Review: Batman Vol. 1- I am Gotham

Quick Summary

Pros: This is both a fun and emotional read that every reader should enjoy. It also makes Gotham feel like it is actually a part of the greater DC Universe again. In addition, it adds a sprinkle of humor to make the whole reading experience just a little more fun.

Cons: This run is a bit of a change up from previous ones in terms of tone and writing style. Not everyone will like it as much.

Overall: Batman Rebirth is starting out right with a story that delivers all around. It provides a story that is heartfelt and meaningful while also being a complete blast to read. Not only that, but it also manages to bring humor into a Batman book, with great success. Overall, this is a very good first offering from this new Batman series. Hopefully it continues into the next volume.

Story

Batman Vol. 1: I am Gotham is a very solid introduction to the latest iteration of the Batman series. It provides a story and cast of characters that the audience can really feel for and connect with while also making them entertaining to read. Not only that, but this book introduces some of the most genuinely funny lines to come out of a Batman work since The Animated Series. Overall, the only problem this work has is that some people may not like the shift in tone, especially if they were diehard fans of the previous run. Personally though, I loved it and think it is a great indication that this series is off to a wonderful start.

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The story in this collection does what every comic book tries to do but few succeed: it tells a story that is fun to read while also being deep and thoughtful. It isn’t hard to write a compelling and crazy story featuring over the top action. However all the reader gets out of these types of stories are some cheap thrills. It also isn’t uncommon to see a story with a great message buried in it. However a lot of these sacrifice on entertainment value in order to make their message impactful. Melding these concepts together is the mark of a great story and is something King accomplishes here. He writes the story with enough traditional “superhero moments”, like Batman piloting a plane with rockets or taking down Solomon Grundy, to keep the reader entertained while still managing to tell a touching and heartbreaking story about loss. All in all, both the message and reading experience are great here, which just makes reading this book that much more enjoyable.

Another great portion of this collection is its humor. Snyder started to inject some humor to the series towards the end of his run, but it never really materialized much. This run picks right up on that and makes it even better, especially with Alfred. Alfred is on fire throughout this book, bringing a sense of humor and a sarcastic wit that will elicit a chuckle out of any reader. Him dressing up as Batman in order to distract Gotham might end up going down as one of the more funny moments in Batman’s history. This is all just a great changeup from some previous runs, where every character was as stoic as can be and as serious as a heart attack, and makes experiencing this new Batman series a little more fun.

This book doesn’t just provide for itself either, it does some work in making the Batman universe better. In a work where comparisons to Snyder’s run are inevitable, some of the highlights actually become a little more obvious. In the New 52, Gotham felt completely detached from the rest of the DC Universe; even when Joker had nearly taken over the entire city, no other heroes showed up. With this new series, the rest of the universe is mentioned from the very beginning. Batman tries to contact the Justice League to save him when the collection starts and then actually gets them to show up at the end of the collection. This connectivity with the greater DC Universe is nice to see, especially after being divorced from it for so long.

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Art

It is a little bit hard going from a series drawn almost entirely by Greg Capullo to anything else, meaning that the art’s biggest problem is not even its own fault. The problem is that the art inevitably invites comparison to what came before it, and what came before it was pretty great. This is not really a knock on this collection’s art, in fact it is a non-issue for anyone who is not reading this after the New 52 run. Rather, it is simply something I encountered during my personal read through.

Besides this though, the art is good. The Rebirth issue by Ivan Reis was fantastic and beautiful throughout. After that, the art is still good but in a different way. David Finch does a great job in drawing more realistic versions of characters and cities that make them seem more down to earth. This style is great for Gotham, a city which is meant to feel more real and down to earth than a city like Metropolis. Overall, the art is not as dreamlike and beautiful as some of the art before it, but it does a good job conveying the tone it intends, which makes it work very well here.

Continuity

Batman Vol. 1: I am Gotham is the first volume of Batman’s Rebirth journey. This means that it is not a completely fresh continuity but it does serve as great jumping on point for new readers. Since it is meant to be a good starting point it does not make a lot of continuity references overall.

The story started here will continue in Batman: Night of the Monster Men (Review) and Batman Vol. 2: I am Suicide (Review).

This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• A boy named Duke shows up at Wayne Manor when the story begins. He mentions that he is there about “the offer”. This offer was extended in Batman Vol. 9: Bloom (Review).
• Duke also mentions something happening to his parents. This happens in Batman Vol. 7: Endgame (Review).
• At the beginning of this book, Bruce Wayne is having a discussion with Lucius Fox about getting the Wayne Family funds back from the government. These funds were seized in the Batman Eternal series, specifically in Batman Eternal Vol. 2 (Review).
• Gotham talking to the man on the building is a direct homage to Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman.