Ever since this book was announced, I expected good things from it.  That’s why it’s all the more pleasing that I can say that this book is surprisingly good.  I’ve liked a lot of Yost’s other work, but I didn’t know how well he would fit writing in the Bat-world… yet he’s taken any high expectations I had for this title and exceeded them.  Tim’s voice is perfect here, and I love the authentic feel of his detective’s brain turning at all times, even during a fight.  His actions are perfectly in tune with his character, and the story itself is compelling without resorting to any half-logical twists or cheap cliffhangers.  The strength here is that everything makes sense, and yet is somehow fresh and original.  In that, this fits perfectly in line with the new paradigm set by Bat-books like Morrison’s “Batman and Robin”, which also operates on elements of finding the character’s roots and using them in creative and novel ways to create of smart, interesting story.  The art does the job, but isn’t anything spectacular.  The figures are fairly inconsistent, though.  Tim looks like a body builder on the splash/credits page, but looks properly muscled with an athletic build later when talking in his hideout.  That’s a minor complaint, and certainly doesn’t take away from an exemplary story.