Detective Comics #1111 // Review
Black Canary just told the girl that she killed her father. Now she’s asking the girl to escape with her. She’s going to do it, but it’s not going to be easy. Black Canary has a way with walls. They aren’t a problem. There are people there, though, who are going to be after the two of them Batman and Green Arrow are there to help, but there are going to be complications in Detective Comics #1111. Writer Tom Taylor and artist Mikel Janín continue a surprisingly enjoyable story of the bird, the bat and the bow and arrow.
In Black Canary’s defense, she didn’t intend to kill the hero known as Prion. It was an errant punch that hit at just the wrong time causing cardiac arrest. And it was a long time ago. The girl is happy to go with Black Canary anyway. There are a lot of people guarding the compound, though. Batman points out that the guards don’t know the true nature of what they’re protecting. What Black Canary’s doing could look a hell of a lot like kidnapping to them, so the two masked crimefighters are going to want to go easy on them.
Taylor works with a small ensemble of characters to develop pretty intriguing mystery involving sinister forces, advanced training in deadly arts and lots of shadowy motives. It's the type of thing that Batman has been immersed in for a very long time. Nevertheless, Taylor manages to make it look fresh. The distinct rapport between the heroes it is a great deal of fun to hang out with for about 20 pages. Oliver has a very sharp sense of humor about him that sits well at the heart of a story that involves some pretty dark angles on things. The action moves bristly up across the page in another satisfying outing between the covers of one of the longest running titles in history.
The action lunges and slices across the page with particularly dramatic and stylish flair thanks to the work of Janín. Action and intrigue hit the page from interesting angles. They'll layouts seem to move along the action quite well. There's also a moody drama that's hitting the page in a very appealing way. And there's a really nice contrast between the opening flashback and the present action which dominates most of the issue. The artist has a really good job of capturing everybody just a little bit younger and costumes that feel pleasantly dated.
Once again, this particular combination of characters feels more or less perfectly drawn that the page by this particular creative team. Black Canary, Green Arrow and Batman have worked together before. It's not always easy to get a team like this together in a way that makes sense. Tailoring company really make it feel like they could have had a remarkably long history together. Even their own series. But obviously that never happened. Still: it really feels like this particular group of people should remain together as the series continues. It's been a lot of fun.
