BATMAN #0

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Avg Rating: 4.2
 
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Written by Scott Snyder
Backup Written by Scott Snyder & James T Tynion IV
Art by Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion
Backup Art by Andy Clarke
Cover by Greg Capullo

Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99

We all know why we buy this series. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo clearly are writing/drawing an amazing run on Batman and we’re only a year into it. But in the last couple of months we’ve had a back up added to the run with James Tynion IV on writing duties. While I will go into detail on why I loved the main story in this issue I do wanna express some love on the addition of Tynion into the Bat family.

For a while it took me to realize there is more to Tynion then just being a Scott Snyder disciple. (To be fair, it seems like Snyder seems to find all of these great writers every new venture) But in this back up specifically, I really start to realize just how great of a writer Tynion is. What Tynion basically has to do in this back up is condense ALL of the Robins (and Batgirl) into a single origin. That is something (I don’t believe anyways) has ever been done and I gotta imagine it was a pain to think of a way to do it. But somehow, Tynion is able to mix all of these Robins together into an origin that is not only fun but also uplifting. To make all of these guys wanting to change their life because of the bat signal, it gives their partnership with Bruce a whole new meaning.

He also brings new dynamics to these guys that mixes all of the origins of the Robins but bring a new spin on them. Now having Jason an accessory to a robbery go wrong makes his character more then a lame anti-hero. Having Tim a super smart child prodigy makes me understand how he can become Red Robin and run his own superhero team. Even if Dick Grayson’s origin is basically the same I like how he was inspired by Batman BEFORE his parents died. So then it’s not just a simple story of Bruce bringing Dick in. It’s just a fantastic story for so many reasons and it almost makes me forget there was a main feature in this zero issue.

The main story itself is just as good even if I did have some trepidation about it. Another Batman origin? How many times have we had that? But give Snyder credit by not doing the usual tropes of a Batman origin. I like the new spin he gives on some of his origins. His original base of operations was in Crime Alley? Great idea! The Red Hood Gang being his first real threat? Nice idea to mix in the Joker story coming up next month. So while yes, a new origin of Batman is always a tough sell at this point; Snyder does a great job adding in new elements to not tread the same water.

Finally, I don’t want to forget about the artists in this book. Greg Capullo does yet another fantastic job with this issue. He actually gets to draw something with a bit more ‘upbeat’ story so he gets to have more of an action movie feel to this issue. I really want a whole issue of Capullo drawing the Bat-Pod because he really knows how to draw motorcycles and make a compelling sequence. Also, his new design for Red Hood is fantastic and I love you can tell just how is under the hood without being too obvious. Finally, let’s not forget about Andy Clarke. I love Clarke because he’s Gary Frank-lite. Actually I would say he is mix of Gary Frank and Francis Yu because he LOVES crosshatching. I hope he gets to stay on the back ups for a while because he needs to get more work.

This is definitely one my favorite issues of this run on Batman but not for the obvious reasons. Yes, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did yet another fantastic job with this series. But newcomer James Tynion IV and underrated artist Andy Clarke also did just as an amazing job with the backup. Honestly, if the main story was just an origin of the Robins I’d probably give it the same rating cause I wanna see more of Tynion’s work. Guess I’ll get that in a few weeks with his ‘Talon’ book. But until now this issue is a great introduction to, hopefully, the new big deal at DC with James Tynion IV.

Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. I completely agree with you, the back up story was wonderful!
    Now I can’t wait to read the new Talon book written by James Tynion IV.

  2. Did anyone else have a little bit of an issue with the “6 years ago” description of these events. I get it, the New 52 slightly changed some things Bat-related. Did it also magically condense Batman’s life and mythology into a 6 year time span? So we are now to believe that he took on 3 Robin’s, a Batgirl, and trained Damien in only 6 years?? I love Snyder’s run, and i will basically ignore this when i reconcile the continuity, but it really bothered me how DC could expect readers to just take all this at face value.

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