Oh John Layman, I must bow to you. Because of you, with one single issue, you have revived Detective Comics to its former glory. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this because Layman doing mainstream work is so foreign to me. But right off the bat I can tell I am going to love this run because he is going to mix a great blend of action and comedy to his story.

This isn’t ‘Chew’ level humor mind you, this isn’t a comedy book. But he is able to put a good amount of humor when need be. Hell, the opening page alone is laugh out loud funny. Plus I love it that his Batman is going to be uber-aggressive. This is a Batman who has no problem throwing you threw a door several times for information. I am a bit hesitant that he’s using Penguin though, because he is a bit overused lately in Batman lore. However, if you look at past runs of Detective you can see that Penguin is a major factor in the series. So I guess I can’t fault Layman too much for using him.

Jason Fabok didn’t win me over with that Mr. Freeze one-shot earlier this year. But this first issue for Detective did. It is very clean and sharp like David Finch but the character models are much improved here. That, and we also see more Batman and I gotta say he draws one hell of a Batman. His action sequences are also pretty damn good and I can’t wait to see how he handles assassins with flaming swords. As long as Layman delivers more action then talking heads in this run, this will make Fabok’s art better over time.

This is one hell of a debut issue for both John Layman and Jason Fabok. If this series continues to be fast and full of action then it will play to Layman’s strengths and the book will be a blast to read. Also, if he plays to these strengths then the art by Fabok will also be just as great because it’ll play to his strengths too. My only thing I would say to criticize the issue is the back up. Great art by Andy Clarke but the story could have had a bit more meat to it. Felt like it ended a bit too abruptly. Apart from that though, this is a great first start to bring Detective Comics back to its former glory.