Is It Good? Batman #21 Review

And so it begins. Zero Year — where the main Batman title rewinds the clock and we go back to the early days of Bruce Wayne’s fight against crime. Lots of people are already talking about it with interest or frustration, some crying blasphemy at the mere notion when Year One already exists. While that book is my favorite Batman comic of all time, I’m going to look at this comic with an open mind and find the answer to: is it good?

Batman #21 (DC Comics)

After a flash forward that depicts Gotham in utter chaos, the comic focuses on a young Bruce Wayne trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious Red Hood Gang leader while also meeting with his uncle, Philip Kane, who tries to get him more interested in the new Wayne Enterprises. In the backup story, we see an even younger Bruce learning from a criminal called Don Miguel on how to outrun the police down in Brazil.

I think Batman is getting into the cosplay scene with the Mad Max getup.

I didn’t talk too much about the plot and that’s because there’s not much to it, outside of setting things up for the new arc by introducing characters and hints at future events. It’s not bad at all by any stretch (I’m certainly interested in seeing where this is going), but since not much happens, the comic kind of starts slowing down and gets uninteresting during the talking bits in the middle. It does pick up at the end when the first surprise is revealed and continues on into the backup, which is fun from start to finish.

If he called him Uncle Phil, I would’ve started hearing the Fresh Prince theme in my head.

The art on this comic is very good as usual with the combo of Greg Capullo on the main stuff while Rafael Albuquerque does the backup. The expressions and emotions from the characters are great as usual, the action scenes are nice, and the worlds they draw are very eye catching at points, especially during the car chase in the backup. Not a bad thing at all to say about it.

Though Bruce looks like Travis Kidd from American Vampire here in a way.

7.5

• Lots of good setup, mysteries, and plots are starting.
• The backup and the action scene was very thrilling.
• The artwork from both artists is beautiful.

• Not much really happens.
• Tad bit boring and dialogue heavy in the middle.

Is It Good?

Yes. Not the most exciting issue, but lots of interesting things are being setup here with the mysterious appearance towards the end and the dark future for Gotham shown at the beginning. Definitely worth checking out at some point, though maybe hold off until the next issue to get more of the story.