The Talons have attacked at the behest of The Joker, so will Batman and Two-Face ally with each other or will the Talons overtake them both. Spoilers for Detective Comics #1024 follow.
Usually, when story arcs start as something completely separate and then, halfway through, become part of a crossover, things tend to fall apart. That did seem to be the case a couple of issues back for this Detective Comics arc as well. However, the last issue and this issue proved to get the arc back on track and managed to combine the current story with the crossover elements incredibly well. This is a great issue and a really solid ending for this current story between Batman and Two-Face.
What makes this issue work as well as it does is that it doesn’t allow its crossover elements to overshadow the Two-Face arc that is currently being told. The struggle between Two-Face and Batman is the main focus of this issue, even if they are fighting Talons and, to an extent, Joker together. Every bit of character development though is focused entirely on Two-Face and Batman. This is their story and the creative doesn’t ignore that. They allow the story to end with effective development for Harvey and now he acts as a pro bono lawyer for those in prison with him. It’s a good ending to this version of the character, at least for now.
Beyond the great character work in this issue between Batman and Two-Face, it’s incredibly fun to see Talons back in action again, even if it’s just for this issue. They are some of the best secondary villains introduced over the past decade of comics and it’s always exciting to see them featured in any way, especially in an all-out brawl like is featured in this issue. They could have done a bit more to be truly intimidating like they’ve been in the past, but it’s still fun nonetheless. Plus, having them be used by The Joker is a great idea and done pretty well in this issue.
The effectiveness of the fight throughout the majority of the issue comes down to one thing though, the art. Luckily, the art team that has been on the past several issues, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Brad Anderson, is perfectly up for the challenge. The art in this issue is fantastic and perfectly encapsulates what was needed for this issue.
Starting off with Walker’s pencils and Hennessy’s inks, they manage to balance to disparate things, clarity and chaos. The pages themselves, at first glance, look incredibly chaotic, which is absolutely purposeful. It creates a manic sense that the reader needs in order to properly convey the fight that is happening in this issue. However, amongst that chaos, it is very clear what is going on. The noise on the page isn’t just noise, everything is purposeful and the inks really help to bring that out of the pencils.
As for Brad Anderson’s colors, what else is there to say at this point. He’s had an illustrious career and it’s obvious that he’s one of the best colorists working in comics and shows it once again in this issue.