God damn you Scott Snyder!

You come into this industry as an ‘up and coming’ talent and now you’re dishing out some of the best work DC Comics has to offer. Your run on American Vampires has been amazing to read and this run on Detective Comics is no slouche either. When you have artists like Francesco Francavilla (and grudgingly Jock too) by your side you’d think you could just phone it in at this point. But no, Scott Snyder refuses to just let the artists do their job properly. He has to give us an amazing issue to read month after month with this book. This issue is no different.

Last issue we saw an insight into the disturbed mind of James Gordon, Jim’s ‘lost’ son. This issue we get even more in-depth to just how seemingly disturbed a kid like James was. But also we get a good look into Jim Gordon’s mind as he tries to solve a case but also deal with his son’s issues. Snyder is perfect at three things and it shows up in this issue. First, he’s good at racking up the tension. There are a lot of twist and turns in both interconnecting stories and you really don’t know where it’s gonna go. Is James a cold blooded murderer, and especially at the such a young age? Although we don’t see the present day James in this issue we do see how bizarre and off putting the child is which makes it all the more chilling to read. The second thing Snyder is good at is characterization. We get a great look into Jim Gordon and a little bit of Harvey Bullock’s mind. Jim has always been a tragic character but Snyder really is piling on more problems for him to deal with. Finally, Snyder brings a lot of horror into his work. Not horror like in monster movies and such; but James is such a disturbing character that you really get scared on what he’s gonna do. All of this and more showcases just how talented of a writer Scott Snyder really is.

Francesco Francavilla really outdid himself with this issue. Last issue with him as full-time artist was amazing too but you really can see a lot more love in these pages. Absolutely 3 gorgeous double-page spreads in this. The first one that appeared, with Jim Gordon’s face literally took me back at not only how gorgeous it was but the compositon as well. So many times artists can do great double-page spreads but then cock up the layout as an afterthough. But Francavilla shows how much care he puts into his art because he’s able to balance his talents with making the issue readable as well. His coloring is also pretty spot on too, with a lot of red’s and blues painted across the issue. It’s like how Frazier Irving’s unique color design sets apart him from other colors if I can make a comparison. It gets me frustrated though that Francavilla can’t stay as the regular artist. Jock has certainly impressed me with the issues he’s worked with; but his pencils don’t hold a candle to what Franco is doing here.

Just an amazing issue all the way around. Scott Snyder is really becoming in a class of his own as a writer. He’s like…..an ‘architect’ of sorts for DC…..No that’s a stupid title I’ll just say he’s brilliant. Great tension and characterization in this issue and I hope he’s gonna put more Jim Gordon in this series. Francavilla also gives us 150% of brilliance with this issue with amazing double-page spreads and overall gorgeous art to look at. It’s been a long time coming but Detective Comics is finally back on track with an amazing talent on board. Easily my Pick of the Week for sure.