Detective Comics #973 - A Review

His mind broken by the tortures of The Victim Syndicate, Clayface is rampaging through Gotham City... straight for the protesters assembled by The First Victim. The Gotham Knights have some unexpected help in trying to prevent disaster, but will they be able to save their former comrade? Or will one of their own take it upon themselves to solve the Clayface problem permanently?


James Tynion IV brings the current storyline to a stunning and satisfactory conclusion. Unfortunately, while Tynion's writing is as great as ever, the artwork for this issue doesn't work at all. Colorist Jason Wright uses a bright palette that doesn't suit the story, particularly when applied to the ink-light artwork of Jesus Merino. Despite this comic looking way too bright, Merino over-inks the outlines of his characters without adding any shading to the interior line work. This leaves the entire book looking odd, but still worth fighting through to enjoy the story.

The Final Analysis: 5 out of 10. Great story, but the artwork is totally at war with it.