/dark-detective_3.jpg "Future State: Dark Detective #3")
In this issue, Bruce Wayne meets the next Batman! As the dark detective makes his move to put an end to the villainous Magistrate once and for all, the man who once wore the cowl encounters the next Batman-and these two have some questions for each other! Fists will fly as this explosive meeting erupts in the skies over Gotham...but with the clock ticking, can Bruce finish what he started and unlock the secrets of the fascist surveillance that plagues his city?
And in “Grifters” part two, the lucky streak that Cole Cash and Luke Fox have enjoyed just hit a brick wall in the form of the Huntress! The over-the-top adventure in the gutters of Gotham City concludes in the most bone-crushing fashion possible!
Grifter/Huntress Issue #2. That's what the title SHOULD be, because the Dark Detective story tells us that Bruce knows that there are Magistrate nanodrones everywhere, which we pretty much already KNEW. The Dark Detective plot of the story is about one page of plot. Some handwringing. A currently pointless crossover of Tim Fox as The New Batman having a cameo meeting; hopefully in issue DD Issue 4 there is some point to this, other than to sucker readers to pay $6 for this issue.
But SURPRISE, Grifter/Huntress Issue #2 does have a story, a plot, action, and actually moves the story forward. After lots of boredom about Tim Fox as The New Batman (why, exactly?), we now can clearly surmise WHY Tim Fox became The New Batman. That is the value to buying this issue. They don't actually "tell" you, but you can now "figure it out." Tim Fox's motivation is about betrayal and disgrace by family (at least I sure hope so). That plot has mostly been in Marvel comics, but you see it here and there (not very successfully) in DC Comics: Batgirl Stephanie Brown/brother Cluemaster (Arthur Brown), Batgirl Cassandra Cain and her assassin parents, and the always (boring to me) ex-Robin Damian Wayne and his assassin mother Talia al Ghul/lunatic grandfather Ra's al Ghul. I have always thought Marvel did that type of plot better. But lack of other moral / social motivation (not good) has repeatedly gotten more of the Bat family "motivated" or at least "entangled" on these lines.
So Grifter/Huntress Issue #2 does explain things - and fills in missing motivation for the other Future State The New Batman, regarding Tim Fox's motivation. However, it certainly is outside of "canon" (whatever that means anymore), as Luke Fox (aka the former BatWing) was always described as someone with different level of intelligence, skills, values. Aside from the "aha" moment, there is a sense of disappointment that "is this all they have for the future of The New Batman?" You may wonder why this matters in a DD review, when "The New Batman" literally just makes a cameo. Well, it is the only meaningful part of the comic book. The DD plot line is basically 1-2 pages stretched out over 15.
Always glad to see the Huntress, and Bruce Wayne will of course, always be the only Batman; it is good to see Bruce not dead, not a zombie wearing a Black Lantern ring, and not wandering around with an arm cut off, so it is worth it online, if you can get a discount from 6 to 5 dollars on Comixology. Nothing here you really want to hold on to on paper for future investment.
Grifter/Huntress Issue #2 (Rating 8); DD Issue #3 (why you bought this) (Rating 4)
© 2025
There's more energy and dynamism in the back up story in a Batman book than the Batman story in the same book. Doesn't bode well does it?
Ming - no it doesn't.