DETECTIVE COMICS #848
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Size: pages
Price: 2.99
It’s getting more difficult to like this run because of one person: Dustin Nguyen.
Dont get me wrong, the art in this book is much better then anything I’ve seen from this guy. Even before I get to my nitpicks on the art I still like him on this series. He’s good at what he can do and some of the things from this run so far are really looking good. That said, wow those were some ugly faces in this …and I’m not even talking about Scarecrow’s victim here.
For some reason Nguyen just adds lines to faces where there shouldnt be. It makes it hard, for me anyways, to tell a person’s emotion and though on a panel. Hell over the course of the book has lines all over his face, especially when he’s up close towards the end with Scarecrow. The backgrounds look good enough, especially the last page; but overall it’s hard to really get interested with a character when so little detail in the person itself isnt done well.
Other then that I thought this was another soild issue, again it’s tough for Dini to sell Hush here. I mean Loeb had to hard of a time with his own creation and Dini is barely doing any better. Hush just seems to hate Batman for a bunch of different reason, and no clear main reason why he wants to kill him. Also, when the hell did Selina ever meet this guy? Cause you would think that would be a big factor from the whole ‘Hush’ storyline when he was introduced. Still we got two more issues left so we’ll see how RIP plays into this…and yes that was a sarcastic attempt to think that this has anything to do with RIP at all.
Art: 2 - Average
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
i agree, the art is subpar to what could be a beautifully illustrated story. Switch Jim Lee for Hush and Nguyen for All Star Batman and Robin.
I gotta be honest: I’m freakin’ loving Nguyen’s art in this book. His Batman is perfectly dark and he brings a really nice energy to the fight scenes in the book. He definitely has similar sensibilities to Mignola, and I’m really loving it. Also, the story is fun (with Hush, you just roll with the punches), and I really like the cliffhanger for the issue. It’s just one of those "only Dini would think of this" kind of moments.
I want Jim Lee nowhere near this book! Nguyen is great.
I mean, I’m not saying it’s all terrible…Nguyen definitely knows how to layout a scene and make some really good backgrounds. The machines on Selina at the end in the hospital? Jeez did he get stuff from Bioshock or something? They look great!
But look at those faces and some body movements…and it just looks so uneven. It’s the cover, but look at it, why are there so many lines on Batman? Are they suppose to be scars? Are they mistakes Nguyen never fixed when he was sketching? It’s not like it’s just the cover, this popped up quite frequently in the issue…Idk I dont think he’s terrible, but a new artist is something I would want after this arc.
In my opinion Nguyen has been nailing Batman since his New Gods arc on Superman/Batman. That was a beautifully illustrated arc. I think Nguyen is right were he belongs and Detective Comics has exactly what it needs. (Not that there is anything wrong with Lee.)
@TheNextChampion – I think we generally agree and I certainly enjoy reading your reviews (in a number of cases I consider writing a review and then read yours and realize mine would be nearly identical), but I think our preferences for/against this "sketchy" style differ quite a bit. I really think Nguyen’s style fits here. Anyway, keep up the good work on the reviews.
@stuclach: Well I like a variety of art, it doesnt matter to me if it’s sketchy or not. But I guess for the opposite I just dont think Nguyen’s style fits for this arc. I’m not saying Jim Lee, just maybe someone a little better like maybe like Don Kramer or someone else from Dini’s Detective Run..
@TheNextChampion – I don’t consider myself a very good judge of art (I know they are all much, much better than I could ever hope to be) and I generally don’t find that bad art detracts that much from the story for me. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I got started in comics reading Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe book, which had some VERY 80’s art.
@TheNextChampion~ I can definitely see your point about the weird lines on the faces. But it doesn’t really distract me too much. I found those lines lead my eyes to other parts of the action or to focus more on the face, which helped me understand character emotion better. And despite some of his eccentricities as an artist, he is completely nailing the dark look and feel of Batman.
@Neb: Well yeah I mean it is dark…then again most of this took place in a cave lol Still the tone is down and once again the backgrounds look great. I just cant get this nagging issue of the faces and some body movement in the panels. Overall it’s subpar and I’m more worried about Dini making Hush a good villian then anything else. I just wonder if there is another artist coming in after this run.
@conor I agree…I enjoyed the art