Batman: The Murder Machine #1

Writers: Frank Tieri and James Tynion IV

Art: Riccardo Federici

Colourist: Rain Beredo

Letterer: Tom Napolitano

The backstories of the Dark Batmen continue to be fleshed out here in Batman: The Murder Machine. The Murder Machine is an amalgamation, essentially, of Batman and Cyborg, but not in the sense that Batman merged with the Flash in Batman: The Red Death. It's a little bit more complicated than that, and is immediately more engaging.

Why it's more engaging to me is because here we see Bruce experience what makes him go insane. The last issue had him talking about his family dying or some such tragedy, but here we see Alfred killed by some of Batman's rogues. Bruce is in mourning and the series of events that occur, which involve Cyborg, seem like they could actually happen. I'm a big fan of the idea of the Dark Multiverse and how these are Batman's fears literally brought to life. It makes this grand, huge story a lot more personal since the Justice League basically have to fight twisted, even more damaged versions of their close friend. There are some genuinely creepy moments in this issue that take place in flashback form that elevated the whole issue for me.

The art was pretty fantastic. Riccardo Federici went for this light, metallic style that was also reflected by Rain Beredo's colouring work. It's a strong visual choice which makes sense given all the metallic-based characters that show up here. All two of them.

I was very impressed with this issue, and I'm going to recommend going out to pick this up. Scott Snyder publicly said that it isn't necessary to buy the tie-ins, but these issues seem very integral to the whole event as backstories to the villains and I don't see anyone truly appreciating what's going on without this knowledge. The writing is strong, the very foundation of the plot is creepy, and the art is thematic and great.