This book had me at 6 Issue Mystery Thriller.
Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favourite writers because he does street level superheroes so damned well. I loved his work on Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and his run on Avengers is my favourite after Jonathon Hickman's. (Yeah, yeah, I know Avengers isn't street level, but there were a lot of low level power people in his team, so street enough for me.)
So when Bendis came to DC, I thought for sure he'd go straight for a Batman book. But no, he went with the Superman books, and I thought: Huh. So now that he's writing a street level detective story starring you-know-who, I feel everything is right in the world. Mostly.
I've read the first two books in this, but not any of the many tie-ins. Fortunately, there is enough information given so that I wasn't a-swoon with confusion. Essentially, someone is wiping out all the intelligence organizations in the DC Universe: taking out entire buildings and the staff inside--although so far no one can find any bodies. The person behind all this is called Leviathan, and Batman has assembled a team of detectives to try and figure out just who this Leviathan is, and what their next move is.
The team is interesting because it's clear these are the characters/toys Bendis wanted to play with: we have Batman, Green Arrow, and The Question--who you expect in a detective mystery--, but we also have interesting choices like Lois Lane, Plastic Man, and Manhunter. Lois isn't really a surprise, since she is one of the most intelligent characters in the DC Universe these days, but seeing Manhunter again was nice.
Alex Maleev is the king of gritty urban art, and he doesn't disappoint here, with scenes of dirty buildings set against sky swallowing full moons and dark rooms swimming in shadows and imminent death. It's a joy.
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