Batman and Lois Lane begin to unravel the mystery in Event Leviathan No. 1

The spy organizations of the world have been destroyed and only one question is on the minds of the best detectives in the DC Universe, who is Leviathan? Spoilers for Event Leviathan no. 1 follow.

Following the events of “Leviathan Rising” in the pages of Action Comics, Event Leviathan begins with Batman breaking into an A.R.G.U.S. facility that had recently been destroyed. In the rubble though, he runs into Lois Lane who is there for the exact same reason that he is, to discover what destroyed the A.R.G.U.S. facility and where Talia Al Ghul is at. The two go through their list of suspects, both immediately ruling out Lex Luthor for the lack of ego the destruction shows.

Image by DC Comics/Art by Alex Maleev

Amongst the rubble though, the two find a survivor, Colonel Steve Trevor. Steve reveals that, less than an hour ago, the same thing that happened to Kobra, the D.E.O., and Spyral happened to A.R.G.U.S. A mysterious figure simply appeared within the confines of the building while Steve was trying to get the architect of the project, Doctor Strand, to evacuate. Unable to do so, a mysterious force field appears around Steve, causing to survive the destruction of the building.

After explaining what happened, Steve loses it, due to his lack of trust of Batman and Lois, and shoots Lois in the shoulder before being shot with a taser arrow by Green Arrow. Once Steve is down, Batman looks at Lois’ wound while he explains the situation to Green Arrow. Together, the three plan to call in all of the best detectives in the DC Universe. One of the best detectives is already in the same room as them though, The Question.

As it turns out though, Doctor Strand wasn’t killed during the explosion she was caught in, but rather simply transported. Once settled, she begins to listen to someone explaining their plans for the world and their goals to change the world for the better. She’s listening and being recruited by Leviathan.

Event Leviathan starts out exactly as it’s been set-up as, a hard-boiled detective story. At its heart, within the grandiose spectacle that many comic stories contain, this is a detective story. It’s about piecing together clues to discover the culprit behind everything going on and Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev capture this style beautifully. It feels like a classic noir from the pacing of the story to the visuals, especially the heavily backlit lighting style of Maleev’s art, everything screams noir. This is an incredibly engrossing first issue that catches up new readers incredibly quickly, while also paying off readers of Action Comics as well.

9.0/10 

Event Leviathan starts off with a bang and paves the way for an engrossing detective story that encompasses the entire DC Universe.