Detective Comics #21 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Layman continues to do the best job of all the various Bat-family authors of telling self-contained Batman stories.  However, saying that the stories are self-contained doesn't mean that they're completely divorced from the rest of the Bat-family books, as the appearance of Harper Row in this issue shows.  As he did with issue #20, Layman manages to work within the confines of a complicated continuity while still telling his own story.

Mio's appearance here surprised me and Layman does a good job not trying to recap the events of "Detective Comics" #0 while giving us enough details to remember what we need to know about her.  Unfortunately, one of my complaints about this issue is the portrayal of Mio, who seems either unbelievably arrogant or incompetent for a "master" assassin.  You don't seem to need to be a master assassin to know that wearing a distinctively white costume and allowing a curiously persistent girl to follow you are bad ideas.  But, Mio does both, setting the stage of her downfall.

My other complaint is that Bruce seems to take a similar leave of his senses, shouting out Mio's name as if everyone in Gotham City -- and not just Bruce Wayne -- knew who she is.  You'd think that someone who basically lost his entire surrogate family for being too fast and loose with the possibility that one of his enemies knew his identity would've learned this lesson by now.

Harper Row is, in fact, the only character who seemingly acts intelligently and with type and her clutch performance here seems to win her Batman's grudging acceptance of her own vigilante activities as well as the open up the possibility of her taking up Damian's mantle one day.  I've worried consistently that DC was going to rush that story, but Layman does a good job of showing that Harper probably has to prove herself as a vigilante on her own for a while before she moves into the Batcave.

All in all, the oddly unprofessional behavior of both Bruce and Mio weigh down this issue, but I still enjoy this title more than any other Bat-family title.  Self-contained stories told well:  it's almost a novel concept at this point.