As his investigation into the Magistrate’s drone continues, Batman learns exactly how far their new police state in Gotham has gone. Spoilers for Future State: Dark Detective #3 follow.
So far, Dark Detective has been one of the better series that has been part of the Future State line. It’s not in the top five, but it is absolutely leaps and bounds better than stuff like Future State: The Flash and Future State: Superman of Metropolis. Much of this is thanks to how different Dark Detective feels compared to the rest of the line. As the name suggests, it’s a neo-noir detective story that, for the most part, is very much succeeding in telling an engaging detective story.
What makes this such an intriguing detective story though? Is that it’s a murder mystery? Partially. Is it that it’s a conspiracy thriller? Partially. Is it because it’s a superhero take on 1984? Also, partially. Is it because it’s a combination of all three? Definitely. Dark Detective takes the best parts of all three of these story ideas, that are very well tread at this point, and combines them into a compelling Batman story that manages to make the entire combination feel fresh.
Throughout the entire Bat-line in Future State, we’ve gotten to see the fascistic police state set-up by the Magistrate in pretty good detail. However, Dark Detective #3 takes it up to another notch here, which is where the 1984 comparisons come into play. We learn in this issue that the Magistrate surveys basically the entirety of Gotham, thusly eliminating any privacy that one may seem to have. No matter how many times that a story does this, it’s a genuinely unsettling development just do the potential real-world implications of it, which are far too complex to even begin to discuss here.
Nevertheless, this sets up an intriguing final issue for the series which, potentially, is what will lead into Future State: Catwoman. Just from the ending of the first issue of that series, we know that Bruce had been captured by the Magistrate after he was thought to be dead by everyone else. End of the day though, this series doesn’t really seem like it’s going to end on a happy note, which is probably a good thing.
The most disappointing part about this issue though is the bit of false advertising from the cover. This is comics we’re talking about though, so it’s not all that surprising, but the cover was setting up a fight between The Next Batman and Bruce. They do meet in this issue, but all they have is a tense conversation. It’s well done and the better story choice, but when you’re expecting something else, it’s a bit disappointing at first.
As for the art, once again Dan Mora and Jordie Bellaire absolutely steal the show. Mora tells the story so dynamically and with so much intensity that you forget that most of the issue is just conversational while reading it. Any artist who can make even the simplest of dialogue exciting is a phenomenal artist, end of story. And Jordie Bellaire’s colors make Mora’s art pop even more. Her colors are vibrant in the right places, while also feeling dirty when they need too. Truly, Mora and Bellaire were made to work together.
Regarding the Grifter back-up though, it’s fine. There’s nothing all that special about it. It’s a fun read that expands the world a bit more, but that’s about it. As a Huntress fan, I was happy to see her involved, even if she didn’t get to do much. All-in-all, it was nothing special, but still worth a read.
