Batman: Detective Comics, Vol. 3: Arkham Rising

Batman: Detective Comics by Mariko Tamaki

by Mariko Tamaki, Stephanie Phillips, Matthew Rosenberg

Arkham Asylum may have been decimated during A-DAY, but its legacy lives on.

Bloody, broken, and beaten…but Batman has a mission.

When the terrorist organization known as THE RED CROWN took control of Mayor Nakano's personal security detail, only the Batman could protect Gotham's highest-ranking city official from certain death! But when the pair is thrust into the sewers below, a much more sinister threat lurks in the darkness. Better look sharp, Batman, because a hundred thousand eggs with a hundred thousand little monsters inside are about to hatch…and they look HUNGRY… And outside of the sewers, the city streets being overtaken by larger, (somehow even more) horrific creatures! Collects Detective Comics #1044-1046; Detective Comics 2021 Annual #1.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2022

About the author

Mariko Tamaki is a Toronto writer, playwright, activist and performer. She works and performs with fat activists Pretty Porky and Pissed Off and the theatre troupe TOA, whose recent play, A vs. B, was staged at the 2004 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Her well-received novel, Cover Me (McGilligan Books) was followed by a short fiction collection, True Lies: The Book of Bad Advice (Women's Press). Mariko's third book, FAKE ID, is due out in spring 2005.

Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.

[MacMIllan Books]

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick prelude of things to come. Unfortunately like everyone else is Gotham I have a bad feeling about the new Arkham Tower.

A bit of a dissapointment really. Batman is not in the right head space, off his game and is conflicted about the new Arkhan Tower project. Even members of his own family have differing opinions. All this is understandable considering what Batman, hus family and Gotham just went through in the Fearstate. However this does not stop Batman planning ahead.

An ok prelude, probobly the most important things are the addition of new characters, and how much pull Batman/Bruce still has dispite being on a "limited budget". The book finishes with characters designs, sketch panels, and a varient cover gallery.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well if the last volume featuring a stunning and brave journalist was right up your alley, you're gonna positively swoon over 130 pages of lectures on the importance of mental health services for criminals.

If on the other hand you wanted a Batman story, look elsewhere. Else-when actually - as in something first printed in the prior century.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the story in this one, with Batman and Nightwing’s debate about mental health, criminality and the possibility of rehabilitation. It’s also a blast seeing Bruce and Dick working together again.

While I don’t dislike David Lapham’s artwork, I really didn’t feel like it was a good fit for this book.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Here’s the thing about these Batman and Detective Comics comic book series: I collect and read them as single issues. While I don’t necessarily crack them open as soon as I’ve picked them up at my local comic book store, preferring to wait until they’ve officially announced what single issues are contained in the corresponding collected editions, there are plenty of upsides to it and I like the advantages that come with it (e.g. original cover art, ads reflecting a specific period in time, the ever-evolving value of the comic book, early access to the story unlike those who wait for them to be collected). But here we are with a significantly annoying DC Comics business model. This third volume in writer Mariko Tamaki’s Detective Comics comic book run collects issues #1044-1046 and Detective Comics 2021 Annual #1. However, the previous volume supposedly already collected issues #1040-1046. So what’s the deal? Well, apparently, volume 2 didn’t contain the unimpressive short stories and instead well all gathered into this volume for a short four-issue trade paperback…

What is Batman: Detective Comics (Vol. 3): Arkham Rising about? This volume contains three stories. The first one presents a tragedy surrounding the construction of Arkham Asylum and the madness that the institution creates as Batman desperately tries to prevent the destruction of the new Arkham Tower alongside Harley Quinn. The second story is the epilogue chapter of the previous story arc and focuses on Ana Vulsion’s shenanigans while Huntress and Batgirl step in to save the day. It also teases what’s to come with the construction of Arkham Tower and the key roles given to Dr. Meridian and her supposedly unique approach to therapy. The final story from the annual issue presents young Bruce Wayne’s father’s rule around whose life he should or shouldn’t save while current-day Batman is challenged by Nightwing in his stance around mental health cases amidst criminals.

Let’s get it out of the way already, DC Comics really pulled off a sleazy move by separating the backup short stories and putting them into a separate volume. Not only are these featured short stories in single issues usually quite mediocre, sometimes just there to draw in new readers to some other ongoing or soon-to-come-out series, but they’re also relatively short, rarely ever having enough pages per issue to actually achieve much that could build on a character’s plight, emotional challenges, or background. Therefore, by putting them all together in their own trade paperback, their flaws are just much more conspicuous. Lacking in depth and barely any attempt at originality, the stories featured here only exist to set the table regarding the upcoming twelve-part event and present the core dilemma that will be at play around mental health and how Gotham City will need to handle criminals with those antecedents if they are to do better and achieve an ideal future for all of its citizens.

There’s nothing spectacular about the artwork in these, with most of it being completed by artist David Lapham. His artistic style focuses much less on the darkness and presents the characters and the action almost in the light, unfolding in a colour-popping scheme more often than not. The more violent and action-packed moments still take plan at night but fail to truly convey terror whenever it seems necessary. While the artwork isn’t bad, it isn’t particularly mind-boggling either, mostly forgettable, and feels toned down to prioritize the narrative. In fact, it did feel like the volume as a whole intentionally focused on the mental health conversations rather than sticking to a more traditional Batman/Detective Comics story. With these stories trying to desperately hype up the upcoming event and the whole story around the new Arkham Tower, I fear things aren’t looking too good for this comic book series. At least for a while…

Batman: Detective Comics (Vol. 3): Arkham Rising is a disappointing collection of uninspiring short stories serving as a prelude to an upcoming Gotham City self-contained event.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective Comics Vol. 3 Arkham Rising collects issues 1044-1046 and Detective Comics Annual 2021 written by Mariko Tamaki, Stephanie Phillips, and Matthew Rosenberg with art by David Lapham and Dan Mora.

Set after the events of Feat State, Gotham City has broke ground on a state of the art mental health institute named Arkham Tower. Gotham’s citizens’ opinions vary widely on the new Tower, including those of Gotham’s vigilantes.

Arkham Rising is really just a set-up for a larger story. Not much happened here other than to set up Arkham Tower is around the corner and the Batfamily is very divided on its potential benefit. The best issue in the collection is the annual in which Batman and Nightwing give their beliefs on mental health and crime. I’m very skeptical about this upcoming arc because it seems to be a retread of a story told many times. Hopefully they can find a way to freshen it up.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of back-ups and an annual that set the stage for the future arc but ultimately prove to be of little interest or substance.
Disappointing for the part illustrated by David Lapham. I adore this man, and Stray Bullets will always be a masterpiece in my eyes, but we have to face facts: he's not suited to superheroes.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those 'necessary' collections, because of how the stuff around it has been collected, and DC's reluctance to shove things into larger trades.

This volume collects the back-up stories from Detective Comics #1044-1046 (Foundations) as well as the main story from #1046, and the 2021 Annual. All of these are basically preludes/prologues to the bigger Shadows Of The Bat/The Tower collection in one way or another, a story that involves the city of Gotham building a new mental health facility right in the heart of it (because that's clever).

It feels like a bit of a holding pattern volume as a result; the stories are all decent, but they're all just those 'look what's happening soooon' stories. One of those alone would be alright, but three on the trot does invoke a bit of a 'get on with it' attitude.

David Lapham handles the art for Foundations and the Annual, while issue #1046 contains Dan Mora's Detective Comics swan song. Lapham always feels a little too 'real' for my tastes on superhero books, but anyone who's been following my reviews for any period of time will know that I haven't a bad word to say about Mora, one of my favourite ever comic artists.

If you're going to pick this one up, I'd say wait until Shadows Of The Bat has been collected as well and read them in quick succession, because this one, while entertaining, will leave you with the comic book equivalent of blue balls until then.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like the latest volume in the main Batman series, Abyss, Arkham Rising is basically a throwaway volume entirely composed of setup for the next big event. But it's far better than Abyss, at least offering some unique character interactions and moments of intrigue.

As indicated by the title, Arkham Rising centers around the rebuilding of Arkham Asylum, now a tower in central Gotham. Although a bit heavy-handed, there's much talk of mental health: Arkham should be a place of healing, not a place to hide away violent villains for a time. Batman is naturally suspicious that such a thing will ever be possible, but it seems like there are some good eggs planning to run the place. The annual issue featuring Batman and Nightwing is a lot of fun and offers a smart take on villainy.

The other issues are grab-bags, mostly revolving around the new Arkham Tower. All fine, all well illustrated. I'm much more excited for the Shadow of the Bat event than Shadow Wars, at least based on Arkham Rising.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think I was going to like Tamaki's run but I'm here for it. Probably because it focuses on Gotham and anyone else, including forgotten people, dealing with that environment. We get some Nightwing differentiating from Batman which is good, leading to Batman taking some self care days.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a necessary read. Looks like these were backup stories in the regular monthly issues of a few different Bat titles. Basically the mayor is building a new mental health facility to replace Arkham Asylum, but people are upset that he's still going to use the name Arkham. The three stories in this book examine the why of it as well as the importance of mental health treatment.

The first two were mostly throwaway, with the third being the best, written by Tamaki and drawn by Mora, but even then, it's such a minor plot point of the overall Batman story. On one hand I like that some time is spent developing other aspects of the story so that everything isn't about the big "event" but at the same time, these just don't have a lot of "meat" to them, despite the good intentions and need to focus on mental health.

[Mjhancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects issues 1044-1046 of Detective Comics, along with Detective Comics 2021 Annual. It also has all the backup strips associated with those issues. The main connecting thread is the idea of Arkham Tower: after the destruction of Arkham Asylum in another comic, the mayor of Gotham is attempting to rebuild into a new tower. The first ... story, let's call it, is split into three 8 page sequences, and features Stephanie Philips writing and David Lapham on art; it's about Harley Quinn and Batman exploring the construction site, which seems to be inspiring madness. (That's what happens, I guess, when you do construction that builds on a supervillain specializing in mind control's old lab.) The annual is Mariko Tamaki and Matthew Rosenberg on writing, and David Lapham on art; it's about Nightwing and Batman trying to peacefully take in a killer with a connection to Bruce's past. There's some nice thematic connections to the idea of redemption. And the last story has assorted bat folk stopping an attack while the tower finishes, and Batman tells them he's going to take a leave of absence.

It's a weird collection. The annual is definitely the best of the set, but everything feels disjointed and somewhat unrelated as a whole. The only through thread here, besides the presence of Bruce himself, is the construction of the Tower, and a blurb at the end of the volume says to read Shadow of the Bat for more on the tower. They're a bunch of stories, then, laying the foundation for a story that's not here, and not even happening in this title. It feels like a comic book version of the "Trip to the Fireworks Factory" in the Simpsons Poochie episode. I like the creators who brought the stories here into being; I like other work that they've done in the past. But for this story in particular, it doesn't feel much like anyone's doing something they're very interested in doing. In fact, it'd be a 2 star rating if I hadn't gotten the volume from the library. Even at free, I'm not sure it's worth reading.
Over the years, I've been gradually reaching the opinions that the Batman franchise is over extended Bruce Wayne is the least interesting part of that franchise; this book

[Comics Instrucciones de uso · Rating 3 out of 5]

De los tomos recopilatorias de la más reciente etapa de la serie "Detective Comics" este es, sin duda, el más débil, además del más breve. Contiene sólo tres números de la serie, que cuentan dos historias: la primera, escrita por Stephanie Philips con arte de la leyenda David Lapham, se adentra sin mucho entusiasmo en las dudas que tiene Batman sobre la construcción del nuevo asilo Arkham en la punta de una torre en el centro de Gotham (recordemos que el Arkham original fue destruido en los eventos de la mediocre "Fear State"). La segunda historia es retomada por Mariko Tamaki, la supuesta dueña de la serie, pero que -supongo que obligada por DC-, ha debido ir compartiendo el timón con otros escritores. La historia de Tamaki es sólo un número de transición en el que vemos a Batman luchar contra una villana reaparecida, y anunciarle a Spoiler y Huntress que se irá de Gotham un tiempo (esto es típico de Batman: marcharse cuando las cosas están a punto de explotar dejando toda la responsablidad a sus aliados, pensemos en "No Man's Land"). Se anuncia el torcido grupo de terapia psicológica que saldrá a la luz en el siguiente recopilatorio [ya reseñado acá] y no mucho más. Afortunadamente, vuelve acá el precioso arte de Dan Mora, de los dibujantes en mejor forma actualmente.
Dicho esto, si el tomo es tan breve y poco ambicioso, ¿por qué le doy tres estrellas y no dos o una? La razón es que siento que, aunque no le ha funcionado en todo momento, me siento atraído por lo que ha intentado Mariko Tamaki: el conflicto del nuevo Arkham, el papel de Donovan, la periodista, y el esforzado alcalde Nakano, que quiere lo mejor para una ciudad que quizás no lo merece. Tamaki ha intentado insertar nuevos personajes al mito Batman y ampliar el abanico de historias. Y en su intento ha ido de más a menos, es cierto. Pero creo que aún vale la pena.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was glad to see DC’s recent revival of backup stories in their ongoing series, but their decisions around collecting backups have been confusing and hard to actually follow. This is just the backups from a few issues whose main stories were collected in vol2, plus an annual issue, plus one main story that hadn’t been collected yet and seemingly sets up the next main arc. It’s thematically scattershot, and what overlap exists is mostly setup for later on.

The backups include a ton of allusive dialogue that feels anachronistic and is eventually clumsily revealed to be from The Fall of the House of Usher. It apparently can’t be said enough, please stop trying to add prestige to your cape comic story by awkwardly dropping in lines from classic literature. Beyond that, there’s an attempt at referencing rehabilitative justice and rethinking the carceral state as represented by Arkham Asylum, but it’s just silly and pointless to bring up either topic in the same tone that you talk about an evil guy named Scarecrow poisoning people with fear gas. And though seemingly well-intentioned, what little it does manage to say ends up wrong-headed and embarrassing if judged as serious-minded commentary.

The art mostly looks good, especially Mora’s final issue that closes the book.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like where this is going, we have a lot of set up for the next volume Batman: Shadows of the Bat - The Tower. It's about building a new tower for Arkham residents. We get different opinions and views from various people on whether it will help or condemn them and even trap them in some cases.

We get a story about Bruce's parents in the annual which is a fresh take, it touches on why Bruce chooses to save everyone instead of deciding who lives and dies. It's nice to see Thomas actually having more of an impact instead of just being the dead dad. The Nightwing bits where also very welcome, having them coming closer and him challenging Bruce on his views was very welcome.

I think the last issue, didn't have a clue what it wanted to be. I liked seeing a lot of the Bat-Family but they don't really do much and Batman only appears at the last page with a completely new suits, I thought he was broke?

Yeah so it's fun I do like her Mariko Tamaki is taking this series, it's not a must read but she is very good at keeping you interesting and is always building foundation for future storylines.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Unfortunately, another kind of a filler Volume. Still reasonable, but not outstanding.
Highlights:
- With the total destruction of Arkham Asylum, the city decides it needs a new place to house mental patients, and decides for the creation of Arkham Tower. They want to make it a better place than the Asylum ever was, and for use to the public for mental health services.
- Against that, operating under the guise of a curse, comes former patient Peter Faust, who escaped from the Asylum during its breakout and destruction. Faust is gathering many animal bones to create a suit, complete with wings. The underlying reason comes to be so that he will be just as out there as a standard Batman villain, and they might pay attention to him more.
- A positive change is coming though.... Dr Chase Meridian (yes the Doc from Batman Forever!) has been put in charge of the facility and she is committed to better mental health for all

Overall, not bad, just not great. Recommend, with reservation.

[Joseph Morin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the IDEA of this volume more than its story and artistic execution.

Is Arkham Asylum a good idea, gone wrong, or a destined hellscape? There are good arguments for both sides. But Arkham Rising feels more like a philosophical diatribe about the ills of society than it does a “story”. The problem is Gotham's newly developing Arkham facility faces no practical opposition from the Bat-family. So there's never real stakes, or momentum.

As for art: I like David Lapham's body expressions and the flow of his action scenes, but not his faces or detailing. Meanwhile, Trish Mulvhill's colours lack the intense shadows and contrasts which I adore in Gotham. Her panels are fairly evenly lit-- which is safe but uninteresting.

The Annual, however, most interested me with Batman and Nightwing's moral debate of the justice system.

Arkham Rising is Worth a Read (mostly for the Annual).

[Michael Torres · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collecting prelude issues to the Arkham Tower storyline from Detective Comics. These felt like pure filler and are definitely not worth the price that this volume asks for. It’s essentially back up stories that make one one short story, then the annual which preludes the Arkham Tower, and then issue 1046 which is both an epilogue to Fear State and a prelude to Arkham Tower.

Not worth being it’s own volume, and realistically should’ve been combined with the House of Gotham volume.

[Braulio Valenzuela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Desde City of Bane, no he disfrutado la línea principal de Batman. Sin embargo, Detective Comics siempre me parece interesante de leer.

Leí algunos números de Detective Comics cuando se estaba desarrollando la historia de Arkham Tower y cuando vi este volumen lo empecé a leer pensando que leería esa historia.

Con lo que me encontré fueron más de 100 páginas de preludio a la historia principal que solo te presentan la historia pero no va a ningún lado.

Troste.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

The backup stories at the start are nothing stories. Skippable.

The Tamaki issues have great Mora art and mostly just build up to the two weekly series' upcoming in the Tower and something else.
I have been enjoying Tamaki's work but it seems they weren't given a lot of freedom. This almost feels like the natural successor to Tynion's Detective run with the bat family. A lot of Stephanie and Helena involved makes it fun.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The backup stories from Detective #1044-1046, the rest of 1046 and the 2021 Annual. Most of this is a mental health discussion as this new Arkham Tower is being built and if it will help Gotham or just be full of Batman's rogues. It's thoroughly boring and very short. The best part was Dan Mora's Detective swan song from 1046. This book is really floundering with Mariko Tamaki at the helm.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This suffers from being connective tissue between Tamaki's solid first arc about violence as a parasite in Gotham and the upcoming event on the new Arkham Tower, so we get people treading water and starting to talk about mental illness but not in a way that feels especially new or thoughtful yet. I have high hopes for The Tower, but this wasn't really a story.

[Chris Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short but largely enjoyable collection of stories revolving around the end of Arkham Asylum and opening of Arkham Tower.

Foundations: a nice creepy story that apparently ties into the most recent Harley Quinn series. Not much to say about it but I enjoyed it. It had good atmosphere and a decent plot.

The Meager Man: a surprisingly deep dive into Bruce’s views on mental health and how they were formed by his childhood. I found this one very interesting and it was great to see more Nightwing.

Out and Gone: Tamaki and Mora’s last issue of Batman in Gotham. Mora’s art is astonishingly good. It ends with Bruce having Dr Chase Meridian appointed to Arkham then leaving Gotham for vague reasons, setting the stage for Shadows of the Bat. There’s not much else to the issue but nice to see Stephanie Brown.

It’s a bit of a nothing book that can be easily skipped but it’s also quite good for what it is.

[Bruce Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing that meets the “detective” storyline. Its just a filler for the next volume perhaps. Would u nice to give clues on what’s happening in the new arkham tower construction. The previous volume was a much better read than this one.

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed the Batman tales that were less superhero-ey more, so even though this collection is kind of all over the place in terms of content (wrapping up one arc and setting up another), I did like reading it.

[Joel Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few stories related to the new Arkham Tower. It was a short book, and the three storylines didn't really flow together. I wouldn't call it a graphic novel, just a small collection of a few different comic books. I liked the art style.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story on the cliché that Batman just beats the crap out of insane people - the whole dark Knight family is aware of what they do and the GCPD feel like the help shouldn’t go to Arkham when it’s the Arkham inmates killing half the city and torturing the department.

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really filler volume. It's weird how they ended up collecting this series. Short volumes, not much story, a mixed bag. And no tpb for shadows of the bat, that is supposed to be the "big" storyline of the run. I loved the begging of Tamakis' run on Detective but it got weird

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, was I mostly pulled in by the glorious expanse of Bruce's scarred and chiselled back, yes.
Did I enjoy the book, sort of. Raises some good (righteous) points about society, mental illness, and crime.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

This makes most fill-in volumes look beefy.

[Jameson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many different artists and the pacing was off.