Batman: The Knight Review

Man, this was fantastic.

Zdarsky writes an awesome Bruce Wayne, and completely crushes the backstory leading to his becoming Batman.

Sure, we've all heard the origin before but never in this depth. There is no stone left unturned here - Bruce's anger is explored as it always is but Zdarsky shows the full range of emotions that Bruce felt during this time. I think this shows Bruce as much more naive, somewhat more optimistic, and not nearly as hardened as he is shown in main continuity today. We follow Bruce through being trained by these criminals that "today's" Batman wouldn't think twice before locking up, and it's really interesting to see Bruce be more "forgiving" or at least willing to turn a blind eye for his own purposes. A really excellent dive into what makes Bruce Wayne Batman and I think it completely throws the "Bruce Wayne is the mask" trope out the window. This shows that Bruce is a human being.

Carmine Di Giandomenico's art is excellent, detailed and explosive. Expressive faces and really well plotted action matched up with Zdarsky's story perfectly.

Ivan Plascencia's colors were good and fit the tone of the story well. A lot of clear effort went into switching the pallete up when in the several different environments present. Plascencia goes into great detail and doesn't try to stylize too much which I think complements Di Giandomenico's style well - which is extraordinarily important for a Colorist.

Pat Brosseau's letters were detailed and flowed well. Sound effects were efficient and included at a rate and timing that lended itself well to the story. The extra care taken to switch up lettering styles really pulled together all the art for the book and made it just really pleasing to the eye.

Overall, I loved this book. The entire creative team putting out exemplary work, and I didn't want to stop reading it.