I admit it! I am worn out on events right now to the point where I was genuinely thinking of not getting this. With Marvel’s idea of a drawn out fight, IDW’s disappointing crossovers of beloved cartoon characters, and DC’s recent failings with Flashpoint; the idea of a mini-event for Batman worried me. But two things help alleviate a lot of my worries and it’s quite simple really what those two are: Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.

This issue in general is a nice set up for the huge brawl we’re probably going to be seeing for the next couple of months. The Talons are invading Wayne Manor and obviously Bruce is having a rough go at keeping them at bay. There’s no real depth of story like we’ve seen in the previous issues as this is mostly banter between hero and foes for twenty pages. But that isn’t a disservice to Snyder because this issue is fairly entertaining. I like just how fed up Bruce is at the Talons and he won’t even let them finish their rantings. Also, some great moments with Alfred in this and I like the unconventional way he got rid of one of the Talons for Bruce. In the end though it is mostly getting us ready for the big brawl then anything else so not much happens in this issue if I have to be honest.

Greg Capullo’s art though is fantastic from beginning to end. I love how he sets up the mood in the opening pages with Bruce in the shadow and then suddenly use the hologram to ‘wake him up’. A lot of credit should go to Jonathan Glapion (inker) and FCO Plascencia (colorist) for making any of these moody moments work and for the big fights that occur in the issue. I do love the level of detail these guys bring in each issue. You can see the individual wrinkles and hairs on Alfred, or the splinters when a door is knocked down. But when the big moments occur in this issue you do get a bit of chill (or I know I do) when they happen. Case in point: When Bruce says ‘Get the Hell Out of My House’ in his new armor; the way it’s laid out for the reveal and just the overall design of the armor makes me wanna say ‘fuck yeah’ to the comic….in a good way!

There should be mention of the back up in here which has some fantastic artwork by Rafael Albuquerque and written by newcomer James Tynion IV. I don’t know if it’s Snyder all together or the publishers but somehow Snyder always finds the best newcomers to work with him. While again, this back up is just setting things up more then anything else, it is quite good to read considering it’s Tynion’s first thing ever in comics. (He’s also going to help write the Batman Annual next month with Mr. Freeze in it so that’ll be exciting) The sequence involving the Talons approaching the government officials though does make it set apart from just mindless exposition. That and Tynion has a good voice for Alfred in this. Let me get more to the point with the back up: Albuquerque should be drawing more Batman because this back up is fantastic. While Batman and the Talons are barely in it, he can easily set up the mood in this back up by just simple layouts. He also draws one hell of a Bat-Armor to back up Capullo’s (although it does bug me slightly that Capullo’s version is Robocop while Rafael’s is Medieval). So if you’re the type of person who complains they don’t get much out of a $3.99 book then I dare you to complain when you get this fantastic back up to read.

It took one issue but now my worries about this mini-event is totally gone. But it’s a Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo comic so I couldn’t even imagine them disappointing me at all with this. Sure this is mostly a small taste of what is to come for the story but it’s a great set up to what will be a brutal finale to this epic story. If these back ups by Tynion and Albuquerque has this much quality every issue then this series is definitely going to remain the best comic DC is publishing right now.