Batman by far is my favorite super hero regardless of the publisher. Most of my all-time favorite stories one way or another involves the Dark Knight. So of course the DC Rebirth title I was going to be looking forward to the most was going to be Batman’s. I was very excited to get an appetizer of things to come in Tom King’s run on Batman. Also I was hoping to get a little more clarification on the Joker reveal and some of Batman’s changes. But by the end of it I really didn’t feel like I got much.

   Not much happened in this issue. One of the few highlights in the book was the interesting take they have on Calendar Man, he has a bit more character to him than I am used to seeing. Also we see Duke (from the We Are Robin Series) start working with Batman not as a Robin but as something else. We will have to wait for a future issue to see what he calls his new partner. Even though the outfit is different, Duke still ends up looking like a Robin. One of the cool aspects of this book is in the artwork. On one of the pages we see Batman and Duke walking in the Batcave and pass by a collection of Batmobiles which included the Tumbler and Motorcycle from the films, as well as the classic Batman 66 Batmobile. Also I will say that personally I am really digging the new Batman costume and look forward to seeing more in action in issues to come.

   Overall I think that this book fails at getting the reader excited for the upcoming Batman series. But this is just one special issue and personally I am still looking forward to see where Tom King takes the caped crusader. After getting the opportunity to talk with him at Wondercon I know that he is very excited to be on this title. If you want to read some of his other work, check out Grayson (DC Comics) and Vision (Marvel). But let’s be honest, its Batman a character doesn’t need much publicity to get you to read his comic book, even if you “kill” Bruce and put a substitute in a robot. For now I am just happy to have Bruce Wayne as Batman back and as much as I loved most of Scott Snyder’s and Greg Capullo’s run, there is nothing wrong with a change of pace and a new look on Batman.

Publisher: DC Comics

Writers: Scott Snyder & Tom King

Artist: Mikel Janin

Colors: June Chung