Batman: Detective

It’s Paul Dini writing Batman stories, which is a big sell for me right away. So many stories, and highly enjoyable. I’ve heard the art criticized by others, but I enjoyed it.

Despite what other reviews saw, I actually didn't mind and at some times enjoyed the artwork. Now that that's out of the way.The stories here are varied indeed. I really enjoyed how each issue was a self contained story from start to finish. There were some really enjoyable ones such as Poison Ivys, Penguin's, and especially Joker's. The rest, eh, they were ok and easily forgettable. I had to actually thumb through to book again to remember the stories earlier in the collection prior to this review. I have no reference for Paul Dini's work. This book definitely did not turn me off to getting more from his collection, but it also didn't have me ordering up each and every collection I could find on amazon. Overall I would say that the gems in here were worth the purchase.

This is a collection of stories from the "One Year Later" portion of DC's continuity. The collection contains 6 separate story's from the pages of Detective Comics.What makes this book special is that you don't need to have read the last 10 years of DC TPBs to fully understand and enjoy the story.It brings Batman back to his roots, not sulking around rehashing his psyche, but solving crimes in a way which reminds the reader why Ra's al Ghul calls him "The Detective".All in all a great read, for the casual reader and the enthusiast alike.

This trade contains Detective Comics issues #621-626.Paul Dini, renown for his work on Batman: The Animated Series, brought his take on the character into the DCU "proper" with his work on one of Batman's flagship titles, starting with these six issues. While a bit hit or miss his stories made for good reads more often than not and presented interesting variations on established mythos as well as adding to it.The issues here are all stand alone stories. The first highlights Dini's approach - in the spirit of the book's title Dini sought to emphasize Batman's detective work and deductive reasoning. A decent mystery with a logical solution and some nice red herrings. Even being a bit rushed I liked having an interesting story in a single issue.The rest focus on well known members of Batman's rogues' gallery. The Poison Ivy story (823) was better in idea than execution, Penguin's (824) was good) and Dr. Phosphorus' (824) was kind of bland.My favorites were the second and last. In 822 we get a (mostly) reformed Riddler trying his had at private detective and cooperating/competing with Batman to solve another good mystery.And to close out the trade Robin gets blindsided into a confrontation with the most iconic of Batman's foes. There's a dangerous edge to the story and a lot of tension. Tim Drake is a favorite of mine so it was gripping watch him struggle so far out of his depth.Overall a great collection. Even the stories that didn't quite work as well as I'd like generally had interesting ideas. Strong start for Dini.

This is a collection of 6 Batman shorts, 5 of them written by Paul Dini, and featuring the usual roster of the Dark Knight's favourite rogues: Joker, Poison Ivy, Riddler, and Penguin.The book focuses on the detective side to Batman more than the action/superhero aspects. The stories show Bruce Wayne collecting clues through misdirection and acting, using his public persona of playful silly billionaire to extrapolate information from his targets, only to take them down as Batman.To be honest most of the stories are forgettable, but Dini throws some interesting nuance into the familiar characters. He has Penguin exploiting his infamy through merchandise for his new club, and Riddler (after a bout with amnesia - I know) has become a private detective, so the stories don't read as simply just cat and mouse but they're still too brief to make much of an impact.That said, the final story, a Christmas themed Joker story "Slayride" featuring Tim Drake/Robin kidnapped by the Clown Prince of Crime was fantastic. Nobody writes Joker better than Dini and he gives Joker a commanding performance in this story, striking the perfect balance between cold blooded insane killer and charmingly eccentric oddball. The best was when, mid-soliloquy, Joker decides he wants eggnog and heads to a drive-thru - but I'll just leave it at that.This isn't the best Dini/Batman book out there (check out "Mad Love") but it definitely has its moments and is worth looking up if only for the Joker/Robin story.

Coming off from Infinite Crisis with the one year later story Face to Face, this story-line contains stand-alone stories that contribute greatly to the world-building of the Batman mythos. I'm a huge fan of Paul Dini, who was a writer on the Batman animated series, and he gave his all in bringing the noir atmosphere to this series. I especially love the stories with Riddler now becoming an ally of Batman with his own consulting agency, Batman's run-in with Poison Ivy, and Joker's kidnapping scheme of Robin over Christmas. I would recommend any true Batman and/or comics fan to read Paul Dini's run on Detective Comics.

Thought this book was absolutely awesome. There were some things in here that just threw me. Riddler is just hilarious and a little frightening at the same time. If you love Riddler, get this book.