Tom Taylor’s run on Detective Comics has been a hit-and-miss affair since the start of his Asema storyline. Much of the run thus far has been defined by Taylor introducing interesting concepts, but not knowing how to capitalize on those ideas in compelling ways. This has resulted in run-of-the-mill storylines at best, with Batman often battling lackluster villains that don’t do much (if anything) to challenge his worldviews or crime-fighting tactics. Regrettably, “The Courage That Kills” continues this trend.
As was mentioned in previous reviews, “The Courage That Kills” was off to an excellent start by introducing a biological weapon that could reduce a person’s ability to experience fear. This weapon was then tested on the passengers of a freighter ship, with Batman getting infected from exposure. There was definitely strong story potential in this concept, especially since the same issue also introduced the idea of Batman traumatizing a child very early on in his crime-fighting career. This child later grew up to develop the aforementioned biological weapon, presumably to confront Batman and avenge what he did to his father.
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Despite this exciting start, Taylor’s plotting quickly fell apart in Detective Comics #1102 when he quickly confirmed who the villain was. He therefore missed a major opportunity to keep building the mystery around this new villain as a way of keeping the reader guessing. Similarly, by confirming the villain’s identity too early, this caused the story to quickly shift in tone, and it fast-tracked itself to (what would be) the finale of a James Bond thriller.
Unmasking the villain too early also presented a third narrative problem: there’s nowhere else left to go with this story. This also means that the remaining issues are going to drag out the conclusion, and that’s exactly what ends up happening in Detective Comics #1103. Because the reader already knows that the villain is the kid Batman traumatized early in his career, the fact that Batman himself has not yet worked this out makes the story feel like it’s now spinning its wheels until he finally catches up.
Similarly, because Taylor hasn’t taken the time to flesh out the villain (which would have helped with the story’s pacing), he’s now trying to make the story bigger than what it needs to be to fill the remaining issues. This is resulting in nonsensical developments like Intergang somehow now being involved in the Lion’s plot. The Lion even suddenly decides in issue #1103 that he also needs to conquer his fear of his former professor, Dr. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow), even though this is completely unrelated to his fear of Batman.
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At best, if Taylor had gradually revealed the Lion’s past in a way that ran parallel to the main story, he could have worked in his past with Jonathan Crane and Intergang to justify these developments in the present. But without this buildup, these developments in Detective Comics #1103 feel completely random and out of the blue. Another development that doesn’t feel organic to the villain’s current motivations is him wanting to infect the entire city of Gotham with this biological weapon.
If his real target is Batman, why target the entire city, and not Batman himself? Is he trying to get the entire city to retaliate against Batman? If that’s the case, why does he need to lose his own fear of Batman if he’s going to get the entire city to do the job for him? Similarly, why test the toxin in a way that’s bound to get Batman’s attention? On that note, why expose Batman to that same toxin if the goal is to make Batman experience the same fear he experienced as a child? These are all issues that could be easily ironed out with more careful plotting.
The other element in Detective Comics #1103 that’s making the story feel dragged out is the inclusion of Lois Lane. As fun as it is to always see Lois challenge Batman in a story, it’s also an interaction that needs to happen organically, and that’s exactly what’s missing here. At best, it makes sense for Batman to recruit another “detective mind” when his own brain is compromised by a toxin that removes fear – but he also has an entire Batfamily to help him with that.
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Batman already has Oracle in his orbit, and she can easily access private information. This immediately removes the need for Lois to help him access the information he needs at S.T.A.R. Labs, especially if time is not on his side. This is something Lois herself even acknowledges in the story. At best, if Lois was also investigating this deadly biological weapon on her own for a news story, then it would make sense for her to team up with Batman and pursue these answers together. But this would require Lois to be present in the story from the start, similar to how she appears The Bat-Man: Second Knight.
All in all, “The Courage That Kills” has quickly lost its footing in terms of story, and much of this is due to sloppy execution. The only saving grace of this storyline continues to be Mikel Janín’s artwork. Aside from drawing fluid action sequences, Janín makes every page glow with his bright colors and dynamic panel layouts. He’s also great at capturing the characters’ personalities through his use of body language and facial expressions. It’s just unfortunate he’s not working with a better story.
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