Future State: Dark Detective #4 (REVIEW)

Feb 23, 2021

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Future State: Dark Detective #4
DC Comics

Written by: Mariko Tamaki
Art by: Dan Mora
Colors by: Jordie Bellaire
Letters by: Aditya Bidikar 

Future State Dark Detective throughout its four issue run has given us something that not all Future State books have — a unique, compelling, and action packed story. Tamaki has utilized her time brilliantly with Future State, and it has been her deconstruction of both Bruce Wayne and Batman that has made Dark Detective so compelling.

However, while we clamour for something new, deep down inside we still want those elements that make Batman so special — and Future State Dark Detective #4 delivers on all fronts. For the first time in this series we get a Batman who is on top of his game, rather than playing from behind — Bruce finally knows what he is up against and is willing to stop at nothing to protect his city.  

While we have seen Bruce make his fair share of mistakes throughout this story, in Future State Dark Detective #4, we see him finally able to put the pieces all together — making up for his many missteps. While The Magistrate was able to take away his wealth and his toys, the one thing they couldn’t take away was Bruce’s mind. The cat and mouse game that ensued between Batman and The Magistrate was a great example of that — culminating in an epic conclusion.

Overall Future State Dark Detective was an absolute home run. Tamaki and Mora were  cranking on all cylinders start to finish as if they had been working together for years. Here’s hoping that they get more opportunities to write for DC and get to take on more characters that we know and love.      

In addition to Future State: Dark Detective #4, we get the conclusion to Red Hood “Run, Redhood, Run”  written by Joshua Williamson with art from Giannis Milonogiannis, colors by Jordie Bellaire and letters by ALW’s Troy Peteri. One of the first things I said after reading part one of this story was that Future State Redhood needed to be its own series, and here we are getting a 6 issue run in the not too distant future.  While the first part of this story was fantastic, the second part “Run, Redhood, Run” was even better — giving us not just a great conclusion to this short story, and also giving us a taste for what we can expect from the next chapter. 

Score: 9.5/10

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