Decent set up for the arc. Definitely interested to see where this is going.

Ever since The Grim Knight has been introduced I wanted something like this issue. I think the whole concept of Bruce Wayne shooting Joe Chill right there in the alley is really interesting and I'm happy to say that this issue delivered. It ties in nicely to the main book while giving us more info about who The Grim Knight really is and what caused him to help The Batman Who Laughs. Combine all of this with great art and you got yourself a fine issue that I very much recommend. more

"There is not one among us in whom a devil does not dwell; at some time, on some point, that devil masters each of us...It is not having been in the dark house, but having left it, that counts."

A satisfying end to a greatly needed return to form for the Detective Comics line. Although the "it was all a simulation" trope is heavily overused, Tomasi is able to make it satisfying and rewarding for Batman fans all around.

Greatly looking forward to issue 1000. more

THE GOOD:

-I thought Tomasi really stepped up his writing this issue. It felt meaningful and also talented. I liked the dialogue with Batman and himself, I guess?

-Speaking of, that fight was awesome and trippy. I especially liked the scene with the Year One outfits.

-That graveyard scene was great.

-I'm not super pissed about the twist. It's the predictable way to go, but they made it worth it, by showing how Batman trains himself to be better every year, and tying it in to his anniversary by making it his birthday tradition. Plus Alfred and Damian's banter was great.

-Wow. Doug Mahnke also stepped up his game. This issue was really, really well illustrated, which isn't a surprise, but it's a surprise he can get even better.

-That was just a really sweet and nice epilogue. All in all, this was a great story arc.

THE BAD:

-I do kind of wish we got a better answer to the mysteries. I'm happy with what we got, but I can't help but feel there was a better option out there. more

Good but it could have been great, right? I enjoyed Tomasi's dialogue and Mahnke went all-out, as some of the pages had more than even a 9-panel grid, each with the level of detail you'd expect from such a formidable penciller. Yet overall, the full arc and conclusion would read better as a summary of bullet points than in execution.

Fornes will be a star but this had some inconsistent pages. King is truly on the "it's the journey not the destination" writing at this point, and it's not bad. It's just not that terribly compelling, though it is executed quite well.

How good this book is makes the delays more painful

Wow - this is why I read comics. Since DC's Rebirth, everything has been building to this issue, and the visuals (sure to create MANY lock screens on reader phones) are all-timers. If only it were truly monthly, but the trade of Doomsday Clock will be a must-read for anyone who has ever picked up a floppy.

It’s... incredible.

I like Tom King's Batman run but I think all of this "Bat-Cat" stuff is taking up too much space and sometimes (like this issue) it's there just to tell us something that we all ready know. At the end Selina maybe lies but what is the meaning of this, just King knows that because after all we don't forget that this Selina is just a projection of Bruce's mind. The artwork is very cool and it worth read the issue. I have to admit that King does a great job when he questions how it is that if all the non-wedding was to strengthen Batman how he ended up so weakened and cornered by his enemies. Let's see what happens in next issue. more

Every month I'm amazed by how good this series is.
Literally, the only "bad" thing I can say about this series is that it takes a lot of time for each issue to come out. But damn it's worth the wait every single time.

This issue is as perfect as one could possible be, I guess. The climax has begun, and I think I understand why it works so wondefully - because it has proper setup. That's what I missed in No Justice, Heroes in Crisis or even Dark Nights Metal - they started with a bang, and we, the readers, immediately were put in the center of the action. Here, Johns took his sweet time to set the story up - slowly, cautiously, laying down layer after layer of character development, unraveling mystery, or, to be precise, multiple mysteries, as well as building up the enormous tension and actual stakes. It's not a shallow and boring publicity stunt like Heroes in Crisis, and it's not a clearly rushed and underwritten event like No Justice. It does what Moore and Gibbons did in the 1980s - it tells an actually ambitious story leagus above everything else on the shelves right now. It truly is a joy to see all thesee characters - A, B or even Z listers, joining forces to face Doctor Manhattan - it feels like a giant fight at the end of a blockbuster movie.

It's a rare accurance when I sit on the couch with a comic in my hands, completely speechless and amazed by it, with silent "fuck" (as Brendan Fraser's Robotman would say) on my mouth.

Never mind the bollocks, here's the Doomsday Clock. more

Huh, I didn't hate this issue. Weird. I see the problems. The repetition. The fact that we have yet another issue about Batman and Catwoman's past. The fact that we've known that Bruce can have something outside of Batman. This is his big moment where he finally puts together that maybe something influenced his wedding. But Bruce could take this two ways. He could take it the way that a normal person would which is, maybe they don't know each other as well as he thought. Or he can... decide Catwoman was led astray or was lying in her letter? That's a leap. But he should've made whatever judgement he was going to make right after the wedding, since he himself knows that this idea that Batman is an icon and above the rest of the heroes and all the rest of the masturbatory ideas that have been created in his mind are all bullshit. Why are we only getting this questioned now? Also, this series has just straight up fetishized Batman and Catwoman's relationship. It has never felt incredibly genuine to me and this issue just goes on and on about the physicality of their relationship. That isn't helping. So... I cannot tell you why I don't hate this issue. Is it because Question was used cleverly? Is it because he wasn't a placeholder character like Constantine in Batman #63? I guess so. I don't know how to feel about his appearance overall. I don't think he should be a smoker for character reasons, but the fact that he is isn't exactly against the character. But he was a clever device for the story, even if the story doesn't do anything new or interesting. I think it comes down to the cleverness of this issue... and I'll take what I can get. more

Well... there's not much to say because the story didn't go anywhere. Everything this issue explored, King already explored before so it made me feel like nothing happened and it's getting repetitive, so yeah.

However, I did enjoy reading most of it, especially how Question was utilized and the art grew on me while reading it, I like the noir style, pretty great. I still like where this is going but the arc is just too slow, it needs to start moving.

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THE GOOD:

-Good god. What a fricking phenomenal issue. I'm not going to go through everything I liked, that would take too long. (I'm kinda short on time/busy, so expect shorter reviews this week), but just know I really thought so much of this issue.

-First off the art. Ryan Stegman is a genius. That's all I have to say.

-I would also like to say that Donny Cates is an equally amazing genius. Together, they are a perfect creative team.

-At first I didn't get it when people said this was some kind of definitive run or something. This issue coupled with the last has made me recalculate that misjudgment.

-I just loved the surreal, dream-like feel of this issue. Can we get more issues with this type of storytelling? I think Cates and Stegman work better with that, rather than dragons and battles and stuff.

-The character work is so amazing. I can't say enough about the way everybody is written.

-And the emotion. I was holding back tears during the symbioses confession to Eddie. Donny Cates already made me cry with God Country, so I didn't want him to be the rare author to get a double hit in that area. Oh well, looks like I've failed. Donny Cates: 1, ohhaimark: 0.

-And the twists. So many! So good! I really want to read more issues like this. Well done, Cates. Well done.

THE BAD:

-Uhhhh…. more

This issue will be polarizing. On the one hand it's a decent and somewhat heartwarming ending to Tomasi's first Detective Comics arc, on the other, however, it suffers from the same problem long lasting TV series (or nowawayd cinematic universes as well) do - lack of stakes, tension and actual lasting consequences.

Leslie's death few issues earlier was shocking, but at the same time somewhat cathartic - for once a long running comic did something risky and shown that no one's completely safe. Something Heroes in Crisis fundamentally failed to accomplish.
Seeing all of that shock turning out to be just smoke, with no fire, disappointed me. Not that I want to see characters getting killed off one by one to barely establish a villain and show how dangerous he is, but at the same time playing safe all the time can hurt the series. Especially when Clayface turned out to be alive some time ago, rendering his death, and the entire conflict between Batman and Batwoman pointless. It really feel like a cheap cop-out, like the typical "it was just a dream" twist.

Comic like this one are the reason why I prefer self-contained stand-alone trade paperbacks, having a proper beginning and an end, and not having to follow something, or lead somewhere else. more

Great ending to a great story arc. This time the ending really was a surprise& this story shows us how crazy Batman can be. I like that. Feels a lot like a Pre52 Batman story.

SPOILER:


Im also happy Leslie is alive. So I especially liked the ending.

SPOILER ENDING

Tomasi did a great job here.

This series is ALWAYS fun!!!

after last issue i really didn’t know what to expect,
but this was an absolute pleasant surprise.

this arc by Tomasi kept feeling reminiscent of Len Wein's story ‘The Untold Legend of the Batman’,
and even more-so in this conclusion issue.

the beginning of this issue was only ok, but as it went on it got really really good.
the moment after the conflict ended was especially touching.

i really loved the message this arc presented.
it gave a positive light to Bruce Wayne and his mission as Batman.
yes, his life was destroyed by tragedy, but it's not all just grim misery and despair.
Bruce ultimately became Batman because he wants to save people
from the fate suffered by him and his parents.

the epilogue (especially in light of Detective Comics #995) was absolutely fantastic!!
these are the moments that i love when Tomasi writes.

overall i really enjoyed the hell out of this arc.
looking forward to seeing where Tomasi goes with his Detective run.
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"I'M... BOOOOOORED!"
ye, I agree.

When I heard King and Gerads are going to collaborate again I was excited, I like the combination of those two but sadly this time around only Gerads delivered.

Literally, almost nothing happened in this issue except in the end when we got some clue to who the killer is but anything else leading up to this point was just a whole lot of nothing. I knew this issue was supposed to be more focused on the PTSD part of the event but still, even then, King didn't explore that subject that much.

I'm disappointed. This event, in my opinion, started so well but ever since issue 3 it's been going downhill. I really hope King will surprise me but I'm starting to lose hope. more

"BE YOUR BEST BRUCE. NEVER QUESTION YOUR MISSION. GOTHAM NEEDS YOU."
And that's it, the arc is complete. I've got to say, I enjoyed it very much.

So this time we figure out that all of it was not real and just a way for Batman to test himself and improve himself even more. I really liked the idea that he did it just so he could save more people but the execution could have been better. Also, the epilogue was heartwarming and I'm really happy that Leslie is ok.
As usual, art is great and I just can't get enough of it, Mahnke's art is just awesome.

Overall it was an excellent arc and I hope Tomasi would continue to be on this book.
Can't wait for issue 1000! just one month away.
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Seminal work. A complete deconstruction of the Mister Miracle that is great for people who have read every Mister Miracle volume and easily approachable for anyone else. Completely stands on it's own and if you like stories that dive a bit deeper into the human psyche, this story is for you.

A modern classic.

What can I say, this is my favorite series from 2018 and probably one of my favorites of all time. Everything in this series is fantastic, the writing, the art, the goddamn art. It's fantastic! Honestly, this series has it all and skipping it would be a shame no doubt. I can't really say a lot about it without going into spoilers so just go and get it, it's a masterpiece. more

A more straightforward entry to the mini-series, Snyder continues his detailed and grounded prose, and new character interactions (Gordon, Jr. is added; Penguin) keep this arc fresh. Though he created BMWL, Snyder has given him such a distinctive voice that's honestly a joy to read, because the writer is at the top of his game in his monologues. But colorist David Baron (see Detective Comics #998) again is the star of the show, bringing a wide variety of settings to life. more

Batman (the real one) is acting quite crazy and also pretty mean ( towards James Jr.) in this issue, but it’s still a great one. Can’t complain about much here. I especially liked Gordon’s interactions with his son. I already felt sorry for him in Batgirl, so I hope DC gives him a chance to redeem himself ( even so he probably will be a psycho mass murderer again). Have to say the Batman who Laughs is great so far, even so I didn’t like Metal. However Im wondering how James reacted, when Bruce went all crazy at the end. It’s nice to see Batman‘s limits& the alternative versions of him works quite well here. Penguin felt kind of pointless, but guess he’s part of the plan. This mini series keeps being great. more

this series continues to be very enjoyable.
but i do have a few gripes with this issue.
if we are talking about people that helped make Batman, WHERE is Lucius Fox???!

i renjoy Tomasi’s version of Batman. he gives a great voice for Batman and continues to make him a bad-ass.
Mahnke’s art continues to shine.
his Batman, Hellbat and Etrigan all looked great.
>even though the fights ended quickly and the plot is moving a bit fast, the action was still fun.

i really felt Silias Stone was out of place here.
the story SHOULD HAVE used Lucius Fox!
Lucius has a long standing history of developing Batman's tech.
choosing to go with Silias stone made absolutely no sense.
it felt very forced and took me out of the story.

i was also confused at the ending.

is that supposed to be...
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...some kind of manifestation of young Bruce Wayne?
it was really weird. and doesn't have me all that excited.
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Gordon Jr. is amazing in this. And so is almost everything else. The art is a bit rushed in some places but otherwise acceptable.

But why I like this mini-series so much is because of the ultimate villain that BWL is for Bruce. No matter what he thinks or plans, Batman Who Laughs has already think that. And Snyder doesn't undercut Bruce in anyway to make BWL look more awesome.
/>My only real issue in this mini-series is that the Grim Knight could have more backstory, but oh well.

And the ending only makes it better to me. The idea of Batman isn't working right now for Bruce. Bruce cannot do anything to defeat BWL, except to become like him.
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