- Title: Detective Comics #572
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Mike W. Barr
- Artists: Alan Davis, Terry Beatty, Carmine Infantino, E.R. Cruz
Sherlock Saturday takes us back to the 1980s for a comic that marked both the 50th anniversary issue for Detective Comics and the 100th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet. The double-sized issue offers a case that begins in Gotham City but before all is said and done will take Batman and Robin to London to work alongside private-eye Slam Bradley and the Elongated Man to end the plots of Edgar Moriarty (the great-grandnephew of the original Professor Moriarty).
Written by Mike W. Barr, who let’s just say is seen as controversial by many Bat-fans, the comic is split into five separate chapters each featuring a different art team. The comic begins with neither Batman nor Sherlock Holmes, or even our villains, but with Bradley (a detective who made his first appearance back in Detective Comics #1). Batman and Robin show up to rescue Bradley and his client Thomas Moriarty from the minions of Edgar Moriarty who successfully make off with Thomas taking him to London.
While Bradley gets his own case, finding the girl (a descendant of Watson no less) that his client hired him for, we then jump to London where a vacationing Elongated Man gets pulled into the plot and eventually teams up with Batman, Robin, and Bradley to track down Moriarty. However, before the story wraps up, we’re given a “forgotten” Sherlock Holmes story whose plot will play into the climax of the comic. Our heroes will prevent multiple terrorist bombings by Moriarty’s men and capture the last of the group with some unexpected assistance from one world’s greatest detective to another.
The story is a bit more winding than necessary simply to set up a meeting between Batman and Sherlock Holmes, but it works as an anniversary issue celebrating Detective Comics, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes. We don’t really need the Moriarty and Watson couple angle other than to highlight Bradley (who could have been pulled in with far less setup), and the Elongated Man involvement feels very shoehorned in as well. Moriarty’s plan is also more convoluted than necessary in order to necessitate all these threads eventually being woven together. All that said, for what is really story held together by the promise of a Batman and Sherlock Holmes team-up (albeit one only in paid off in a couple of panels) there is still some fun to be had.
[DC, $1.25]