Detective Comics #843 Review

Written by Paul Dini
Art by Dustin Nguyen

Summary: Detective Comics has been off for a bit as Dini has been currently bombing on Countdown. He is back this issue and we continue along. We start off with Batman saving a janitor from an exploding volcano (#1 cause of work related accidents). He runs down the Penguin and accuses him of making the volcano go off to shut down the rival club. He denies it. Meanwhile the owner of club volcano is in Vegas trying to get Zatanna to perform. After some intense banter he agrees to do it and the next thing we know Bruce Wayne is on stage about to be killed by some magical trap. He and Zee whisper back and forth about whether there are any shady characters in da club (fiddy cent joke). After the performance Bruce is introducing Zee to some of Gotham's finest and they get asked if they are more than friends. Bruce gives one quick no. The club owner is getting shaken down by Scarface in the backroom while this is going on, some fyi there. So Zee and Bruce are chilling at the bar and she brings up that topic about them going out. She says she was surprised about the time when she was shot that he hang out by her bedside before tracking down the Joker and shes open to the option of them together. Conveniently enough gun shots are going off and Scarface has made his move. Zee tries to fight them off but they manage to kidnap Bruce, the club owner, and get away. While in the car the ventriloquist recognizies Bruce and snaps out of her crazy phase. She is Peyton Riley and was engaged to one of Bruce's friends, she manages to get all that out before Scarface comes back to life and starts pumping bullets into Bruce.


Comments: This is kind of out there but how does the puppet fire a gun. In the picture u see his little hand pulling the trigger but hes a wooden dummy and usually u can't control their hands only their mouth. That is something to think about. The art in this issue was very square. Not as good as it has been but still gets the job done just very square.... Storywise I liked the character development between Bruce and Zee. Dini is kind of obsessed with her but he writes a damn good Batman and a damn good Zee so its cool. Over the course of Detective he has been building towards it so it doesn't feel forced which is a plus. One criticism is of Scarface. She or he depending on which one the reader considers Scarface which in this case I consider it to be the lady behind the puppet so she, has been around too damn long. Batman should have caught her a while back, this is just really asinine that a white woman like her could really do all this. The guy beats up Superman once a year and can't take down a white woman with a puppet, not cool man not cool. This is a delightful issue though, you are basically paying for the conversation between Zee and Bruce so check it out.

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