Batman: Detective No. 27 by Michael Uslan and Peter Snejbjerg (graphic novel review).
I pulled ‘Batman: Detective No. 27’ by writer Michael Uslan and artist Peter Snejbjerg with an interest in how was a 2003 graphic novel using Batman was done when Bruce Wayne was only a detective. A large part of the book follows Allan Pinkerton after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the rise of The Secret Society Of Detectives.
Poor Bruce Wayne still sees the death of his parents at the hands of a criminal and goes abroad to be educated. Various rogues turn up that have some similarities to their DC Comics reality in the meantime. Don’t forget this is an Otherworlds presentation so it doesn’t necessarily have to follow the same pattern but it becomes fun spotting the alternative versions.
There are a lot of areas that are simply spoilers, suffice to say that Wayne gets recruited and begins to unravel things. In some respects, as Alfred Pennyworth is also a detective, you do have to wonder why he never suspected the real villain from the start. If you don’t know, Detective # 27 was also the issue where the Batman first appeared. There are also a lot of references to bats throughout this issue but never acted upon.
Peter Snejbjerg’s art captures the Victorian feel in America of that time period but his facial expressions are a bit limited. When anyone is expression angst, the get pop-eyes and letterbox mouths, The story does carry it though, so perhaps we can be forgiving after 15 years.
GF Willmetts
September 2019
(pub: DC Comics, 2003. 94 page graphic novel. Price: I pulled my copy for £ (UK). ISBN: 1-4012-0107-5)
check out website: www.dccomics.com