Detective Comics #999 Review

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi / Artist: Doug Mahnke / DC Comics The Price You Pay This is it. The last issue in the Mythology arc. The penultimate issue before the big #1000 milestone for the Dark Knight. Everything Tomasi and Mahnke have worked on comes to a head this issue, and the culmination of all their work pays off in a beautiful reminder of what Batman is. The big reveal at Detective Comics #998 that a young Bruce Wayne was somehow responsible for all the calamity pays off in droves after some quick exposition. Everything from the start of the arc was Bruce’s gift to himself, a self-made crucible to test his mettle, or the strangest birthday tradition ever. Detective Comics #999 is a testament to all the ways that Batman tries to be better, all the methodologies he employs to make himself the insurmountable symbol Gotham needs him to be. It’s a reflection about how drastically his life changed the night his parents died. It’s a meditation on the unrelenting nature of the “mission” and why it’s worth pursuing this, despite the toll it takes.

Not everyone is going to like how neatly this issue ties everything up, but the fact remains is that it’s the perfect way to encapsulate the Batman mythology. It’s the perfect way to examine the feedback loop between Batman and Gotham and the Rogue Gallery. It’s a smart approach that gave Tomasi a lot of narrative freedom and Mahnke a lot of room to be creative with all of the story beats. And most importantly, it primes us for the grea…