Batman Earth One vol.1
Fans of illustrations. I want to start this review by saying that Gary Frank is truly wicked awesome. Every page and every panel is just gorgeous. I have pretty much enjoyed every Batman story I have read for the last 25 years. This retelling, re-imagining of the Batman mythos is no exception. Well, Geoff Johns can do no wrong can he? A cool fresh new take and I really enjoyed it. Thomas Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth in the secret service! Dope. Alfred is no butler. He is a ruthless soldier. Thomas Wayne is campaigning to be mayor of Gotham and is receiving death threats and some other shit from some wicked evil villains. Whats a man to do? You call your homie from the secret service to get your back. We all know the story of how the Wayne's are murdered in an alley leaving the theater. This still happens in this telling, but the difference here is that Alfred becomes Bruce's guardian otherwise Bruce must go live in an orphanage. Over the years Alfred trains Bruce in the ways of a deadly combat soldier. Bruce does not go to train with the League Of Shadows. Not as cool, but still pretty cool. Reminds me an 80's movie. Which one? Bloodsport or better yet Kickboxer. Im sure there are many others with this same story. Now Bruce is an adult in his early twenties and decides its time. Arrogant, cocky, head strong, and hellbent he believes that now is the time to take out the trash. His bat costume is pretty basic and he does not have much tech. His skills are not yet of the dark knight. He is rusty and making mistakes. He gets beat up a bit and is unable to apprehend a bad guy or two. I love this so much. I enjoy his rookie mistakes. I like this version of his origin story very much. We get some flashbacks of the Dent siblings. Harvey and Jess Dent. Bruce gets close to Jess and Harvey does not approve. We actually see Harvey punk Bruce a bit. Love it. At this time the penguin, Oswald Cobblebot becomes mayor. He's a gross sack of shit, but when is he not. Someone is murdering around Gotham City and leaving clues. The same clue is always left and it's a huge question mark drawn in what seems to be neon chalk. Drawn on doors and walls and on the ground. It's up to Batman to solve this mystery. He has some help along the way from Alfred, Gordon and a small role for now, by Lucious Fox. Fox is here and portrayed as a young man who is an up and comer at Wayne enterprises. Harvey Bullock (Never understood why there are two major characters named Harvey) has a very cool and fresh new take in this book. He is a cop from Hollywood California who's last gig was on a reality type TV show like COPS. Something like that. I don't remember exactly. As time passes and Harvey experiences the grit and shit and crime of Gotham he begins to wear down. What is in store for Harvey?-Alan Tooma
Panel Yap rating 5/5
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