Detective Comics #1034: Falling from the Ivory Tower

Now with Future State behind us… er…. ahead of us? No, behind us… we return to present day where Bruce Wayne has been stripped of most of the Wayne Fortune (now in the hands of the Fox family mostly) and has to learn to adjust to new lifestyle that includes less perks and more DIY work ethic. But has he fallen to near destitute status as we saw in Dark Detective, taking on a roommate and living in the depths of Gotham. No. Not even close. Here, we see a more likely outcome for when the elite fall– they just fall to a different level of elite, or perhaps an upper eschelon of the bourgeoise. The landing is soft, softened by white privilage and family heritage in Gotham. The book is still in the early stages of establishing a status quo but so far, the opening chapter looks primed to examine class relationships in a way that opens up the false polemic of poor/rich and allows for a book like Detective Comics to look at the power dynamics with more nuance than before and the various levels of agents involved in keeping the poor poor and rich rich. With a powerhouse team on the main story, it’s no surprise that this new era of ‘Tec is strong right out of the gates.

The backup feature by Williamson and Melnikov is the second part of the story begun in this month’s Batman, setting up their upcoming Robin solo series. The story goes to great lengths to setup new concepts such as the mysterious League of Lazarus and some sort of martial arts tournament in order to entice the reader to jump onboard when Robin hits the shelves. It appears to be a good story but I’m banking on a lot of depth here. More of a surface level, action-packed story with some of our favorite martial artists and assassins and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The series will likely hinge on Melnikov’s ability to relay the action sequences and in this short teaser, they seem up to the task.