Batman Lost #1
Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson
Artist: Doug Mahnke, Yanick Paquette and Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Wil Quintana, Nathan Fairbairn and Alejandro Sanchez
Publisher: DC Comics
This issue was AMAZING. Not only did it have an all-star creative team, it is literally a celebration of Batman and does also give us some questions about his history. One piece of advice I would say when reading this issue is to have Google close-by.
I’m currently re-reading Grant Morrison’s Batman and the thing that I really love about Morrison’s Batman is that it does rely on Batman’s history for so much of his run and is entertaining to see Easter eggs if you have read any Golden and Silver Age Batman or The Black Casebook. Batman Lost feels a lot like this.
It first starts off with an old Bruce Wayne telling the story of his very first adventure in Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman). The actual story changes a lot as it starts in front of a window as opposed to starting with Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon talking. We know that he is in the Dark Multiverse, so we understand that things may not be what it seems.
Then we shift to where Batman’s origin is addressed. Hath-Set has become inspired by Batman from when he went back in time. Hath-set was the character that killed Hawkgirl and Hawkman with Nth-metal and caused them to be reincarnated every time. The story continues to go through various moments in which Batman fails. There is also a change in the story Dark Knight, Dark City in which Bruce has the knife to summon Barbatos as opposed to Thomas Jefferson. In this scene, we basically get a confirmation that Barbatos was waiting for Bruce. We continue to go through various moments, but the most interesting one is when Batman says he has had enough. That is the point that everything is revealed.
From what Barbatos is telling Bruce, he is saying that he created and helped Batman all his life, even from his first case, where Batman would have believed that he solved it on his own. The purpose of this was to make Batman an icon or a beacon of hope so that when he fell, everyone would. It was a brilliant plan, and is interesting since Barbatos also says that Bruce is the person with the most fears and failures and that he is basically nothing without Barbatos. This is really intriguing as it basically gives an explanation for all those 'because I’m Batman' moments, as Barbatos has always been the one guiding and effectively doing the work for him.
In conclusion, both the writers and the artists did an unbelievable job with this issue. I would recommend re-reading it a few times as I had to read it again to fully understand the scope, but what Snyder and others are doing with Metal and especially Batman Lost is definitely building on a lot of Morrison’s stuff and blowing the Bat-verse wide open.
Artist: Doug Mahnke, Yanick Paquette and Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Wil Quintana, Nathan Fairbairn and Alejandro Sanchez
Publisher: DC Comics
This issue was AMAZING. Not only did it have an all-star creative team, it is literally a celebration of Batman and does also give us some questions about his history. One piece of advice I would say when reading this issue is to have Google close-by.
I’m currently re-reading Grant Morrison’s Batman and the thing that I really love about Morrison’s Batman is that it does rely on Batman’s history for so much of his run and is entertaining to see Easter eggs if you have read any Golden and Silver Age Batman or The Black Casebook. Batman Lost feels a lot like this.
It first starts off with an old Bruce Wayne telling the story of his very first adventure in Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman). The actual story changes a lot as it starts in front of a window as opposed to starting with Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon talking. We know that he is in the Dark Multiverse, so we understand that things may not be what it seems.
Then we shift to where Batman’s origin is addressed. Hath-Set has become inspired by Batman from when he went back in time. Hath-set was the character that killed Hawkgirl and Hawkman with Nth-metal and caused them to be reincarnated every time. The story continues to go through various moments in which Batman fails. There is also a change in the story Dark Knight, Dark City in which Bruce has the knife to summon Barbatos as opposed to Thomas Jefferson. In this scene, we basically get a confirmation that Barbatos was waiting for Bruce. We continue to go through various moments, but the most interesting one is when Batman says he has had enough. That is the point that everything is revealed.
From what Barbatos is telling Bruce, he is saying that he created and helped Batman all his life, even from his first case, where Batman would have believed that he solved it on his own. The purpose of this was to make Batman an icon or a beacon of hope so that when he fell, everyone would. It was a brilliant plan, and is interesting since Barbatos also says that Bruce is the person with the most fears and failures and that he is basically nothing without Barbatos. This is really intriguing as it basically gives an explanation for all those 'because I’m Batman' moments, as Barbatos has always been the one guiding and effectively doing the work for him.
In conclusion, both the writers and the artists did an unbelievable job with this issue. I would recommend re-reading it a few times as I had to read it again to fully understand the scope, but what Snyder and others are doing with Metal and especially Batman Lost is definitely building on a lot of Morrison’s stuff and blowing the Bat-verse wide open.
A Look Inside
