Snyder & Capullo Unveil BATMAN: ZERO YEAR

How do you follow up on a storyline as ambitious as “Death of the Family?” Where do you go next?

The Big Bang. Well, Bruce Wayne’s anyway. His very beginnings.

This summer, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo return to the roots of the Batman with “Zero Year,” an 11-part epic. It all starts in June’s Batman #21. Here’s the cover, courtesy of DC Entertainment.

BM_Cv21_1

BATMAN #21
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Backup story written by SCOTT SNYDER and JAMES TYNION IV
Art by GREG CAPULLO and DANNY MIKI
Backup story art by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
Cover by GREG CAPULLO
1:25 Variant cover by MIKEL JANIN
1:100 B&W Variant cover by GREG CAPULLO
On sale JUNE 12 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Witness The New 52 origin of The Dark Knight in BATMAN: ZERO YEAR! Twists and turns are around every corner as Bruce Wayne takes the final steps toward his destiny! And in the backup story, learn more about how different Gotham City was at this dangerous point in time.

Snyder spoke to the Associated Press about the story:

“It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.’ It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52. We tried to preserve as much of Batman’s history as we could and keep what we could of this history intact. It’s ‘The Zero Year,’ the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain … It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in The New 52. It builds up the mythology.”

You’ll recall that we first glimpsed Snyder’s Zero Year Bruce this past September as part of DC’s line-wide Zero issue event. In the pages of Batman #0, our young hero infiltrated the Red Hood Gang with mixed results. That issue ended with the promise of more in 2013. Here we are. Snyder has already done smart work renovating the belfry, so delving back into the Batman’s prehistory is only natural and pretty exciting.

If the notion of revision has your nervous, rest assured that Snyder reveres Frank Miller’s Batman Year One and has no interest in erasing it. This is an opportunity to revisit an earlier Gotham, a younger, more reckless Bruce Wayne. This is Bruce before he knew every handhold and every gargoyle. Before he fought alongside earthly gods. When a night’s patrol was hardly routine. When he had something to prove. And experience tells us that Snyder’s Batman is at his best when between a rock and a hard place. When he’s forced to claw his way back from oblivion. Here is that first struggle from out of the dark.


Comments

  1. Snyder will do this right. No worries.

  2. Damn Snyder really likes’writing this long ass epic stories. Can we just get a couple of 2 to 3 parters for a bit.

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      We are. For the next three issues.

    • That’s cool, but after the death of Damian I wish he would have jumped into a smaller set of stories that coincide with the implications of Death in the Family and the demise of Damian and not tackle a retailing of his early years which I feel have been overly done way to much and that will take almost a year to tell..

    • If I were to guess, I’d say Snyder was doing this to let Tomasi take the lead on the Damian fallout.

    • I totally agree. I’ve been digging Snyder’s run, but might jump off to trades if it’s just going to continue to lurch from big event to big event like this. It makes me miss Dini!

  3. People are understandably a little averse to the idea but its obviously going to sell like hot cakes.

    Another BIG run for Batman. All the greatest origin stories seem to be told in short, quality 4-6 issues. Hope it warrants the full 11 issues and doesn’t slowly limp to a conclusion.

  4. I hate to say this, but I think I’m dropping off Batman before this starts.

    I’m confident that it will be some very good Batman comics, but it just screams “wait for the collection!” at me. So I look forward to buying a big ol’ awesome hardcover with the whole thing in it next summer. But I’m finding it harder and harder to keep my head in these long, multi-part epic stories these days.

  5. In Snyder we trust?

  6. So this is Batman 0.5? Batman 1/2 year one 0.1?

  7. ERMAHGERD! I want this now.

  8. This sounds great, and it is a relief to know that we won’t be stuck with emotionally-crippled-for-losing-a-son Bruce Wayne in the best bat-book around.

  9. Y’know, I’ve always wondered what motivated Bruce Wayne to put on a costume and fight crime. Why is he so driven? How does he know how to do what he does? Where did he get the idea to use a bat as a symbol? These are questions that have gone unanswered for decades. I, for one, am glad we finally have some creators on the book willing to take the Batman mythos in new directions and address some of the issues that have never been tackled by anyone else in any medium.

    • Ever.

    • Gotta love the sarcasm. That said, this could be cool. Street-level Batman has always been my favorite. I also liked Legends of the Dark Knight, and I know this is different, but it might feel similar by the end…I hope.

    • I get what you’re saying, the subject is definitely old hat. But alot of movies/books/ seem to skim over parts of him becoming Batman. I thought it was really refreshing how “Batman Begins” showed the build-up of his arsenal and the cave, it was different from all the other movies. But the last one skipped over what new additions he added to the cave before he retired (still waiting on that Director’s Cut Nolan!). As long as it’s not him going to more monasteries and training with more monks to learn secret Kung Fu I’m interested to see what Snyder comes up with. His 0 issue was the only one I actually enjoyed from all my DC pulls.

  10. “It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.’ It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52.”

    Wow, way to completely contradict yourself from one sentence to the next.

    I’m tired of having to jump through a bunch of double-think hoops with Snyder. Basically nothing happened in “Death of the Family”… but we have to pretend that something new and different happened. And now we’re retelling the origin in a way that’s somehow NOT retelling the origin. You can’t have it both ways.

    Eleven issues is way, way, way too long. I don’t need to see Bruce with a shovel or jackhammer digging out more rooms of the Batcave. I don’t need to see him signing papers to buy the proto-Batmobile.

    I’ve found Snyder’s actual dialogue and prose quite tedious all along, but kept going because of Capullo and because the overall ideas and plots were always undeniably exciting. But I’ll give this one issue to prove that it’s not just going to be the five-millionth romp down Wayne Family nostalgia lane. I’m 31 years old; I’ve seen that stuff a million times before. If a 17-year-old reader who’s never read Year One is impressed by this, great. But I have a hard time believing anyone else will honestly be able to get anything new out of this.

    • Ye I really agree with you. I haven’t been swept away by Snyders time on Batman as everyone else seems to be. His constant need to make his runs “the biggest, most ambitious stories that will shake the character to his very core” have started to get very tedious.

    • I tend to agree with you guys. Death of the Family was a huge let down with a huge cop-out ending. I love Capullo and I loved the Court of Owls story but after the let down of Death I’m on the fence with this book. I’ll give this story line a few issues but do we really need to see the origin again, for 11 issues? Wasn’t Year One four issues? I’m a bit confused though does this take place before year one?

    • I’m very curious to see how this gets handled. Writers have worked in so much (Bruce)Wayne history into Batman stories over the years, that I wonder what he’s going to choose to use. I love it when Gotham becomes a “character”, have enjoyed Snyder’s “history” lessons, and its good to see Capullo and Miki back together. If he doesn’t lose me in the next few issues, then I’ll give this three issues, and just take it for what it is. Eleven issues is a big commitment, but the zero issue was good, and this era of the Batman has tons of potential for entertainment if handled well. Hopefully its not a montage of the great Batman stories of old, and hopefully its not this huge new creation.

    • @bgavino: The title implies that it precedes Year One, but Snyder’s description desribes Year One: “It’s ‘The Zero Year,’ the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain.”

      So it’s unclear. It’s not Year One because there is no Year One. Except for Year One. Which never happened. Except that it did.

      Got it?

      Me neither. We’ll have to wait and see.

    • He’s avoiding the phrase “Origin” because that will turn a big segment of the fans away from the book, especially an 11 part origin story. It’s like how Marvel was absolutely adamant that Marvel NOW was not a reboot. You have to get out ahead of rumors and half truths from the get go to do as much damage control as you can possibly can.

  11. I love this creative team and I love this time frame for Batman stories. I’m extremely in.

  12. I’ve loved Snyder’s Batman but this one has me on the fence about dropping the title. First of all I don’t need another origin story. The Amazing Spiderman movie was good but I couldn’t get into it because of how many times I`ve seen that origin replayed in the last ten years alone.

    Another problem. 11 part story! With how much of the origin of Batman has been done in almost 75 years, does Snyder really need 11 isues to retell it with his own spin. Remember how good Miller`s Year One was. And it was only 4 issues. Not even oversized. 4 standard issues of great storytelling.

    • Excellent point.

    • I’ve never seen what’s so great about “Year One”. It’s a good story sure, but what about it makes it one of the top 10 bat-stories of all time? Maybe it’s because I watched “Batman Begins” first, but I read it and wasn’t blown away. It was mostly about Jim Gordon too (not a complaint, just an observation). I’m not overjoyed at the prospect of 11 issues, but Snyder has a good track record (minus a few books).

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      @Ithosapien

      Run.

    • @Paul Montgomery, You Can’t Live In Fear.

    • @Ithosapien

      Read it again, it’ll grow on you.

    • @ithosapien: To each their own. I have found people are very protective of what they think are the best Bat books ever. I would put Year One in my top five but if you don’t agree, that’s cool. Personally I don’t really care for either Dark Knight Returns or Batman Year 100 but I know those two are ALWAYS in people’s top ten. I’m a huge Paul Pope fan (HUGE!) but I think Year 100 is the weakest thing he’s done. And I know I’ll take a beating for this but I find Dark Knight Returns to be really overrated.

    • @manwithoutbeer, read it twice maybe even 3 times. It’s grown as much as it can on me.

    • @Uspunx, we meet once again. I really like Dark Knight Returns because it seems like the story is more than just what’s on the page. Year One just feels really standard. “Year 100” bored me, the plot seemed really really thin. So many cool ideas that were never developed in the story (Suits in Washington getting nervous over Batman b/c he’s the only citizen not being tracked, futuristic Robin/mechanic,etc). It’s great art wise, but story? I’ve never really done my own list of best books of all time, but some that spring to mind are “The Man Who Laughs”, “Long Halloween”, and maybe “Batman & Son”. There’s more but some involve Superman as a co-star so maybe they don’t count.

    • @Ithosapien I guess I’ll be the villain everyone needs me to be.

      Despite a string of stories by creators like Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, and Gene Colan the public’s view of Batman was *still* very much Adam West and the Super Friends. Then Dark Knight Returns happened. Because of the impact of Dark Knight, everyone was very much interested with what Miller would choose to follow up with, the result being Batman: Year One.

      Having broken Batman down in Dark Knight Returns the year before, Miller actually builds Bruce Wayne into Batman in
      Year One. Since the Golden Age, we’d always had an overview of Bruce’s pre Batman days complete with one armed
      barbell lift and ending with Batman being the best there is at everything (including Dance Dance Revolution). Year One changed that — showing a Batman who was learning the ropes, who could get beaten up by a pimp, and who had to build a network of people he could trust.

      On top of Miller’s story, you have Mazzucchelli’s art which re-defined Batman as a crime character in a crime story. Not only does he LOOK like a guy in a suit, the art is tonally very different from the popular Batman look at the time. Everything is MUCH looser than the tight, controlled pencils of someone like Jim Aparo or Neal Adams. This isn’t meant to take anything away from those creators, it’s just such a huge shift style wise.

      Of all the post Crisis on Infinite Earths origin revisits, the one with the most staying power really has been Year One. Prior to Year One, I can remember very, very little of Gordon’s characterization. After Year One, the Jim Gordon you see in the comics is directly connected to that series. Batman Begins was pretty much Batman: Year One and Nolan’s Catwoman was pretty much the Catwoman from Year One. Finally, Gotham Central was definitely influenced by Year One. The feel of the squad room in Year One is very much carried into the latter series.

    • @pyynk: Completely agreed with everything you said about Year One. Those are exactly the reasons I like it so much and you said it better than I ever could have. I understand the influence Dark Knight Returns had on redefining Batman, including up to the current run, and I absolutely respect it for that. What I really meant was I don’t have that much fun reading the story that is on the page. Certainly one of, if not the most, influential Bat Books ever written, just not one I’ve ever gone back to after my first read.

      @ithosapien: If I did a list of my 5 favorite Bat Books they would be (in no particular order) Year One, Long Halloween, Batman & Son, Morrison’s Batman & Robin, and Gotham Central. Even though the last one isn’t technically a Batman book.

    • @Pyynk, I see your points. It doesn’t make me love the book but those are logical explanations as to why people love Year One. I guess growing up watching all the Barman movies plus TAS, I never questioned why Batman didn’t struggle more in his adventures. But even as a book that shows him becoming Batman, it still jumps ahead (no explanation of the costume, gadgets, his actual training away from Gotham). If the only thing that story has to do is show Bruce Wayne as human, it succeeds in spades. I’ve read “Detective Comics #27” and “Batman #1” so I know how his costume might have been created off camera in Year One, but still. Color me one of this rugrats that can’t fully appreciate the golden oldies, even tho it was made in the 1980s. I guess they’re aren’t any actual single books I can think of off hand that show Batman’s origin, it’s usually a callege of flashbacks in certain issues so maybe Year One deserves more credit in that area too. My feelings on it are still the same tho.

  13. Another loooooooooong, decompressed “secrets from the past” story from Snyder. Look forward to more terrible dialog, bad characterizations, and tired cliched narration tics that thematically linked to what’s on panel. “Old man said, criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot.”

  14. Did I miss the memo? Apparently we hate Scott Snyder now?

    • Apparently between Batman #17 and this announcement we do.

    • We who?

    • Oh right. Snyder didn’t go for the cheap stunt kill that everyone would have seen coming from a mile away, so he’s a poor writer now. I don’t know how I forgot that.

    • Of course, we hate Scott Snyder now! Death of the Family was like the worst thing ever written because we didn’t get our wish of seeing a fan favorite character get mutilated or killed! And the worst part was the way Snyder wrote Joker: no subtlety! He kept on rambling and speechifying and shouting his absurd nonsensical philosophies. If there’s one character who is always completely subtle and whose beliefs make perfect sense, it’s the Joker!

    • @J-Shap Death of the Family was not lame because “we didn’t get our wish for” mutilation. It was lame because all it was was the Joker talking (who by the way, doesn’t usually ramble like that), no development all shock, and then the ending was super limp. I don’t hate Snyder’s work, but it has a lot of readers questioning his “epic” “redefining” stories. Not everything needs to be that way. I’m happy you liked it (apparently), but I personally really like Batman and don’t want to read bad stories. I don’t want an 11 issue, decompressed version of Year One. I have those issues, read them from time to time, and like them the way they are. Read my other posts, I’m excited to see this handled well, I’m (like others) am a little leery. DC will get at least some of my money, and I hope I love it.

    • @theWAC1- Maybe you’ve read something I haven’t, but aren’t most Joker stories about the shock value? I mean, I don’t think he was made the Iranian U.N Ambassador because it would promote character growth. Hell, when Alan Moore had him shoot Babs, that was supposed to be out of continuity. It was other writes that made that into something more than just a shocking moment.

  15. I love what Snyder has done on Batman since he started on ‘Tec a few years ago (already damn!) but fawk… another 11 issues, that’s a year’s worth of comics…Again… I too am longing for some 2-3 issues arcs.

  16. Well that’s a momentum killer. 11 issues without seeing the promised repercussions of death of the family? A year without seeing fan favorite harper row? (gosh I hope she isn’t written into the origin)

    I think I’ll come back in a year. Batman inc. and Detective are plenty of batman for me right now. I look forward to a layman on batman who doesn’t have to tell other peoples stories.

    • Great point. Have an emotional storyline like DITF. On top of his own son just dying. Instead of seeing what interesting stories we can get from this, they are basically going to ignore all that for a year.

      And as much as I like Harper Row I don’t want to see her become Robin, Batgirl jr, or any kind of superhero. She has the potential to be an interesting character just the way she is now. Just the way she is.

    • Well we get three issues before this starts. I’m guessing there will certainly be some emotional fallout in those issues and something that likely leads Bruce to rethink his past and therefore his future. Which ought to lead quite nicely into this very storyline.

  17. I don’t need to see Batman’s origin in the sense of ‘parents die, kid is an orphan…fast forward 20 years’ but maybe they’ll touch on those years in-between years when he actually did all the growing up alone and angry. Unfortunately, that’s a Young Bruce Wayne comic and not a Batman one. Who knows what this will be, but the term “origin story” makes me want to run the other way.

    11 issues is a long run and a big commitment. I’d rather have shorter arcs with interesting stories and conflicts with Batman doing that thing he does.

    • This seems like something “Detective Comics” should have covered, since that books is supposed to feature a younger Bruce Wayne 5 years in the past. I’d rather this was a back up or a mini or even an online short story thing like “Legends of the Dark Knight” (modern version). Somebody already suggested it, but I think I’ll just let Batman sit in my pull file to check out other series like “Ghostbusters” and “JLD”. I could use a change of pace in my reading, and I’m a little burnt out on Batman in general.

    • Agree, completely. Been there, done that. Really wish DC would stop focusing on retelling the past.

  18. This is a tad long but I’m sure Snyder has a well thought out story. It sounds way better then a 11 issue Riddler arc I read was rumored.

    • Pretty sure this is that same “Riddler” arc, just the emphasis is on the setting, but “…faced off with his first super villain” is probably referring to the Riddler since Synder himself said his next arc feature him. Of course things could have changed between then and now.

    • Couldn’t the Riddler show up in this coming arc, #18-20?

    • Maybe it’s from the Riddler’s point of view, trying to figure out the enigma of Batman’s origin (à la reverse-engineering), uncovering clues, I dunno, just a thought. 😉

  19. This obviously means we’ll have 11 issues of the comic Batman WITHOUT Batman appearing in it. That’s pretty brave on DC’s part. I’m completely meh on this run sincethe Death of the Family stuff. I enjoyed the Owl’s storyline but the plethora of crossovers, and everything having to accomodate an event is hurting the book.

    • I think the lack of event means this actually has the best chance of meeting ‘black mirror’ quality. Unfortunately snyder has already said his arc after this one will be a big event.

  20. Meh.

    I just don’t need another retelling of Batman’s origin, even if it’s by Snyder and Capullo.

    Give me new stories, new ideas.

  21. People seem to think that it’s entirely a Batman origin.It’s Batman’s New 52 Origin and that i want to see.Would i like to see Harper Row again? Sure.But i’m willing to shell out for a good story.

  22. I’m in. Snyder has gotten Batman in a way that I haven’t seen since Paul Dini’s run.

    I’ll admit that an 11 part story worries me, but I can understand that if it was spread across multiple titles for, say three months, you deal with the crap shoot of creative teams who may or may not want to play ball and readers who may or may not pick up what they consider ancillary titles.

  23. Remember when Snyder and DC hyped their Joker story, which turned out to be a collection of poor-man’s editions of better Batman runs and nothing of consequence actually happened?

    • That is my fear here. I’m relieved I wasn’t the only one that felt that way about DOTF. Nobody wants Snyder to rewrite Batman’s origin, but please be NEW!

  24. I am a hardcore DCU fanboy, but I am really getting fedup with the New52 now. I’m just not excited about this universe anymore. It pains me to say it, but they pretty much lost me. It’s hard to believe because of how massive a DC fan I’ve been all my life.

  25. Just like when people were upset when Morrison took a few issues to go over Superman’s origins in his Action Comics run, I must reiterate my point that those feeling that it’s unnecessary for Snyder to write about Batman’s beginnings are missing the point. Snyder’s Batman run, on the whole, isn’t just a few issues of episodic capers. He’s spinning an entire epic Gilgamesh-esque tale that hits on every possible Batman related note. This is Snyder telling the great complete Batman story, just how Morrison did in his own way. Being as that’s the case, you can’t tell The Great Batman Story without hitting his origin, as that is probably the single most important piece of the Batman mythos. And no, the fact that everyone knows Batman’s origins doesn’t man that this is superfluous. One day, someone should be able to pick up every issue of Snyder’s run and say “I completely get this character” without resorting to Wikipedia or assumptions.

    • Well put.

    • When did Morrison write “the great complete” Superman story? He is at the end of an awesomely complete Batman story right now though. Touches on the past, the present, and even the possible future. I guess my issue, is that Batman us episodic capers. He goes out every night to stop crime. Hopefully this arc has that, strung together with a bigger scenario, because Batman isn’t about chasing one “super villain” for weeks while neglecting the nightly happenings of Gotham in the way that he has been doing in “Batman”. I’ve always liked a “villain” of the month while solving a big underlying mystery. Every issue entertaining, with a payout a few issues down the road, but that’s just me. Nice defense though. I hope its good, and I hope you like it.

    • Yes, but is that really necessary? Why does every writer have to RETELL?

    • @comicBOOKchris: You’re not wrong, and it’s a healthy way to look at it, but I already get the character. So will most of the people reading this. The “New Reader” is a myth. It’s tough for some people to rationalize reading the same story over and over again for the sake of future generations.

      I’m definitely checking this out, but I’d prefer something new. Court of Owls added to the past while expanding the future. That’s the kind of stuff I want from Snyder’s Batman.

    • One day people will pick Snyder’s run sand say; ‘Say, he’s like Geoff Johns without balls.”

    • But just because someone wrote a defining take on the character doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t. The way I look at it, Zero Year isn’t just Scott Snyder retelling the origin of Batman, but telling it as a part of his grander story. There will most likely be things in this story that reference past Snyder Bat stories, and things that foreshadow future Snyder Bat stories. As for the new reader thing, just because it may or may not be a myth doesn’t mean that writers shouldn’t tell accessible stories.

      I don’t even know what “Geoff Johns without balls” means. If you’re inferring that Johns wrote a better Batman story in Batman: Earth One, then…well…that’s sure an opinion.

  26. Wow. Never seen so much un-fanboyness for Snyder on here. I’ve generally liked Snyder’s run with the exception of the Joker arc (I thought I was the only person on here who was meh about that arc!) Anyway I love early Batman stories so will definitely give this a try and hope Snyder brings it!

  27. These guys have done great work so far, so I’m sure it will be good. I think 11 issues, on paper, sounds really like. The important thing is that they keep us engaged and interested. So long as that happens, no one will care that it’s 11 issues.

  28. If Snyder has THAT much to tell about Batman’s origins, let him tell it, and I will buy it (until I maybe drop it).

  29. This to me sounds great, The whole of the court of owls thing was 11 issues wasn’t it and I didn’t think that dragged. I’m on board till Snyder leaves.

  30. Sounds great! (I also just realized I’ve been reading enough of Paul’s writing now to recognize his style, especially the last few sentences. #ifanboyaddict)

  31. I was sort of hoping this was going to be akin to that scene in Court of Owls with ten-year-old boy detective armed with only a flashlight, Bruce Wayne. But this will be fun too

  32. I really wish they would stop with these dumb origin stories, I really do not give a crap about how batman became batman at this point. I just want to see him on the streets of gotham kicking ass. at least they killed that idiot Damian off

  33. Despite how differently we might feel about this, can we at least all agree that cover is awesome!!

    • Hmmmm nope. It’s ok buts just the Bat symbol cropped with “Year Zero” over it. I think I saw texture in the background, that’s a neat touch.

    • Yeah I think I like it because of its simplicity. Covers are really busy these days, especially DC covers, so it’s nice to see one that is different. Plus for some reason that Bat symbol reminds me of the 90’s Batman: The Animated Series which I loved.

  34. I don’t want to diminish the excitement for others, but Wow!…Maybe I’m just fatigued with the long arc approach (see Swamp Thing, Animal Man), but this may serve as my ‘jump off’ point.

    Although ‘Death of the Family’ had its moments, it was starting to wane for me and that was 5 issues plus the cross-overs . Spending $44 bucks for 11 issues for a potential payoff isn’t my idea of fun (Yikes…I just realized that I can rent almost 29 Blu-ray movies for that!)

    • I don’t mean to be snide, but were the crossovers actually worth it? If I spend $44 on comics it’s not be for a Batman crossover.

    • @IthoSapien – to be clear, the $44 will be what you spend on the upcoming Year Zero 11-issue arc. Death of the Family and it’s cross-overs was a total of 23 issues at a cost of nearly $76.

      As far as whether the cross-overs were worth it – that will have to be left to the consumer, but DC would say it was worth it. Each series that was labeled a ‘cross-over’ sold well.

  35. I don’t think Snyder contradicted himself at all. I just think he worded it poorly. He’s not going reinvent the origin (like Batman: Earth One did), he’s just going to fill in some of the gaps. I think that if anyone should write this type, it should be Snyder. Next Paul Dini he is quickly becoming my favorite Bat-writer ever.

  36. Man these comments are more entertaining than Rob Liefeld’s Twitter feed

    A lot of people pre-hating this based on a few sparse lines of marketing prose. Call me crazy but I am going to wait until I actually read it before judging

    That said – based on what Snyder/Capullo have been putting out – I am optimistic

    Also – to the people who don’t like Batman: Year One … you are entitled to your opinion, as wrong as it is.

  37. The concept doesn’t thrill me, but this creative team hasn’t given me any reason to doubt them. Snyder understands Bruce Wayne and Gotham, and (at the moment) that’s enough for me.

    Snyder’s a smart writer, and he knows better than to rehash Year One. As long as there’s more Court of Owls intrigue than DOTF madness, I’m down for this.

  38. Not the biggest Batman fan, so I’ll pass until I hear you guys raving about it. That strategy worked for me with Court of Owls & Death of the Family.

  39. “It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.”….” We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain.”

    …that is the very definition of a origin story. Pass unless the reviews are all 10s.

  40. Ughh….Not happy about an 11 month arc where instead of going forward and making current stories we put everything at a dead stop and dwell of a retelling of the past.Maybe it’s time to drop buying issues when it starts and go digital to save a few bucks.

  41. It’s Snyder, and Capullo, and Tynion IV, and Albuquerque. So how can you not be excited about that? I do admit that yet ANOTHER retelling of the origin doesn’t sound appealing (especially at 11 issues long). But I’m confident that these guys will make it entertaining to read.

    At least this gets us out of a full year of Batman moping the death of Damian the rest of 2013.

  42. 11 issues is way to long for me. I like that The Riddler will be his first villain but I’m burnt out on these long story arcs. I’ll probably take a break from this book for awhile after issue 20. Not hating on Snyder and love Capullo but I’m not excited or even interested about this at all but I hope everyone else enjoys it.

  43. Love the simplistic cover. Very debonair.
    I hope Snyder writes a good Riddler. I’m excited for this.

  44. The promo image is enticing minimalism, I’m surprised they’re going back to Bats roots after it being done a number of times but seeing how Snyder & Capullos run feels like no other, they deserve an origin story to add to the canon as well.