Batman 52 Preview
Batman #52 is both about the past and the future
It’s the end of an era! Again! No seriously. It seems like days ago we were talking about the end of the era of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman (which ended with Batman #51), and here we are again with Batman #52, which represents an end and a new beginning of its own. The end being the end of The New 52 run that started in 2011, and the new is leading readers into DC’s line-wide mega event that will change a bunch of stuff, but totally isn’t a reboot, but sure sounds like one “Rebirth”.
But before that actually happens, here’s Batman #52, which has a whole new team behind it, to arguably a jarring effect for readers. I’ve only casually skimmed Batman the last few years (oddly enough I’m actually a little too busy writing about Batman to really keep up with the comics beyond the big events), but Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo were this series for 5 years, so you just get used to that style. And from the first panel, Batman #52 comes across as very different in both art and writing. Not that it’s a bad thing mind you, but I definitely think it will be a little bit of a shock to your comic book nerd brain of “this is not the Batman I know!”. And this Batman story seems to both be about the past and the future of Batman, as you can see in the preview panels below:
Batman #52 is most likely meant to re-establish what it means to be Batman, but after Rebirth, it won’t even be the same team that worked on this issue (i.e. writer James Tynion IV will actually be working on Detective Comics post-Rebirth). What is in store for the Guardian of Gotham in DC’s big Rebirth event? It all starts in Batman #52, on sale this Wednesday.
h/t Comicbook.com