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Detective Comics #771
Bridget Haines |
| Title: |
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Access |
| Cover Date: |
Aug 2002 |
| Story: |
Greg Rucka |
| Pencils: |
Steve Lieber |
| Inks: |
Mark McKenna |
| Colors and Separations: |
Jason Wright / Wildstorm FX |
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Synopsis: (WARNING! SPOILERS!)
Part twelve of "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive!"
begins with following the steps between harvesting
a drug, through packaging, delivering, selling,
and eventually it killing the buyer. Batman
is reflecting on the heroin coming into Gotham
from Central America through the Lucky Hand
Triad, and his search to find out who was
providing it to the Triad. He muses over
the corpse of Evan Halsey who knew the answer.
Bats takes a sample to see if the coroner's
assumption of natural heart attack was correct.
The scene shifts to the steps
of the Gotham
City Courthouse, where Renee
Montoya and
Detective Allen are waiting.
She thinks he's
waiting for Wayne to show, and
tries to convince
him to come inside. Allen insists
on waiting
outside as Renee goes in. It
is Sasha Bordeaux's
trial. Alfred shows up and the
two exchange
(un)pleasantries. Allen asks
why Alfred is
there as he and Sasha never met.
Alfred retorts
that Sasha lived under Bruce's
roof for over
a year, and that he was there
as a courtesy
to her service.
David Said is in his apartment
packing and
listening to the news report
about the trial.
Sasha is facing life imprisonment
without
parole. Authorities are continuing
their
manhunt for Wayne. Batman turns
off his TV.
They discuss Halsey's death and
Said says
he's been ordered to leave Gotham
by "Her
Royal Highness". Said's
employers jump
into the conversation through
his camera
and computer hookup. They refuse
to tell
him who the murderer was. He
kicks the computer
out the window. Said laments
that he's wanted
to do that himself. Batman asks
him who killed
Halsey, Said can't tell him,
but he can tell
him where to look for answers.
Allen shadows Alfred when he
goes to a coffee
shop. He follows him through
the park where
Alfred stops to read the paper.
Allen accuses
Alfred of knowing where Bruce
is. He says
he's either an idiot for protecting
him,
or that he's damn sure he's innocent.
He
doesn't think it's the former,
so he wants
to know why it's the latter.
Alfred merely
responds, "I knew his father."
Said gave Batman the name Branford
Landis.
The Bat goes to the man's business
address,
drops outside of a skyscraper
window, and
gets blasted with pistol fire
from the man
inside. He falls, uses his cape
to partially
slow his descent, and lands in
a pile of
garbage.
Over the newscast that Sasha
has been in
conference for hours with her
attorney, possibly
over a plea bargain, Maggie Sawyer
calls
Allen into her office. She tells
him Alfred
has called about Allen harassing
him. She
tells him either arrest Alfred
and question
him, or leave him alone.
A bum finds the Bat and wakes
him up. He
returns to his temporary cave
and bandages
his ribs. He decides neither
David or Checkmate
set him up. He thinks it was
Landis or an
associate. He meets with Said
with a printout
of Landis, and it turns out to
be Robert
Amherst, an NSA agent tasked
to the White
House. He wishes the Bat luck
and departs.
Analysis:
Cover:  (3 of 5cowls)
Another Robinson cover. Again a bit on the
weak side. It reflects the scene where the
bum finds Batman, which is one brief page,
and generally unimportant to the story inside.
I'd have thought the moments before that,
Batman being blasted off the window by gunfire,
would have made a far better cover. He gets
a third cowl for the details he adds however,
from cigarette butts on the ground, to the
various flyers and posters on the wall. The
all purple cover blended in too much to be
easily seen on the shelves though, as the
cowl logo was left white. Had it been left
yellow the complimentary colors would have
been eye catching.
Story: (4 of 5 cowls)
Curiouser and curiouser, to quote Lewis Carol.
Turns out that Branford Landis, the murderer
of Evan Halsey, is an NSA agent assigned
to the White House. Another tie to Luthor?
Said refers to his boss as "Her Royal
Highness. Someone in the government, with
an interest in finding out what Luthor is
up to in Gotham? Talia? Trying to protect
her beloved? I think my Cain/Luthor theory
may be on the mark afterall.Overall another
subtle story from the master, Rucka. I so
very much don't want him to leave this book.
Knowing he is going to makes me very sad.
On a Sasha note, our heroine is mentioned
several times in the various news casts,
regarding her trial. I would have preferred
to see some of the drama of it, I think Rucka
could handle it marvelously, but I understand
he had a story to tell in a limited number
of pages.
Artwork: (4 of 5 cowls)
Again I find myself more and more enjoying
Steve Lieber's work. I love his representation
of the Bat, and his realism that he adds
to the book. There's a grit to it that works
with the thematic elements of the story.
Look for the tiny image of Sasha on the front
of Alfred's paper on page 13, our first glimps
of her since 'Tec 767. I'm going to be looking
at some of Steve's other work, including
Whiteout which he also did with Rucka. I
discovered the reason I didn't know his work
was that he does mostly independent comics.
I've had the pleasure of corresponding with
him through e-mail this past week, and I
have to say on top of being one of the best
depictors of Batman, he's also a heck of
a nice guy.
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