I don't care about anyone in the story, heroes or villains alike, because I don't understand the motivations driving these characters to make the choices that they have throughout the story--and how they go about these choices. Detective Comics as a title that was supposed to showcase the crime-solving sleuth quality of Batman but much of the time in Daniel's story, all he did is employ violence every step of the way. I don't really feel like he's solving anything unless you count the number of times he beats up people as a way to get answers from everyone. Sure, Batman kicks ass but he's also the type to ask the questions either before or after the violent confrontation. He usually doesn't do this and doesn't bother unravelling whatever clues and threads he might find, seemingly more eager to jump from one action sequence to another in every issue. Whenever he does play detective, it comes off as pretentious and tacky as if Daniel doesn't even bother making it a serious venture and would rather make Batman utter cheesy lines that more than once made me cringe.
Another thing that disappointed me about this volume is how fucking MISLEADING it tends to be. Just look at that main cover as well as the ones that heavily feature the Penguin. Trust me, their time on the pages have little impact and enjoyment to offer. As gratingly inconsistent the seven issues had been as a whole story, the one consistent thing Daniel does manage to do is short change his baddies where they don't ever have that much of a significant role to contribute in his plots. In the first two issues (which, in retrospect, were actually the only decent ones in the collection), we get a story about the Joker but we never, ever get an explanation or even a theory as to why he had his face surgically removed by the Dollmaker, which should have been an interesting moment. Frustratingly enough, the Dollmaker story arc that lasted four issues too long was also handled poorly. This chief villain just disappeared easily, I may add, because Batman just stopped caring halfway through like a child with attention-deficit disorder, and focused his energies with the Penguin who was also cast aside to "develop" that character story concerning Charlotte Rivers and her evil twin, and it's not that engrossing. Like, AT ALL. Charlotte Rivers and her twin are unsympathetic and bland and there was no solid characterization that made me believe I should pay attention to what is happening in their cookie-cutter lives. To call them plot devices would be giving them the dimension they don't have.
And then there's that bit about Hugo Strange's bastard son and I actively fucking hate anything with Hugo Strange in it so, nope, I would rather not discuss any more of that bullshit because it was a passing storyline that did nothing for the main story.
Just explaining about the things that annoyed me the most while reading the issues is almost like re-living the horror for me so I'm going to end my review now. I also decided not to review the next issues (#8-12) individually anymore since they are written by Daniel again and I only plan to submit one review for the second volume that collects it. I just have to endure five more Daniel issues before I finally get to John Layman's run.
NOT RECOMMENDED: 4/10
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