Batman has been around solving crimes and fighting bad guys since, what, the 40's? So I probably haven't read enough to say it, but c'mon, Greg Capullo and Scott Snyder just finished the greatest run on Batman ever. Ever! A long time, no doubt. But it was awesome. And so any run to follow such a great five-year stretch will probably be disappointing no matter what. The new Batman book, now out twice a month, is written by the critic's favorite, Tom King, and penciled by David Finch, no one's favorite. King has an interesting back-story. He used to work for the CIA, even working for the CIA in Iraq at one point. He left to follow his dreams of being a writer. He published a super-hero book a few years ago and is now in the big time after signing an exclusive deal for DC (his Marvel book, Vision, is ending shortly). We were all curious what King would do with Batman. What he did was inject a super-hero duo into the mix. Gotham and Gotham Girl, two Superman types, are now fighting super-villains in Gotham City. The first issue featured a daring plane rescue. #2 features a fight with a villain and murmurings of the big bad, The Monster Men, arriving soon. King definitely gets Alfred and Commissioner Gordon right, probably the only true highlight. There's a black Robin in the book, which confuses me. When did he arrive? Before "Rebirth?" If so...I thought the whole point of re-launching all the series was to get new readers an easy jumping on point (and Superman has a wife and kid now for some reason, which is even more confusing in Superman #1). So the new Batman is interesting but not great. The villain that changes seasons, seen in Batman: Rebirth #1 (another confusing book), is no where to be found in Batman #1 or #2. David Finch's art is mediocre at best, which doesn't help. I remember him drawing awesome covers when he first came to DC for Brightest Day. So perhaps Finch is only good when he draws slow? They probably should have put one of DC's good artists on this flagship book; Ivan Reis, Jim Lee, or Patrick Gleason. Which brings us back to Rebirth. It certainly isn't as cool or as exciting as "The New 52," launched in September 2011 (they waited until most of the books reached #52 to re-boot again...although Batman was the only one that had the same writer and artist for those five years). "The New 52" had the caveat of being fresh. Marvel copied it already a few times and now DC is doing it again. The one big problem with "Rebirth" is that there aren't many books that look exciting. "The New 52" had Batman with Snyder and Capullo, Aquaman with Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, Justice League with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, and Action Comics with Grant Morrison. What are we excited to read for "Rebirth?" Tom King on Batman was intriguing...until we read it and it was just okay. Snyder and John Romita, Jr. are doing All-Star Batman in August and Jim Lee is on Suicide Squad in August. Kind of slim pickings, really.
Batman #1 ** Batman #2 **1/2
