BATMAN #1

BATMAN #1 by Craig

September 25, 2011, 4:36 pm
Filed under: Comic Reviews, DC Comics | Tags: Batman, DCNew52, GrantMorrison, GregCapullo, ScottSnyder

Holy Bat-crap! This is the Batman comic we have been waiting for… Or certainly the one I was. And it doesn’t disappoint. Not one bit. Scott Snyder has been making a name for himself as a master Batman writer with his excellent run on Detective comics. Greg Capullo has an impressive past on Spawn. Together, they make an unstoppable dynamic duo.

In most of my reviews I’d comment on story first, art second, but this book is too beautiful to mention art last. I’ve been following all the sneak peeks of pencils etc. leading up to the new 52, and Capullo’s work has got me so excited. In my eyes, he draws a perfect Batman, he has this amazing style that mixes straight and curved lines beautifully to create something that looks totally unique. His detail matches that of Jim Lee and brings this “new” Gotham City to life.

There’s obviously been a lot of thought given to the character design here, and Scott Snyder has done a good job making sure we see all the results of the hard work. What better way of introducing us to all of our favourite Gotham villains than holding a brawl in Arkham, with Batman versus everyone… well not quite everyone! This isn’t change for change sake, but rather Cupullo’s unique take on Gotham’s most wanted, cleverly imagining how the inmates retain their costumed looks within the confines of the Asylum.

It’s not only the bad guys who get a makeover, we also get a good look at the uncostumed Bat-family – Dick, Tim and Damien. Although each of them will feature in other comics, I’m hoping we get to see them here with Cupullo’s take on their costumes too.

I mentioned in my Detective Comics review about Batman’s slightly redesigned cowl with it’s shorter ears. I’d like to think that Daniel’s work was based off of Cupullo’s designs, because every appearance of the dark knight in this issue is spectacularly drawn. He also perfectly captures the crusaders cape and the jagged edges as it splays across the floor. If they release a Batman Black & White statue of his Batman you can guarantee it’ll be heading right next to my Frank Quitely one on my shelf.

And don’t forgot the Batcave. Bruce may have invented a way of carrying a mobile Batcave in his contacts, but I hope this doesn’t mean that we start spending less time in the beautifully expansive cave that’s been put together.

Of course, these pretty pictures alone don’t make this one of my favourites so far. Like Grant Morrison before him, I have complete faith that Snyder can give us the kind of Batman story that will go down in history as one of the greats, and he makes a good start in issue #1. It might just be the Jim Lee style art work, but something tells me this might be a little like his wonderful Hush storyline.

He’s setting up a really interesting case to solve, and I can tell he’s already dropping hints all over the place for what’s to come, but won’t make any sense until we are much further into this story. There’s about three different threads at play here with Bruce and Batman at the centre of each, and I’m sure they’ll all come crashing together sometime soon. Snyder’s Detective Comics run did some fantastic work, weaving what appeared to be small arcs into one big one and, if his twitter comments are anything to go by, he’s got the whole next year planned out.

Yes ok, so Batman is in everything (he even has his own twitter hashtag to prove it) but I reckon it’ll be in this book that he shines the brightest – or darkest if you prefer.

Craig @hastiecraig

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