Review: Detective Comics Vol. 7- Anarky
Quick Summary
Pros: The opening story arc is great and is intense from start to finish. The quality of the artwork is high throughout the volume.
Cons: The main story arc centers around some seriously problematic themes that make Batman look bad. The final two stories are just average.
Overall: This collection has a few interesting stories to offer but also contains some serious problems. The book’s stories are generally captivating and center around a mystery that is fun to see unfold. However, the book’s main story arc has a poorly handled theme and some of the smaller stories are just alright. Readers who can look past this volume’s problems may be able to enjoy the mysteries and the artwork but those who cannot should consider reading something else.
Story
Detective Comics Vol. 7: Anarky collects several stories of varying levels of quality. The first is a quick but highly compelling arc that has Batman rushing to solve a mystery before he is killed by a mysterious virus. Then, the volume tells a longer arc centered around Batman’s fight against a villain named Anarky. This larger arc is decently entertaining but involves themes that are seriously problematic and make Batman seem either careless or completely ignorant of the world around him. The volume closes with two more chapters that are just alright and don’t stand out as seriously positive or negative. All in all, these various levels of quality create a book that is hard to universally recommend but may still be interesting for some.
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Anarky opens with its best story arc. The two-chapter arc, written by Benjamin Percy, has Batman discover a deadly virus within a crashed airplane. From here, it is a constant race against the clock as Batman only has hours to solve the case before he is killed by the virus. The entire narrative is pulse-pounding, intense, and leads to a great conclusion.
The volume’s next story arc, the titular “Anarky” arc written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, also contains a solid mystery. It follows Batman’s investigation into two seemingly independent cases that go on to link together at the arc’s conclusion. Watching this unfold and seeing Batman deal with it proves to be a highly satisfying experience.
However, the message within this portion of the book is so problematic that it is extremely hard to enjoy the arc’s positive features. The unrest present in Gotham’s society are completely unaddressed by the end of the book and are even casually dismissed by Batman at one point, as he seemingly suggests it is just as easy for a former criminal to make it with a “clean slate” as it is with a criminal record. In a similar way, problems with Gotham’s police force are brushed aside just as easily. A police officer tries to shoot a fleeing criminal in an already risky situation but ends up killing an innocent civilian. This incident is immediately swept under the rug by the GCPD, seemingly condoned by Batman, and generally treated with sympathy by the narrative, instead of being condemned as unnecessary. The entire story ranges from tone-deaf about serious societal issues to downright disappointing, particularly in the way it portrays Batman.
Anarky then closes with two individual stories that don’t really stand out as that positive or negative. The Endgame tie-in is alright but works better with other comics than with this one. Meanwhile, the Futures End tie-in has a clever twist at the end but isn’t that compelling altogether.
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Art
The artwork in Anarky is probably its most consistently positive feature. The opening story arc features rough and gritty visuals from John Paul Leon. The darker nature of the artwork in these chapters helps bring home the serious tone of the story and intensify the general feeling of tension. Then, the book’s main story arc features beautiful visuals from Francis Manapul. Manapul’s approach to people and places constantly creates a wonderfully stylized portrait of Gotham. However, it is in the structures where Manapul impresses the most, as some of the pages in this arc are laid out in some seriously imaginative patterns. Overall, the quality of the artwork is high throughout this volume and adds a lot to the overall reading experience.
Continuity
Detective Comics Vol. 7: Anarky continues the story from Detective Comics Vol. 6: Icarus (Review).
The story here continues in Detective Comics Vol. 8: The Blood of Heroes (Review).
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Detective Comics: Endgame #1 is a tie-in to the Batman: Endgame (Review) (Reading Order) event.
- The story in Detective Comics: Endgame #1 is somewhat of a prelude to the We are Robin movement starting in We Are Robin Vol. 1: The Vigilante Business (Review).
- Detective Comics: Futures End #1 is a tie-in to the Futures End (Review) (Reading Order) event.
- Detective Comics: Futures End #1 also makes a number of references to the “Zero Year”, which took place across Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year- Secret City (Review) and Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year- Dark City (Review).