DC Comics reviews 8/24/21 – Robin #5, Checkmate #3

Detective Comics #1042

The Jury arc wraps with this issue. Writer Mariko Tamaki was never quite able to merge the horror supernatural aspect of the villain Vile in a Batman story.

Batman gets corrupted by Vile and spends most of the issue trying to fight his control with an assist from Huntress.

For all the buildup, Mr. Worth gets discarded like a non-factor midway through the issue.

Viktor Bogdanovic returns as the artist for this finale. Bogdonavic has basically split art chores through this arc with regular series artist Dan Mora thanks to a relatively similar style.

Bogdonavic really dives into the horror aspects of Vile though his take on Huntress is not as polished.

Writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Max Raynor handle the secondary story featuring Red Hood and Deb Donovan. Rosenberg occasionally writes Red Hood in the same manner as his take on Grifter, but the pairing with Deb is fun. Raynor’s art style is full of character and life so they don’t look stiff.

It’s not ideal when the secondary story is better than the main one. Red Hood’s latest adventure is entertaining, but the finale of The Jury is underwhelming.

Rating: 6 out of 10