Detective Comics #35

By Benjamin Percy, John Paul Leon, Dave Stewart

“Fall has come to Gotham, and everything is dying.”

Batman doesn’t get vacations, nor does he get to finish a cup of coffee before Gotham is once again in turmoil.

Writer Benjamin Percy kicks off his Terminal storyline with Detective Comics #35. As the cover suggests, Batman finds himself entering a plane where everyone inside is as if they’ve been dead for years, but the flight was only eight hours long…

Percy places the changing seasons, the feeling of the leaves “dying” with the coming fall, beside the context of death to the passengers on flight 2038 to create a parallel between the two ideas. Percy also makes clear that despite Alfred’s best efforts he’s never going to be able to stop Bruce from jumping into another case – – even if he’s still wounded from the last.

The art is done by John Paul Leon and the colors by Dave Stewart. Most of the panels aren’t filled in with fine details, but are given lots of chances for colors by Stewart. A scene featuring the plane crashing through a wall is a scene where Leon takes advantage of the large panel space and shows off his detailing abilities. Every little nook of the page is filled with the chaos as the plane slides into the terminal. Glass shatters, and the ceiling falls apart, all while pedestrians run for their lives. Stewart uses this scene to his advantage as well and finds every bit of the rubble and makes sure each piece stands out.

Batman can’t catch a break; he didn’t even finish half of his coffee! Out of one mystery and right into another, but this time he’s racing against the clock!