Future State: Dark Detective #3: Always Feels Like Somebody’s Watching Me

Matthew Rosenberg is the voice we needed to relaunch Grifter in the roaring 20s. Rosenberg, always a deft hand at pacing, manages to create a distinct and proper voice for Cole Cash, capitalizing on his charming sarcasm and generally happy-go-lucky demeaner in face of his constant grifts and betrayals. The morals (re)-established here by Rosenberg will serve well as readers transition to Urban Legends, where he will team with Grifter legend Ryan Benjamin to continue work with Cash. While it’s sad to say goodbye to Di Giandomencio, who turned in beautifully frenetic and detailed work with these two issues, it’s hard to dwell too long on that given how bright the future is for the character.

In the lead story, Tamaki continues to prove why she is the current Eisner Writer of the Year while Dan Mora and Jordie Bellaire continue to make a superstar artistic team, feeding into each other’s creativity and depth, reminicisent of the pairing of Sinclair colors to Lee pencils and Williams inks as I was coming up with comics in the 90s. Living in an era where digital media algorithms are likely tracking these words as I type them, the investigation of the surveillance state in Gotham strikes close enough to home to evoke a sense of dread in the reader while maintaining a sufficient science-fiction distance to still provide some level of escapism. The encounter between Tim Fox and Bruce Wayne, both costumed, is a priceless exchange that readers have read the inverse of many times and is sure to spark a different favorite memory in many Bat-fans. All in all, an excellent issue in a fantastic series.