Review: Detective Comics #840

by Michael McDaniel

Editors note: This article contains spoilers!!!

     This past week, between the moments I spent still fuming over the end of ‘One More Day’ and watching bowl game after bowl game; I managed to miss reading the latest issue of Detective Comics (#840) and one of the best comics in a long, long while. A good customer, Eric Walker, brought it to my attention and today, in between waiting on customers, I gave it a read. All I can say is: WOW!
     Few issues in comics have the kind of kick-ass ending that this issue did and it was done without a massive crossover and dollar more cover price. This was a stand alone issue which made it all the more awesome. The various Bat-titles have just wrapped up a crossover battle with Ra’s Al Ghul and I wasn’t expecting another Batman and the Demon’s Head fight so soon.  In fact, this issue and outcome should have been in that crossover- but I’ll let DC off the hook for that. For the simple reason that this comic makes up for that!

The always charming Ra's Al Ghul shows up yet again to plague our favorite batarang-wielding detective!

     In case you missed the ‘Ra’s Al Ghul Resurrection’ storyline, everyone’s favorite billionaire leader of a cabal of assassins got himself brought back to life but his body was literally crumbling and he was looking for a new vessel. Like the great provider he is for his family, he chose Damien, Batman’s son by Talia and his own grandson. Batman foiled this plan and Ra’s would select another host for his soul. Long Story short: He settled for his albino grown son, the White Ghost. What a father figure!
     In this issue, Ra’s pops up looking for another tail-whipping and informs Batman that for stopping his latest plans via bat-punch after bat-punch to the face that he is going to establish his worldwide base of operations for his massive criminal empire in Gotham. Whoa! That’s pretty brazen even for the ole’ Lazarus Pit bather. I mean, that’s like Lex Luther staying overnight in the Fortress of Solitude and asking Sups to have cable installed, right? Then, never to wear out his welcome with the Dark Night Detective, he orders a whole mess o’ ninjas to make with the swords on Bats. Batman should have a line like Indiana Jones’ mantra about snakes: “Ninjas, I hate ninjas” but I digress.

You thought joker was batman's most dangerous enemy? Nah, try Ninja Man-Bats!!!

     Batman escapes the ninja-death trap and retreats back to the bat-cave (minus one Bat-mobile) to contemplate/brood over his next move like only he can do. There is a exchange between Batman and Alfred which posed the question before I could ask it: What exactly does one do with a leader of a cabal of ninja-bat-assassins who wants to set up shop in your back yard?  Paul Dini, the current Detective writer and a master storyteller, has Batman discussing this problem with Alfred all the while working on some sort of hypodermic-chemical thingy. No before you ask “why is Batman playing with his not-so-junior chemistry set when he should be preparing for the battle to come?” it comes up later in the comic.

The first appearence of The Demon's Head from Batman 232 from 1971. I was three, how old were you?

     This story and the outcome is a play on a theme that we’ve scene in comics more than a few times over the years. In the very first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghul written by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams way back in Batman #232 from 1971, Ra’s reveals how he deducted Batman’s true identity by making a list of suspects of who could afford to be Batman. Always willing to learn from anyone, Batman applied the same logic to where Ra’s could be hiding out in Gotham by checking what skyscrapers were purchased lately. So 15 pages into the 22 page issue, the slug-fest between the father and grandfather of Damien begins.
     Ra’s Al Ghul makes the cardinal mistake of allowing Bruce to plan and plot against him rather than just pulling a Corleone-style mob hit out of the ‘Godfather’ on him. Anyone who’s been reading Batman for any significant amount of time knows that you can’t do that if you want to win.
     The fist-a-cuffs are quick and painful (if you’re Ra’s). The pounding ends with Batman kicking the Demon’s Head out a window of a skyscraper. (Yeah, you read that right…out a frickin’ window!) But the humiliation doesn’t end for Ra’s Al Ghul just quite yet. Dini doesn’t bother explaining how he survives that plunge but I give him some slack for that.

In Uncanny X-Men 112 and 113, Magneto hatches an elaborate plan to capture the X-Men. When he does so with relative ease, he debilitates them in the heart of a volcano to spend the rest of their days as babes cared from by a nanny-robot of his design- all so he can get back at ole' Chuck cradling him in his arms when he was devolved to a baby by Alpha- the ultimate mutant. What does this got to do with Batman, true believer? Keep reading

     When Ra’s comes to, he finds himself strapped to a gurney and babbling quite incoherently to be understood by the staff at Arkham Asylum. Since Batman can’t exactly kill his deadliest enemy, he manages to do something quite possibly worse! Something reminisant of what Magneto tried to do the X-Men way back in the classic Byrne/Clairmont run of 112-113.
     Batman gives Ra’s a whole new identity (complete with criminal history) and in his file for the doctors at Arkham gives specific instructions to give him a prescription of meds that “guarantees slurred speech and zero mobility”. Batman coldly thinks that maybe Ra’s goon will find him and free him the next day. But what Bats wishes for is for him to rot slowly for decades to comes.
     The story and ending is classic Batman. In fact, it’s how Batman should be written: Always one step ahead of the pack and an ace up his sleeve. Read it for yourself and you’ll understand why Paul Dini is one of the best writers at DC. Remember the Justice League cartoon and the Batman Animated Series before it. Remember how good they both were? Paul Dini was one of the writers/producers/editors for those projects among others.
     This issue is so good because its ending is very old school. The hero, despite the deadly nature of his enemies, triumphs because of superior planning all the while not crossing that line between hero and villain. No ret-con. No clone. No Batman-Red. No earth shattering event or action by a character that alters who they were before the issue. Just plain ole’ good story and not to shabby art.
            Batman closes the issue with a sarcastic thought and I’ll try to top him with this articles ending with another Byrne/Clairmont touch: “Welcome to Gotham, Ra’s. Hope you survive the experience!”