uncas007's Batman #4 - Volume 4: Zero Year - Secret City review

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    • uncas007 has written a total of 268 reviews. The last one was for Book Six

    Sure, why not.

    Sure, there were some things I didn't like or weren't nearly as clever as Snyder and Co. wanted them to be, and the discontinuity among the different New 52 Batman writers as to this Bruce Wayne's history is irksome, and the young Bruce Wayne giving obscene gestures to his enemies is embarrassing at the least, but since Snyder has built up enough Credibility Stock thus far (indeed in far excess of virtually all the New 52 writers I've read thus far), we are inclined to shrug those off more or less and just say "sure, we'll go with you on this." The flashback-within-the-flashback device at the beginning is confusing, especially since we are not told in any way this is part of a series of Zero Year volumes or stories in any linked/user-friendly sort of fashion, but we have come to expect that from the New 52 editors. Much of this is a fine story, well-paced, with decent enough dialogue especially as it connects to earlier threads about Bruce Wayne truly loving Gotham (at least the optimistic idea of what Gotham can be or can do for you). Visually, Capullo and Crew are reaching some very aesthetically-pleasing pages, especially the Wayne/Nygma conversation scene (obviously). One is a little troubled by the behind-the-scenes glance at Snyder's cheerleadingly-annotated script (does he really sound like that? why does he want everything to be "cool"? Can't some things be "neat-o" or "keen"?), but then, artists of all ilks have always had odd personal traits that need not concern us when and while we delight in their output. The supporting stories are again squished into the end of the collection, as if reading the issues as originally presented would somehow detract or confuse us, but oh well. (Oh, and I think I know who the Red Hood leader is going to become, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

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