Most people liked the first issue of this comic. I didn't. I called it empty and devoid of any real plot, and it looks like in an ironic way I was correct, since even this issue doesn't bother addressing its existence. Everything you need to know about the Dark Detective is here, including a retrospective "origin story", which begs the question - was #1 an afterthought of sorts, written when the rest of the series was already done? Or was it created with the core thought of being a #0 while this book is the actual #1? I have no clue, but what I know is, you can confidently skip #1 and you won't lose absolutely anything.

For once there's some story and mystery here - something #1 was completely lacking. It may not be the most engaging and complex story, but it works. There are three corporations behind fascist militia in Gotham, and Bruce has to find out what's really going on. For once the title lives up to its name and features some, any, detective work (take notes, Detective Comics!), which I welcome.

Some minor plotlines get set up, some slight world bulding is done, and overall the comic is something I could absolutely recommend. What lowers my score from a possible 6.5/10 down to just 5/10 is the additional tale featuring Red Hood and Rose Wilson. Long story short, it sucks.
I don't know what was Joshua Williamson thinking, but half of his comic is completely hollow and features little to no text whatsoever, and then the remaining half tries to drown you in exposition and dialogues. Seriously, it all could have been executed way, way better, more even and engaging, because as it is now, you turn the half empty pages one after another, giving each less than 5 seconds of attention, just to find a wall of text you get bored with halfway, since, well, it is boring, what can I say? Shocking, considering how experienced Williamson is as a writer. more

this is not a comic i would recommend.
present and past tense jump back and forth for no reason. it tries to be noir, but ends up feeling random and jarring.
the plot is contrived, the story is very decompressed. much of this should have been in the first issue. this is a lot of nothing just spread thin.

not entertaining in the least. even the art seems to have taken a step down. more

I guess I expected more from one of the biggest comics in the entirety of Future State. It's Bruce Wayne, guys, of course it must be a big book, right? Right?
Well, it's not. Not really. It contains some action, but when you think about it clearly, with no excitement, anger or any emotion for that matter, you're going to realize it's... empty. It has no beginning, it has no middle, it has no end. It's like a figment, or even better, a bubble, existing on its own and not really impacting anything.

We know that Bruce Wayne is a wanted man from the get go, and we see him dealing with this situation til the end. And that's pretty much it - there's no background information we get, no reasons, no explanations, no causality. Just Bruce being broken, poor and on the run, like we've never seen that before, and a bunch of faceless fascist militiants popping out of nowhere to shoot at him whenever the plot demands them to.

In comparison, Grifter's additional story is pretty fun to read and does right what Dark Detective gets wrong. For starters, Cole interacts with the world - we can see that Gotham is bigger than him. There's always more challenges waiting for him around every corner, there are people living there. And while overall it may not be anything close to an outstanding comic, it is, as I said, a fun, entertaining read. It captures your attention and doesn't let go until the last page and its cliffhanger. For once a supplementary comic outshines the main one, I think. Last Week's The Next Batman suffered from the exactly opposite syndrome - the main comic was darn good, but the addons, freebies you could say, were pretty weak to say the least. more

very decompressed.
no actual information is given.
there's no stakes to invest in.
nice art though.

one Batman story i can never get tired of re-reading.
very well written (though not entirely perfect) there's a few glaring things i wasn't thrilled about. this is still a fantastic story, and worthy of being called essential reading.

all the scenes with Gordon facing the corruption withing the GCPD are very well written. Det. Flass is probably one of the best antagonist characters that Miller has ever come up with.

there aren't nearly enough scenes with Bruce Wayne/Batman to be honest. though when he finally does appear he's great! though Miller's Batman takes himself a little too seriously. Miller did his best to try to kill of the last remaining remnants of fun of the Bronze age Batman to usher in the Modern age version of the character. not a good choice, if you ask me.

Miller also really doesn't utilize Alfred or his charms. this is a shame, because there lies a great dynamic, and character for Bruce to play off of. Miller going too heavy with his grimdark version of Batman. "CAN'T HAVE NO FUN! THAT WOULDN'T BE EDGY!"

i also really wish that Frank Miller hadn't turned Selina into a dominatrix. it's very degrading to her character.

other than those points, the art is absolutely magnificent!
it has a pulpy gritty Noir feel, that's the right blend of realism and cartoonish.
the colors are also spectacular.

if you can, get the old Deluxe Edition. the fairly recent release had the colors muddied. more

I really don't like anthologies, so I'm not expecting much from this. But hopefully it's not too bad.

Blowback was okay. It doesn't really do much besides reiterate Batman's rogues gallery, which is... Fine. I liked the art at least.

The Master Class was *fine*. I don't like Bendis' dialogue, but he writes the Batfamily with a certain brand of competence compared to his other work.

Many Happy Returns was actually really excellent. Fraction nails the writing, and Zdarsky's art is very fun.

Rookie was fine. It started out good, but it feels dragged out by the end. I wish it was a bit more brief.

Ghost Story was pretty bad, in my opinion. I just didn't find it entertaining.

Fore was pretty good. I actually think, overall, that John Romita Jr's art worked here. I liked the story. I just wish the dialogue was a bit better, is all.

Odyssey was terrible. It's just cheesy, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I was bored with it pretty damn quickly.

Detective #26 was great. It's one of my favorites of the anthology. I found it really funny and it looked very good.

Legacy was fine. I get what they were going for, but cancer stories rub me the wrong way right now.

As Always was also fine. I liked the concept of the story, but I'm not sure I liked the execution.

Generations: Shattered was okay. I really do enjoy Golden Age Batman, so I liked seeing him, however fleeting it was. I'm not *excited* about Generations, but as a small little story, this is not the worst.

A Gift was, again, okay. I like the idea behind the story, I just don't think it's particularly well executed. I hope it leads somewhere cool, because Detective needs some sort of direction.

Overall, this was better than a lot of anthologies. There were only two stories that I'd consider bad, but a lot of stories that I wouldn't give much deference to either. The stories worth reading are Many Happy Returns by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, and Detective #26 by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham. more

a real mixed bag.

on one hand we have fun and entertaining stories like Morrison's Detective 26, which was a fun dark humored parody of Batman's origin.

then we have Tom King trying to pretend he's clever, while at the same time taking his usual steaming $#!% on Batman.

not worth the $10 price tag. also not a worthy enough tribute to Batman.

just another DC cash grab. more

This Omnibus is better than the Absolute edition, in both content and quality.
The stitching seems more secure in this Omnibus than it does in my copy of the Absolute edition. The pages of my Absolute edition are starting to come loose. Whereas my GM Batman Omni Vol. 1 (Sept 2018) and Omni vol. 2 (June 2019) are still holding up strong. And this GM Batman Omni Vol. 3 looks like the same great sturdy quality of the previous two Omnis.

Thankfully (unlike the Absolute Batman Incorporated) this book actually has bonus material. Not just bonus material from Batman Inc Deluxe Edition, but they added bonus material for the New 52 portion of the run. The original New 52 releases in HC & TPB had only included a variant cover gallery. Now we have NEW extra content by Chris Burnham as well as Grant Morrison. This Omnibus also includes Batman The Return (One-Shot) that was illustrated by David Finch.

If you haven’t already, you’re definitely going to want to pick up Batman by Grant Morrison volumes 1 & 2.
I try my best to not go into heavy spoiler territory in my reviews, as I know there are folks new to this run. I will say that since Grant Morrison’s Batman run began, he has built up events that have come full circle in this final volume.
Batman is investigating a Global Terrorist organization called Leviathan. They have been showing up just about everywhere, and infesting everything. Batman enlists the help of the Batmen of All Nations, and starts recruiting his own Army of Batmen around the world to combat Leviathan.

If you’ve read Batman Incorporated in single issue form and collected trade as I have, you will have seen that towards the New52 portion of the run that there are pages that used fill-in artists.
It was a bit jarring to be enjoying Chris Burnham’s unique style, then suddenly be reading pages illustrated by other artists. We were treated to Chris Burnham going back to draw all the pages, that he previously was unable to for the Absolute Edition. Thankfully this book includes all the redrawn Burham pages that were done for the Absolute. Chris Burham also redrew into the flashback scenes that referenced the 70’s Batman stories. When Batman Inc was published during the New 52, events from classic 70s Batman comics were made to show Batman wearing his New52 costume. Now they are redrawn with Batman as intended with the 70s Blue Cape and Cowl, and classic Yellow Oval as intended.
Many fans were unsure if this Omnibus would also include Batman Inc issue #11 written by Chris Burham, as well as the Batman Incorporated Special written by guest writers. Rest assured they both are included within this book.

This Omnibus has been printed in a beautiful Deluxe size. The binding, stitching and page quality all look solid and secure. The page color actually looks more vibrant than previous releases. The paper is a nice semi-gloss stock. Nice and easy on the eyes.

Grant Morrison’s Batman run is my all-time favorite Batman story ever. This spanning saga has so many layers. It gets better with every re-read. I discover some hidden detail that I’d not noticed before. Revelations within this book actually change the way certain events from earlier portions of Morrison's Batman run are perceived.

All I can say is, if you’re willing to invest the time in Grant Morrison’s Batman run, there’s a good chance that you’ll fall in love with it just as I have. You will find that you want to return and begin again, and enjoy many re-reads. more

I really liked this issue. The art was definitely the best part, but I really liked how Barbara and Jason were written.

Just few days ago The Batman's trailer was released, to univeersal shock and praise of its dense, violent, dark atmosphere. It's by no means perfect and the final movie may end up being a misstep, but as of now, most sceptics seemingly vanished after seeing Pattinson obliterating a street thug and realizing they may have judget the book by its cover.
Similarly, Three Jokers took a crowbar and smashed the head of anyone who was skeptical, if not plain negative about it, before this issue dropped out. And man, what a comic we've just received...

First of, let's address the elephant in the room - the overall layout, as well as Fabok's fantastic art, just scream "The Killing Joke". Undoubtedly Johns wanted to give this story familiar feel without turning it into a full blown homeage. From the very first pages you know it's something unique, albeit filled with nods and references to iconic comics we know and love. Kinda like Sean Murphy's White Knight universe, you know? Something with its own tone and style, yet rooted in all the little things that defined Batman properties in the past.

The story started out strong - I'm not gonna spoil you a thing, but expect a detective mystery nicely connecting the main characters to the Joker... well, three of them, but you get the idea. Batman, Red Hood and Batgirl were all damaged, broken, hurt and humiliated by Joker, and each of them has a good personal reason to hate him, as well as be involved in the investigation.
Everything here is well thought through and leads somewhere. Where exactly, we don't know, but I sure look forward for this comic to unravel its story, because it's quite something special, I feel. Yet another limited series made with particular idea in mind, instead of being a never ending soap opera. Count me in. more

Nothing new or interesting. This shoulld be done years ago.

Never liked the idea of 3 Jokers, but the art is really great. It’s the best thing about this comic. However as for the story I can’t see Barbara ever acting like that& I doubt Batman would leave Jason alone with Joker. It all depends on how the story will go, if the Jokers are the real Joker from 3 different earths or just all from 1 earth, then Joker as a character is ruined. If it turns out that Joker just used some innocent people to pose as Joker, then it can be a fun story. So it’s too early to really judge, but I don’t find the story that intriguing. more

Very impressive issue!

I am beginning to hate batman

Look, i get that the point of this event is to be crazy camp for the sake of it, but a lot of the writing and concepts are just so fucking bad. The whole New Apokolips scene triggered me immensely because Scott Snyder clearly didn't understand Final Crisis and blatantly messed up one of the climaxes of the book (Batman vs Darkseid). The Anti-Life Great Death Drive was stupid as hell, Darkfather is beaten with ease (you would expect a Darkseid/Batman analogue to be unbeatable) and they find their allies on the next page just in time to set up the tie-in series. Robin King is edgelord crap (but the Speed-Force repellent is ridiculous enough to get a chuckle). Lobo's parts were interesting and we finally get some hinting as to why this series is called "Death Metal", as with the first Metal we had the whole dark numbered metals theme, now we have Lex Luthor gathering the 5 death metals to get his revenge of Batkek and Perpetua. Most of this issue was just tie-in setup, and DC even released the checklist with their new titles this week. This event is 24 parts long, and the next few are going to be the deciding factors as to if I still give a shit about any of this overexposed hodgepodge of mundane event-bait. more

You know, Nihilist compared this series to Mastodon. As someone who hates Mastodon, I couldn't agree more. Way too much of this issue is spent expositing and that's because there is no foundation here. It's just like Justice League where everything is just building on pillars of sand and bullshit. And now they're setting up the numerous one-shot tie-ins while never establishing their event's base. This is just mindless. I'm so sick of Scott Snyder's anime-esque storytelling. It's fucking drab. What was the point of the Final Crisis regurgitation besides "fun"? I guess a reference is enough for some, but for me, I just saw it as wasted pages, and ultimately stupid. more

This is fine, I guess. I mean, if you wanted me to root for Alanna's downfall, you did good. She's clearly an awful person. I'm frankly sick of this story already, which is probably not a good sign, and I'm not interested in what happens next anymore.

The frustrating thing about this series is how good it would probably be if it was 6 issues long.

Art's nice though.

Anthologies are hard and usually not worth it but everyone buys these so I guess they'll just keep happening.

Scars was alright. Just a standard horror story but with Joker pasted on top of whatever random monster it would've been otherwise.

What Comes After A Joke? proves that Punchline is as bland as she seemed in Batman #92. Her origin sucks. So much for all the speculation and hype. Yawn.

Kill The Batman ironically had a better punchline than the last story. It was fine though.

Introducing The Dove Corps was one of my favorites from this anthology. It was just a lot of fun, even if it was a bit predictable.

The War Within was not very good, but I see what they were going for.

The Last Smile was fine. Nothing to say about it.

Birthday Bugs was my favorite of the entire anthology. Unironically loved that one.

No Heroes was fine. Slightly better than the other "fine" stories here.

Penance was just a waste. It just was not good at all.

Two Fell Into The Hornet's Nest was okay. It works infinitely better if you've seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Otherwise it's almost unintelligible. more

Out of all anniversary mega issues, I think Joker's may either be the most consistent one. Aside from Azzarello's short story, it's at least decent, and few in this collection managed to make really good impression on me.

Snyder's "Scars" is a dark, twisted tale bringing back the edge and grit The New-52 became infamous for, and whether you liked this direction or hated it, it works in this comic.
"What comes after a joke?" is a long awaited origin story of Punchline, and if you've been excited for the character's introduction to DC's universe, it's a must read, even if her origin itself may not be as memorable and complex as many others. Nonetheless, Punchline is here, finally.
Whitta and Miller's "Kill the Batman" may be one of my favourites in this anthology, showing Joker as a self abssorbed nihilist, an envious psycho fan, ending with a comedic twist that genuinely made me laugh my lower backside off.
"Introducing thee Dove Corps" may tell a decent story, but I feel it tries (too) hard to be a prologue to Moore's Killing Joke. It' not bad, not in the slightest, but I wouldn't call it as succesful at returning to a cult classic story as Geoff Johns' story from Superman's 80th anniversary anthology, explaining what happened with the car from Action Comics #1 issue. That story was heartwarming and sweet, this feels like its main purpose is to connect to another one rather being its own thing.
The War Withing left me... underwhelmed, I guess. Out of all stories so far, I enjoyed this one the least. It's psychodelic, but seemed to me like it doesn't complement the story, but rather mask the lack of any.
"The Last Smile" certainly won't be remembered as Dini's finest work, but I can't call it anything short from decent either. It's a pretty entertaining read, which holds up to its name on not one but two planes. Pretty good on paper, if you ask me, but probably could have been executed a bit better.
Same could be said about "Birthday bugs", clearly built around an idea of torturing bugs and playing with them, yet being somewhat boring and lacking deeper tension and unpredictability you'd expect from a Joker comic. Not my favourite here, but not a waste of time either, that's for sure.
"No Heroes" is yet another dark, psychotic take on the character, commenting on the idea of heroism, putting yourself in front of someone defenseless. That's an important message, especially in this day and age.
"Penance", in comparison, lacks deeper meaning. It works as a stand alone short story, but I doubt I'll remember it one week from now. Come to think about it, it's basically a good metaphore of Tony S. Daniel's resume in general. Check out how many books he wrote and how many of them were not forgotten by the history.
Finally, there's "Two fell into the hornet's nest", and man, I thought after Zack Snyder's unholy abomination called Sucker Punch, other hacky edgelord writers wouldn't dare to bastardize Kesey's work again. Then Azzarello came with this piece of steaming trash. Leave Kesey alone, please! Leave Ken Kesey alone! Right now! I mean it! more