There are some characters that have such a well-defined background that any time someone wants to dig in and do a little tweaking with it, well, that’s a rather risky proposition. There are some characters where it’s inherently difficult to not only introduce something new to their origins, but also something that makes sense and fits with all that’s come before. Well, that’s what Scott Snyder is attempting to do with the “Year Zero” storyline starting in Batman #21. Granted, it’s still too early to tell, but judging from what he’s done thus far, he’s probably the guy to successfully pull it off. He certainly gets it off to a good start.
Thus far, Snyder has added some interesting wrinkles to the backstory of the Dark Knight during the “Court of Owls” and “Death of the Family” stories, but now he’s taking it all the way back to the beginning, before even year one. In truth, some of this feels rather similar to any other “young Batman” type story, but the way it’s started gives all of it some rather interesting context. We see Batman returning to a Gotham that looks like it’s worse off than it was than in “No Man’s Land,” and then we go to when a young Bruce Wayne first returned to Gotham after travelling the world to train for his destiny. He’s still trying to figure out the best way to go about fulfilling his mission of saving Gotham, which is given some pretty heavy dramatic weight since we’ve already seen a glimpse of the fact the he ultimately failed.
Then there’s the interesting take Snyder has on the Red Hood. Red Hood has always had an interesting role in the world of Batman, from being one of the first identities for the man who would ultimately become the Joker to being the role taken on by a recently resurrected Jason Todd. Who Red Hood is in this “Year Zero” storyline and what ultimately his plan is, or how he’s able to actually “kill Gotham” remains a big and compelling mystery that I can’t wait to see unfold. Moreso because of how it will likely add some interesting wrinkles to the early years of Batman himself and how it ended up shaping him.
There are lots of fun nods and foreshadowing in this issue that point to where Bruce will end up or hint at some of the things that have become associated with the character, and moving forward I’m sure we’ll see more of that, or at least I hope we will. Scott Snyder has been on a hot streak with Batman from the start of the New 52, and should he pull off successfully adding a new chapter to the well documented “early” years of Batman, his run on this series might go down as being one of the best ones in Batman’s long publishing history. I’m excited to see what he does with this.
A BIG thanks to Astro-Zombies for providing the material for this review. Learn more about them at astrozombies.com.
