All-Star Batman #1 DC Rebirth Comic Book Review/Recap

All-Star Batman #1: Batman and Two-Face do America

All-Star Batman #1 DC Rebirth Comic Book Recap

Our story begins in a small diner, out in the middle of nowhere. The two villains give Bruce a choice – tell us where he is, or everyone in here dies. Bruce turns to the diner patrons and delivers a solemn vow – nobody is dying today. Firefly disagrees but he’s wrong. Exhausted, Bruce says the civilians need to get out of here – but they are quick to blame Batman for all of this. After all, Bruce is the one that brought him here. Before he can convince them otherwise he is pulled through the window.

2 hours ago – Dent just attacked the city with acidic rain. Batman, Gordon, and Duke Thomas look over the many people injured as a result. Jim asks if Duke is the new Robin, and Batman says they are trying out something new, something different. Looking over the many wounded civilians, they know they have to act. Harvey has blackmail on more and more people in the city. His control of Gotham is getting formidable, but luckily, Harvey, the real Harvey, has an idea – a way out. They need to get rid of the Two-Face persona once and for all. There’s a house, far away from Gotham, that can solve everything… and all Bruce has to do is get Two-Face there.

20 minutes ago – Dent mocks his captor. They’re never going to make it to the house. It is 500 miles there, and though Two-Face has no plans to stop them… everyone else will. An announcement is made on the news – an offer to everyone. If Batman takes Harvey to the house, he will release all his blackmail on everyone. All the big, bad secrets of Gotham will be let loose on the world. But, if somebody stops them and frees Harvey, they will get the fortunes of Gotham’s three biggest crime lords transferred via a secret, untraceable payment. Heh, let the games begin.

Firefly catches up to Bruce, but seeing him standing over Black Spider… decides it would be best to leave. Coming across the wreckage of the Bat Place, Bruce looks for Harvey, when the diner patrons interrupt him. They’re sorry, but Batman brought this on himself. They need that money. Besides… Harvey is all ready to go! Bruce refuses to back down, and as he approaches Dent he is hit in the back. Before Two-Face can act, Batman is able to grab him and escape, in spite of his injury.

Securing Dent in a truck, his enemy mocks the Dark Knight. Everyone is coming for them now. The good and the bad. Cobblepot and his crew will be sending a real hunter, too. But Bruce is undeterred. Harvey laughs, saying Wayne has no idea the things people are hiding. Even those closest to him. Alfred contacts Wayne and hopes he is turning around, but he should know better than that. Wayne is cutting off comms, as someone close to him must be working with Harvey to have been able to take down the Bat Plane. Alfred wants to say something, but is cut off. Alone in the cave, the loyal butler quietly says how sorry he is…

Driving off, Wayne discards Harvey’s coin. That’s alright though. Someone will find it… someone always does…

All-Star Batman #1 DC Rebirth Comic Book Review

So I wasn’t going to originally review this one. Not that I have anything against Batman, or the creative team here – far from it, in fact. But rather after covering all of End Game and Superheavy I felt like it was time for me to take a bit of a break from Batman. This is a character I always felt worked best in doses, so for a while, it felt right to avoid coverage for a little bit until I was ready.

But that was a few months ago, and I felt like it was time to get back to the Dark Knight. Sure enough, this comic has been selling like hot cakes, and writer Scott Snyder always tends to deliver something epic and interesting. So it felt like a natural fit, and boy am I glad I opted to cover this issue, because this is great.

In a year where I have literally read hundreds of comics, many of which are excellent, All-Star Batman is still easily one of the best comics I have read so far in 2016, which says a lot. There are some great moments here – from the simple and yet highly appealing road trip premise, to the awesome way this comic delivers on its fun and clever moments, it’s hard not to enjoy this comic.

My only qualms was that the art did take some getting used to. I’m so in the habit of seeing Snyder’s writing with Greg Cappullo’s art that the new artist John Romita Jr. threw me off at first. But, after I got past the intro, which is also weird to begin with cause it jumps around in time a lot, I really got into this thing. It was fun, distinctly Batman, and somehow will be tied to so many characters within Gotham itself – without the story actually taking place in Gotham itself.

That’s both cool and clever, and then we arrive to the final piece of this little gem – the bounty. We’re starting out small, with the lesser villains, though I do like their use here – especially Gentlemen Ghost’s appearance at the end of the comic. But where this is idea is more appealing is once the big guns start coming after Bruce, things are going to get difficult. And by big guns, I mean the bigger name forces of Gotham… both the good, and the bad. Yeah, I thought that little twist with Alfred says a lot. Between the money and the blackmail, a lot of people could be going after Bruce here including many who would usually be his ally. Not even Alfred can be trusted, and, given his role so far in the story, I think Duke is a prime suspect of someone who could easily betray Bruce.

Nobody likes the skeletons coming out of there closet, and people with an already pretty colourful history like Alfred and Duke, well, they could prove dangerous trying to protect their secrets. I’m sure some are going to look down on this as a bit of a flawed moment of characterization on Alfred’s part, but honestly, I think it fits. Yes the butler is very loyal to Bruce. You can see that shooting down the plane is heart breaking for him. However, he’s still a human. He’s not some loyal dog who always has Bruce’s best interest to heart. It’s important to remember this and not let Batman and his supporting characters be so lionized that the creators can’t do anything meaningful with them.

So yes, this comic comes highly recommended. If your local comic book store still has any copies left, I really suggest you get a hold of one if you still can, and if they are sold out, the online market will likely be able to help you out. This comic is too good not to read for yourself.