It’s hard not to compare the story of the Court of Owls with that of GATES OF GOTHAM. Especially as Batman delves deeper into Gotham’s history – as well as his own – the links are clear. Scott Snyder is trying to build Gotham very much from the ground up: no small task.

BATMAN #4 feels like a calm before the storm, a brief reprieve after the eerie revelations of #3 before Batman is thrown headlong once again into the path of the Court of Owls. And it’s a lot of exposition, though not wholly bad exposition. Some people might not like what they read, not because it isn’t good – it’s very, very good – but because it establishes certain things about Bruce and his past that may not line up with some readers’ particular perception of Batman.

I have no qualms about reasonable tweaks within the Batman story, or any other long-running, because at least in this case they still feed into the same essence. But sometimes here there’s a bit too much stereotypical Batman going on, almost as if to counterbalance these minor changes for this version. I mean, I feel like I’ve read a million scenes in which someone (Dick, this time around) tries to convince Bruce that he’s obsessing too much, pushing himself too hard at a case – that this time it might get him killed.

But why does everyone look so bemused all the time? Capulo’s art is solid and atmospheric, but for one reason or another it seems like his unmasked characters all have this very similar knowing expression on their face. I couldn’t help but feel like maybe Bruce and Dick were in on some kind of joke that I wasn’t, and they just couldn’t resist the urge to wink.