Batman: The Red Death #1

Writer: Joshua Williamson

Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico

Colourist: Ivan Plascencia

Letterer: Tom Napolitano

This is the first issue detailing the origin of one of the seven Dark Knights that come from the Dark Multiverse. The Red Death is a twisted amalgamation of Batman and the Flash for those unaware. From what I can tell, each world in the Dark Multiverse contains a version of Batman becomes his worst fear, channeled through a certain character, in this case the Flash. Something vague happens to Batman here and he chases down the Flash to steal his Speed Force powers.

This issue was a great deal of fun, although the initial scenes between Batman and Flash felt like they dragged for a bit too long. Maybe it's because review copies don't portray splash pages, because there are quite a few of them in the beginning of the story. As for the story, it has a twisted Elseworlds feel to it which I liked, but is made even better since the Red Death is one of the main villains of the story. Of course, I chalk all of this twisted storytelling I've referenced to Scott Snyder himself, who has been doing a great job with Metal so far. This issue was written by Joshua Williamson, who writes the main Flash series, so there's a certain pedigree here since Williamson and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico are two of the main creators on the Flash book.

Di Giandomenico's art is pretty fantastic. As far as I know, this is the first time he's drawn Batman in an official capacity, and he looked great. There are some absolutely crazy panels that I can't even describe about midway through the issue that I reckon people will always call one of Di Giandomenico's best ever. It's just as crazy awesome as the plot to the main event.

Aside from a few pacing issues, this origin tale impressed me and has me even more excited for the upcoming one-shots. Based on the strength of this issue, I hope DC markets these one-shots more aggressively. The story was fresh and creepy, and the art was stellar.