Detective Comics #1019: Holiday Fear

As far as filler arcs go, this one was really fun. 

The issue starts with a hectic scene which see the Crazed Viking from the last issue attacking Bruce. Scott Godlewski and David Baron do their best to convey the energy of the fight with the Viking striking so fast that his axe blurs as it impacts the stage and sends a silhouetted Bruce flying backwards. The rest of the fight is seamless as well with Bruce using his gymnastic skills to outmaneuver the giant and knowledge of exposed wires and electricity to take the beast of a man down. Baron especially sells the power of the shock with the bright white and blue coloring of it as well as Rob Leigh’s “ZZRAKK” lettering being prominent in the panel for sound.

Much like the fantastic Batman the Animated Series, Bruce feigns fatigue and shock in an attempt to get away and investigate as Batman. As mentioned in the last issue, I love that Peter J. Tomasi is actually allowing Batman to be a detective in this series. He continues researching ancient Pagan rituals and the Viking’s DNA to find out what exactly is going on. At the time, Tomasi also places a small focus on Alfred’s death and how his absence is affecting Bruce. Godlewski’s use of body language and Baron’s warm lighting reflects Bruce’s memories of his best friend.

Things begin to switch gears when Bruce suits up and goes back to the Gotham Botanical Garden, the site of the horrific murders that started this terrifying storyline. Godlweski and Baron set up the scene perfectly with an overbearing sense of dread thanks to the cool lighting of the snow-filled night and Tomasi’s scripting using little dialogue for these panels. Suddenly a chain wraps around Batman’s neck and a group of people appear behind him. Godlweski and Baron make these regular looking people seem mildly dangerous with flaming chains and torches.

Things take an even more frightful when the head cultist slams the Viking from the beginning against a tree and begins ripping his mouth open. The Viking is revealed to have been a mind controlled puppet and portal to these Cultists’ God, only it turns out that their God is actually some sort of eldritch horror. Honestly, the visual of the creature crawling out of the mouth of the Viking is striking because of Baron’s radiant reds and a sort of lens flare effect and also because of its gnarled fingers as drawn by Godlewski.

Another thing I thought this issue did well was making Batman pretty non-essential to the overall outcome. Over the years, many writers have written Batman as a hero that can overcome things WELL BEYOND his abilities and while I do love that stuff, sometimes it does become a little tired. Batman can beat anything, nothing proves that better than Batman Annual #4 (2019) by Tom King, and that was a phenomenal and hilarious book, but it highlights the problems of escalation that Batman stories are facing.

So when Tomasi decides to portray Bruce as almost ineffectual and Godlewski draws the Horror tossing the hero away, it can elicit a feeling of relief. Bruce even has an internal monologue about how he can find the Monsters weakness, but as the beat realizes that Batman isn’t one of his followers, he tells him the truth about his existence before eating the Cultists and going back into his hole. Batman tries to save the leader, but finds himself unable as Godlewski shows the cultist being violently killed.

The issue then ends with a nice scene of Bruce drinking coffee (I prefer to think hot cocoa). Compared to the rest of this issue, this might be the most jarring scene of them all.