Detective Comics No. 1001 review: The dawn of the Arkham Knight

In Detective Comics No. 1001, The Arkham Knight has arrived and is after none other than Batman himself. The reason is unknown, but what is known is that he has plenty of back-up.

Coming off the back of a great arc and the milestone 1000th issue, Detective Comics has been on a roll for the past several months. Now with the Arkham Knight being fully introduced in this issue, Detective Comics seems poised to keep expanding the Batman mythos in creative and substantive ways. While it could have fallen flat, this first issue of the latest arc sets up a great story to come.

Bringing the Arkham Knight into the realm of comics is definitely an inspired choice, even if there is precedent for bringing in characters from other mediums into the comics universe (Harley Quinn ring any bells). Regardless though, this easily could’ve felt like a retread of the way he was presented in Batman: Arkham Knight, which thankfully it feels much different.

The Arkham Knight, as presented in the story right now, feels much more like an Azrael type of character, influenced or even leading an order that feels like a religious cult. It’s a smart way to bring the character in organically while retaining the knight moniker and the army from the game, just with a different twist.

Image by DC Comics/Art by Brad Walker

The best part about the Arkham Knight in this issue though is that it’s truly unclear who he is or what his plans are. Yeah sure, he kills a bunch of bats in this issue, which admittedly feels strange to read, even with the symbolism, but it’s still so unclear as to what’s going to happen. What’s the endgame for this Arkham Knight? Why’s he hunting Batman? These are all questions that Batman: Arkham Knight tried to, but every predicted from the first moment that (spoilers for a nearly four-year old game) it was Jason Todd. With this iteration of the character, it’s a mystery and that feels great.

That said, some of the choices in this issue do feel a bit weird and odd even for a comic book. As mentioned above, killing all the bats in Gotham felt a bit off and a bit too out there for the story being told. As the issue goes on though, the context for the bats makes more sense, but nevertheless doesn’t come full circle with the effect it was going for.

Brad Walker’s art is a nice changeover from darker tones and styles of Doug Mahnke that would usually be perfectly suited for Batman, but here, are not suited for them. Walker’s style is visually different enough to carry the story decisions make in this issue very well because his style doesn’t rely on the shadows that many Batman artists rely on. Normally, this would be something distracting for a Batman artist not to utilize, but here, the style and art work perfectly and tells the story extremely well. His characters are fluid and panels are easy to follow that also almost have a sense of existential dread at center points despite the brightness of it all.

9.0/10 

Detective Comics continues on strong with the beginning of a new arc and the first real introduction of the Arkham Knight into the DC Universe.