I was finally able to get ahold of a readable copy, and I'm very glad I did. A woman as skillful as Batman who calls herself Equilibrium leads a group who dress in white Batman cowls and are systematically killing people Batman once saved. Now Bruce Wayne must travel to England and France in pursuit of this force determined to erase the lives he once saved., And despite his lonesome nature, he's forced to team up with allies and foes from his past if he wants to stop Equilibrium.
While it took a little bit to get into the story, as I wasn't totally up to speed on Batman's current status, once the the tale rally got going it just kept getting better and better. The story was intense and Andy Kubert's artwork was stellar.

Batman: The Detective
by Tom Taylor
Pub Date: 15 Feb 2022
Batman is always a good choice. Great storyline and personally, I like this art style.

I was really looking forward to the day Tom Taylor would write Batman after his excellent run on Nightwing. Unfortunately, it's just okay. Maybe it's just the nature of the 6 issue miniseries? It's hard to put a lot of characterization in there.

The story is about a woman who is killing everyone Batman has ever saved. She and her henchmen are doing it in white Batman suits too. Maybe Jaden Smith is one of her henchmen?

Bruce Wayne's mentor, Henri Ducard, returns when Batman heads to Europe to find Equilibrium. There, he also teams up with the new Squire. Andy Kubert is a terrific artist but I thought it was a poor choice to draw Bruce like an old boxer. His hands are all scarred up. Anyone with common sense could figure out he was Batman. Anyway, this was just okay.

Batman gets a fantastic redesign in line in with his new Euro-scene. The new disguise is refreshing but reminisce a bit of an older steampunkish escence sporting a trench coat and night vision goggles. I read somewhere that "Kubert really shines with his clean lines and art bringing Europe to life" and I totally agree. Taylor's writing is impeccable as always, a delight to read.

I have enjoyed every comic book by Tom Taylor that I have read. He’s great! I especially loved his run on All New Wolverine (Gabby is the best!) and X-men Red. I also really enjoyed his time on Nightwing. I know there’s a lot of great stuff he’s written that I haven’t gotten to yet, which is why I was so pleased when NetGalley and DC gave me an eARC of Batman:The Detective.

This was a very satisfying Batman story. It hooks you right away at the beginning and I always appreciate a Batman story that leans into “Worlds Greatest Detective“ rather than just “Caped Crusader.” And it had Knight and Squire! One of the things I most appreciated about the Batman Incorporated run is that it introduced me to these previously-unknown-to-me characters. And now Squire is all grown up and is Knight and has her own Squire! I love seeing this kind of growth and change in comics. The mystery was fun, the action was great, and I would recommend this to anyone who likes Batman.

ARC From Netgalley.
3.5 Stars.
If "Batman: The Imposter" was about a straightforward detective story for younger Batman, this Volume is the same, but for older Batman. A Bat-copycat is stirring trouble in London, and Bruce heads over seas. Joining forces with Knight and Squire (and occasionally Henri Ducard) he works to take down an organization of "Batman-like" bad guys working for Equilibrium, who only target people Batman has saved before.
Pretty good, quick read.
Looking forward to getting back to regular timeline Batman though.
Recommend.

A tragedy in the United Kingdom draws Batman to investigate. New villains and allies in this overseas adventure, collects Batman the Detective 1-6.

I really wanted to love this book. I am a huge Tom Taylor fan, but this series was just ok. I was not a fan of how the Batman looked. I felt like the art was very unfocused, but I read the single issues and didn't feel like this for that. Hopefully it was just the scan of the book. Everything was just slightly blurry. The backgrounds were neat.

Writing wise I did enjoy the book. Someone was killing all of the people Batman saved. Because we were in Europe I got to see some of the Batman Inc characters which was really cool.

Creative Team:
Writer: Tom Taylor
Penciller: Andy Kubert
Inkers: Sandra Hope and Andy Kubert
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Clem Robins

The beginning portion did make an entrance.The art style is unique and refreshing though the storyline could use some more flow.

Loved Squire and the additions to their character but am sad that Alfred was no longer


There were some plot holes but overall pretty good BAtman comic will look forward to the next edition

'Batman: The Detective' by Tom Taylor with art by Andy Kubert is a graphic novel about someone out to prove something to Batman.

Batman has saved a lot of people in his time as the Dark Knight, but when a tragedy in London turns out to be related to the people that Batman has saved, he decides to investigate personally. He finds someone who wants to reset equilibrium in Batman's world, but can they be stopped.

This is an older Batman who is set in his ways and has even less people around him. He is a bit more reflective, but no less lethal. I really liked this story and the absolutely amazing art by Andy Kubert.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Where Batman: The Detective succeeds is in Tom Taylor’s seeming inherent delightfulness as a writer. Lines like “I punched a ghost” are genuinely funny. So too ideas like that Batman keeps a Batmobile parked on every continent in the world, or that Alfred would have stocked a mobile European “Bat-cave” with a small dinosaur figurine holding a penny. Batman: The Detective makes up for an overall boilerplate story with a big helping of personality.

I don't read a lot of DC stuff, and felt woefully out of the loop at the beginning of this story, but that feeling did go away the further in I got. I mean, there is a lot I've missed, but things were explained well enough in the story that I could follow along without problems, and without anything feeling info-dumpy. We have an older, tired Batman, feeling his age, feeling lonely (he doesn't have a Robin, and Alfred has passed away) and restless. When an airplane goes down in the U.K. and a message to Batman is found at the crash, he goes to investigate. Someone is targeting people whose lives had been saved by Batman, which sounds like a revenge thing, amiright? The action and story play out at a fair pace as Bruce travels around Europe on the heels of Equilibrium, the Villain of the Day. Bruce/Batman has to learn how to ask for help instead of trying to do everything alone to keep more people from dying and save the day. The ending, though...it gives me a little trouble, feels like justice wasn't really served. I think the point was about Bruce/Batman accepting that his actions have consequences he doesn't realize maybe? But this wasn't the time for him to learn that, or the way for him to learn it. Idk, it's hard to explain what I mean without spoilers. The art was good, but did get confusing at times. Still, this was a decent side story, self-contained and fairly accessible to a reader like myself who is not that familiar with the world

#BatmanTheDetective #NetGalley

This is a Spoiler free review

Batman: The Detective is a different sort of Batman story. The Dark Knight is out of his comfort zone, not in Gotham City or the Bat Cave, and finds himself trying to unravel a mystery throughout Europe. Being abroad the Batman is without his usual allies and he calls upon help from Knight, Squire, and Bruce Wayne’s former mentor Henri Ducard.

Over my many years of reading Batman comics I don’t think I’ve ever read a story with Henri Ducard in it. So I really enjoyed reading the similarities and differences between Batman and Ducard. You can see how they are both willing to cross the line to get the information they want, but one of them is unwilling to kill to get that intel. The other is willing to use guns and kill. Guns have always been a major plot point in Batman comics. Bruce Wayne and Batman have no tolerance for anyone willing to use a gun or take a life.

I also enjoyed reading Batman working with different heroes. Knight and Squire are great characters. I’d love to see more of them in future Batman comics and graphic novels. I also enjoyed that despite being in Europe, Batman and Oracle found a way for Batman to use his Bat-Tech and access a new awesome mobile Bat Cave. Every time the Dark Knight used the Bat Cave on wheels was by far my favorite part of this graphic novel.

Batman: The Detective is a new anti Batman story. The new villain of this story is Equilibrium and this villain is very much an anti Batman who kills, shoots guns, and will cross every line Batman won’t. Equilibrium even wears an all white sleek Batman costume. To truly be yin to Batman’s yang. I liked Equilibrium and that we get to learn more about her backstory. Her motivations for being a villain are things I think all of us can relate to, even Batman.

The artwork in Batman: The Detective was very graphic and dark. There is a lot of blood and people are getting shot and blown up left and right. If you don’t like graphic artwork, you might not like this Batman tale. The illustrations also made every character look overly muscled. It was like every character, including Batman, was pumped up with steroids or venom like Bane. If you want to see Batman in a new form, dark and menacing, along with some seriously super-pumped muscles then this is a comic you will enjoy.

If you like unique Batman stories than Batman: The Detective is worth a read. It’s a good story and will keep you engaged.

Stay awesome and keep reading.


Batman: The Detective

Creative team:

Written by Tom Taylor

Illustrated by Andy Kubert

Special thanks to Net Galley and DC comics for my review copy.

Batman is a hero. Full stop. Tom Taylor isn’t breaking new ground. The Dark Knight is good. He saves people. He tries his hardest. He is flawed. He is broken. He tries his hardest. Yes, I know, I mentioned it twice, but that is because it was that important. Batman is so focused on the past and the present that he rarely thinks about the future. Taylor and company focus on this one minor chink in Batman’s armor.

To be frank, before I read this, I never really thought much about it myself. Sure, I’ve spent time thinking about time and how the things I do affect the future, but I don’t really follow that down into infinity and I don’t think about fictional characters that way at all. Tom Taylor though, clearly has thought a lot about it.

What happens if Batman saves a person who goes on to be a monster? Whose responsibility is that? Is Bruce at fault? Surely, he couldn’t know that some person would drive drunk if five years and kill someone else. When he stopped a crime wave, he didn’t know that he was saving a criminal who might rob people blind. Is it Batman’s fault?

Lots to take in isn’t it. Mind blown.

Look, I’m not going to spoil this book for you. I am just going to implore you to buy it and read it. Andy freaking Kubert, pencils this thing. Yes. That Andy Kubert. This is beautiful. I love every single image. Inked by Sandra Hope, and colored within an inch of its life by Brad Anderson, this book is a visual feast. Getting Bruce out of Gotham allows the creative team a lot to work with. I like seeing him in the “real world.” It adds an extra layer of amazing.

Conclusion

Batman: The Detective is, simply put, a work of philosophy hidden inside a six-issue comic series. I can’t recommend it enough. For people who can't get enough of the Dark Knight, this is for you. For people who've never read a Batman comic, this is for you. For people who have Batman fatigue, this is the shot of adrenaline your heart needs.

Seems I write this reviewing most all Dc-Marvel comics these days: Publish a gallery of artists if they can't tell a story...(of course, it could be the artists aren't allowed to draw a competent story any longer due to rotten writers and editors.
Odd to see a Kubert kid work against what his father taught.
Kubert's artwork here is OK. Yet, far too splash page oriented than telling a story.
The terrible plotting and story and dialogue doesn't help.

For reasons to confuse all, this volume is titled 'Batman: Detective".
Yet never are deductive reasoning written in the story. Not even an attempt.

When I saw the title I was excited that an effort to highlight Batman's only REAL "power" is to detect.
This was a sad disappointment.

This would be better titled: Hulk, in a weird Batman costume, Destroys for Families.
Every single piece of this revolves around family or family-like issues. It's sappy nonsense with explosions and an ostentatious train-car.
This is Days of our Lives with capes and immense violence.

But violence to a point!
When the bad guy is too blow her head off, Batman stops her.
Stops her? Throughout the book the Bat-character is out to stop the character out to kill all.
Instead of coming to a logical conclusion the writer has the Bat-character magically place a full hand over the barrel to catch the bullet and stop the bad guys death.
The artwork indicating ANY result of impact, velocity or sense.
A mere mention by another that the bones must be broken. UGH!
Of course, this is impossible. I don't care what the mitt is made of, the result is impossible and insipid.

Known writer rule: When writing science fiction, go for the gold.
This writer clearly doesn't even know what gold is.

Was it the writer's politics that smother his ability to writer competently?
Was it the writer caught up in the gun issue that had the writer not have the bad guy kill herself, but attempt was fine?
Was the writer's politics that has a flip comment written about drones bought by the bad guy from the U.S.? (That is beyond science fiction, irresponsible and declares an entire lack of knowledge of how our national security functions.)
Was it the writer'as politics that has the writing in a vicious trap of "family values"?

OK, I get the effort to dazzles the kiddies with all the daft, over-done artwork.
But, in the effort to use "Detective", at least have any detecting.
Dust off an old Bob Haney script and add the razzle dazzle art-stuff.

My rating started higher, but the conclusion is so sappy and thick with silly conclusions, I was severely disappointed with the whole.
If this is the direction of comic book, time to shut it all down and re-issue decades of far, far, far more superior output.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 2 out of ten points..

To add: I got to read this before publication through Netgalley.com

Ok, I think if I followed comics more regularly, I wouldn't have been quite so out to sea with the characters and what was going on in the storyline. That's on me.

But it's Batman and the artwork was pretty, if slightly difficult for me to follow, but I am a novice when it comes to reading comics, so I don't blame the book I blame me.

That being said, the storyline seemed a bit...of a stretch. I don't get how EVERY single person on a plane were ALL people who Batman had saved in the past. That's pretty epic, unless it was just full of people from a city he had saved, but that wasn't clearly explained.

Not a bad read and one I would recommend if you like Batman and his extended family/allies.

3, not what I was expecting but not bad, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

When it comes to DC Comics, the one thing that it is never short on is Batman titles. It seems like every week we're getting the announcement that a new Bat-centric title is on the way and just about everyone is getting their turn at the wheel. So, it's unsurprising that a Batman solo title would eventually find his way to Tom Taylor, one of DC's best minds and now an exclusive writer with the publisher. While Taylor's Batman: The Detective is a fun read that lives up to its name, throwing you into the mind of the world's greatest detective, its plot can't help but feel a bit weak. 
Batman: The Detective finds the caped crusader leaving his life in Gotham City behind and making his way to Europe, Why you ask? well because some folks overseas are dressing as bats and killing people. Its quickly revealed that they aren't killing just anyone, but people who have been saved by Batman himself. The biggest mystery of the series is why; why are these people in white bat costumes brutally murdering people who've been saved by Bruce Wayne? The story here works, and it's interesting at times, but it didn't really sink its claws into me like any other mystery.
One of the strongest parts of the story is the bits that seem to come from within the mind of the bat. He's breaking down happenings in his head and really digging into the world's greatest detective angle of the character that's been absent from a lot of recent interpretations. For a few glimmering moments, the story feels engaging, but ultimately, the story itself is too weak for anything special to come of it.
Perhaps the weakest part of this story is the villains themselves, they aren't compelling and there is really nothing special about them. It's pretty ironic that they wear white batman costumes because they feel lackluster. They're what you'd expect if you took all the fun out of the characters from Gotham City Imposters and threw them into a European setting. The story here feels like it should be interesting and feels like a unique scenario but it just doesn't really tie together well in the end, with the reveal being nothing jaw-dropping and kind of generic.
Perhaps one of the brighter aspects of the story is its reintroduction of the newest Knight and Squire, UK equivalents of Batman and Robin. Here we see the original Squire, Beryl Hutchinson, pick up the mantle of Knight alongside the newest Squire, Amina Eluko working alongside Batman. Their story is something interesting and the two of them could really shine in their own book. Detective Mentee of the Bat, Henri Ducard plays a prominent role where at times it feels like he's more useful as a punching bag than he does integral to the unfolding story. Thankfully, though, the character does get better as the story progresses but a moment that could've been crucial and emotional falls flat.
Despite its story issues, this book is something great to look at, with some stellar artwork from Andy Kubert. Batman gets a stellar redesign here, fitting in with his new European terrain, sporting a trench coat and goggles. Kubert really shines here with his environments and bringing Europe to life. The panels here are truly dynamic and admittedly are the best parts of this book.
While Batman: The Detective ultimately was not the Batman story I was looking for when it comes to Tom Taylor, it is an interesting premise that features a below-average story with some above-average art.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book a lot. It was a nice change to see Batman out of his usual Gotham City environment.
He went abroad to solve this mystery of why (and who) someone was killing people. Gone were his usual allies in the extended Bat Family. Here, he was ably helped by Knight and Squire. It was a refreshing change seeing them.
The mystery moved along well with action, suspense and surprises.
Any Batman fan should want to pick this up.

The way I was sitting at the edge of my seat!

I loved this so much! This is the kind of action packed piece I've been looking for. I hate that Alfred is gone, but I understand that his loss is a major factor for this work. And only Batman would be able to punch a ghost. I liked to move from the cape to the trench coat, it definitely gave him an older feel, and the style is consistent to other animated works when Batman is older. We love costume consistency. I really liked Ducard as a character as well, he was well developed even though I haven't run accross his character anywhere else yet. Also bless Batman for being able to scare the pants off the organized world of leaders that he can just barrel through when he asks for help.

Also can we just take a minute to gush about Squire... I mean she has DREADS. So cool, and I want her to be everywhere.

The tone of the story was great, and it posed a really great questions about Batman's morality, and his steadfastness for justice. And the things that Bruce's wealth and influence could be used to make systems better.

This was amazing, I loved it, excited for it's release!

I've been a huge fan of Tom Taylor's work, so the fact I didn't enjoy this title is quite disappointing. Taylor is doing great work on Nightwing and Jon Kent Superman, but this book didn't hit anywhere near those two masterpieces. The premise wasn't great, the beginning wasn't interesting, honestly the book didn't interest me at all until nearly the end. I liked the character of Squire, and I enjoyed the ending, but that was really it. I've always said that Batman is at his best when he's with his allies-- and what do you, as soon as Batman started actively working with others, I felt that the story jived better. Unfortunately, that wasn't really enough to save this book for me, especially since all the characters he was working with were completely new to me and I didn't really feel much for them. I hope Taylor sticks to Nightwing and Superman instead-- those books are where his talents lie.

A fun little adventure across the pond, with some new tech and new compatriots. Didn’t have much of an English or European flavor, though—it might as well have been set in Gotham. Not a single “bloody hell, Batman!”

The longer this series went on, the more questions piled up. I don’t understand why the villains dressed like a Batman, but in white instead of blue and gray. I was also confused as to why Batman would keep a database of all the people he’d ever saved. What use could that be? He doesn’t send them birthday cards or Christmas gifts. And although the new tech is fun, didn’t Joker drain all his bank accounts recently and force Bats to downsize his operations? It seems like we’re already back to the billionaire status quo.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the person he’s tracking that stays in one spot for twenty minutes. “He could be sleeping,” Batman thinks. Or he could be dead..or he could be reading a book or taking a decent sized number two. Has Batman never had to work one out before?