

Rating: 8.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12