Batman #2 Review

Batman #1 wasn’t a fluke, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are on a roll.

Batman #2

As one grows up the reality of life slowly lifts the veil of childhood innocence; I know Santa Claus isn’t real, my parents were the Tooth Fairy, and that Bruce Wayne is a product DC will never stop selling; his “life” is never in any real danger, but I live for the moments where I say (sometimes out loud), “How the heck is he going to get out of this?”

And when I opened the pages to Batman #2 I said (out loud), “How the heck is he going to get out of this?”

Great stuff.

I don’t think it’s by coincidence that this book has opened up twice in a row to Gotham City; the city itself is almost a character in the book, or at least Bruce’s connection to it is very profound and since Scott Synder has given us a peek behind the curtain, and we know that Bruce will learn he doesn’t know Gotham as well as he thought, it’s a lot of fun to watch the connection between Bruce and Gotham develop. Prior to DC’s relaunch Dick Grayson was Batman, and fittingly the actual Batman book was his – we knew the switch back was inevitable – but Snynder and Capullo’s story isn’t making it any less enjoyable, in fact the opposite, this sort of single-minded “back to the roots” story is exactly what the title needed.

As demonstrated during his run in Detective Comics Scott Synder “gets” Batman, it’s comforting to see here that he also “gets” Bruce Wayne.

Oh yeah, and that Greg Capullo guy is pretty good. He’s no stranger to mainstream superhero books but it’s fair to say that this is about as visible as Capullo’s artwork has been in his career and he’s stepping up to the exposure, his work in this book is superb. His action is fast-paced, intense, and without the use of a single splash page still gives the appropriate amount of space to scenes deserving of a bigger panel, he get’s a lot out of his pages, his backgrounds extend the length of engagement (I pour over his city skylines) and probably my favorite attribute, Capullo has implemented his style into the entire city, all the characters, every inch of the book is in the Capullo-Universe. I love a story who’s visuals live in that small space between reality and animation and I love it even more when there is continuity in the art, when everything feels unique to a certain style. Art is subjective, so to each their own, but as far as I’m concerned Capullo can draw Batman for as long as he wants.

Perhaps the only element of the story that isn’t making me as giddy as a school girl is the growing extension of Bruce’s tech; now, I’m aware the guy is famous for cool tech and has the right gadget for literally any situation, and admittingly I enjoy my Batman grounded or “low tech,” but the camera/scanner in the morgue that can give Bats a full body scan (from just 1 angle) was a bit of a reach for me. Snyder makes it convienant to the plot rather just being there for the sake of tech, Batman gets to talk to Gordon in the morgue and turn around and talk to Nightwing in the cave, I’m just not a fan of Tony Stark-Batman. I’m with Dick, I want my Batman sneaking around and doing his disappearing act. That’s just me though.

What I am a fan of though is anytime Bruce has to switch to Batman mode out of costume, this fight with the owl villain is one of my favorites of the year so far. And although I missed Batman doing his ninja sneak-out-of-the-room with Gordon in the morgue we got one when Bruce falls about 50 stories off a building only to use a stone gargoyle as a landing pad. How’d he do it? We’ll never know, he’s Batman. Wearing a tux.

So far Batman has produced at every level. It’s a creative story that’s building on itself, we get action-Batman, detective-Batman, Bruce Wayne, and a cool new villain with art to die for.

Anyone not buying this book is missing out one of the best series of the year so far.

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Tags: Batman Comics Bruce Wayne DC Comics New 52 Reviews Greg Capullo Scott Snyder Slider