Okay, true believers (forgive the Marvel slogan), it’s time to trust in Scott Snyder. Batman #22 is a talker, a set-up issue that Snyder uses to further his plot. Issue #21 rattled our cages. Batman in the jungle. Bruce Wayne being a Fight Club-style idiot about crime fighting. Alfred at odds with the man he loves like a son. A new member of the family who is in cahoots with a villain not yet born. All heady stuff, all new ingredients to the origin of Batman. Now, in issue #22, Snyder begins to knead them into a story.
I say to trust in Scott Snyder, because some will complain this issue is not action-oriented enough. Some will be cross that Snyder has not rushed to tell us what the whole jungle aspect in issue #21 was about. For issue#22 to resonate, you need patience. Plenty happens here, but it’s all done to establish the true story arc, one we’re not just handed on a silver platter. It’s easy to see this as Batman’s first year. His first enemy. His first dealings with Gotham crime. It’s easy to see Batman Zero Year as a new story about how Bruce Wayne decided to don a big bat suit and start kicking ass.
Problem is, that’s not the real story here. Snyder is master storyteller – he’s always thinking in main plot and subtext. Batman Zero Year is about how Bruce Wayne goes from angry, self-important vigilante to the Dark Knight. He has the skills, he just doesn’t know how to put them together into something that’s part muscle but mostly brains. Batman Zero Year is about the growth from angry young man to the greatest detective in the world. Understanding that is the key to drawing as much from issue #22 as you can.
The central character here isn’t even Bruce Wayne, it’s Alfred. Wayne is busy trying to out box the Red Hood Gang and failing. He’s content to let the world think Bruce Wayne is dead so he can fight his one-man war alone. He doesn’t see the danger from his uncle, or his uncle’s partner Edward Nygma. Wayne is so busy putting his fist in everything that he can’t see what Gotham City needs. A symbol, something to believe in.
Alfred sees that, and he’s only too happy to share his dismay at how Wayne is attacking crime. The conversation between Alfred and Bruce is a tough sell, it shows Bruce acting towards Alfred in a way he never would. Only this isn’t our Bruce Wayne, this is an angry man trying to seek vengeance. This scene is the crux of the entire issue – everything else is just entertaining set-up for the final battles yet to come. Snyder is re-writing Wayne’s history by doing something nobody has ever done – making Wayne a petulant child, a rather unlikable one at that.
Greg Capullo continues to bring first rate work to Batman. His unique style of drawing human characters takes center stage in issue #22. Edward Nygma looks like an Irish thug with his mutton chops and angular face. Bruce is always angry, even when he’s being contemplative, and this rage boils beneath the surface. While the backgrounds and colors are wonderful, there is no center piece, no Batman to focus on. This gives Capullo a harder task. He needs to generate visual interest in a book where the central character doesn’t even exist. As usual, he executes it perfectly.
(4 Story, 4 Art)
