By Glen Ludlow

“What do you want with this city, Batman?!”

Zero Year continues in Batman #24 with a double-sized (and priced) issue that wraps up Bruce Wayne battling the Red Hood gang, and shows the emergence of two very key figures in the Batman universe. One of whom you can probably guess from the cover image – yes, Batman makes his first full appearance in Zero Year, or at least the Batman we know.

This issue gives us the origins of the Batcave, it shows us a young and determined Bruce Wayne standing up to the hellish Red Hood gang, led by the mysterious Red Hood One, who has been blackmailing half of Gotham into carrying out his plans under the disguises of their masks and generally forcing everyone to dance to his tune. His identity I had guessed back in issue #0 of Batman, but it’s nice for this to come full circle and show us the origins of some of Batman’s deadliest foes.

Scott Snyder is on good form here. The Batman we get presented with isn’t ready for the war he begins waging, far from it. He makes mistakes, his costume is still in prototype, but the important thing, and the lesson Alfred reminds him is that he’s going to become a symbol, he’s going to play a part, and people will believe in him. Bruce voices his concerns that people will quickly be able to figure out that he and Batman are one and the same, when Alfred reminds him people want to invest in something that gives them hope, recounting a tale from his old acting days when he would take on characters – the audience want to believe in what they see.

There is a beautiful two-page spread in the book that’s clearly a nod to Bob Kane’s Detective Comics #27 famous cover. The homage has been done a lot of times before, but it still had me smiling when I saw it. Just like the fact Batman wears to-the-wrist gloves in this, again a nod back to his origins in the original pulp books of the thirties.

Everything about Batman in this issue is bare bones. He’s a rough, shaven-headed rich boy who finally has his plans in motion, it’s just whether they will work or not that remains to be seen. You can see the team of Snyder and Greg Capullo have painstakingly plotted this, tying up old threads laid down way back in issue #0, and showing us parts of Batman’s origins that we’ve never seen before, not even in the hallowed Year One, which Snyder is seemingly doing his best to avoid drawing from, mainly a good move, as we want this to feel fresh and new and not a rehash of the same old origin.

When Gordon first encounters Batman in this issue he threatens to shoot him. Seeds are being sown here for where their alliance and friendship will one day blossom, but that trust isn’t there yet, but it will come, and I really hope this is another part that is explored in Zero Year.

Capullo’s pencils, as usual, are full of the kinetic energy he always brings. His angles are experimental and unique. He never draws a boring page, and just they way he has Batman moving in this, it reminds me of how Bruce Timm portrays him with the fluid motions of the Dark Knight. There’s a lot of love for the world of Batman from these two and it comes across on the pages.

This issue is definitely worth the extra money DC are asking for it, and for those wanting a Bat-fix before the release of Arkham Origins then this will scratch that itch. Go buy it.

For more comic views follow Glen on Twitter at @glenghiskhan and check out his blog for more reviews at www.glenludlow.blogspot.co.uk

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