Batman: Rebirth #1 Review

With Batman: Rebirth, we watch as one era ends while an exciting new one begins in more ways than one.

Batman: Rebirth #1
Written by Scott Snyder and Tom King
Art by Mikel Janin
Colored by June Chung
Published by DC Comics

I think I speak for more of the comic book reading world when I say that Batman: Rebirth was the Rebirth title everyone was the most nervous about.

I mean seriously, how do you follow up what Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo accomplished in their acclaimed run on the New 52 Batman? Those issues are considered some of the best Batman comic of all time, and rightly so. Rereading those issues still gives me goosebumps.

So I went into Batman: Rebirth #1 with an open mind, but was fully prepared to come away a bit disappointed. Not that the issue would necessarily be bad, but that it just wasn’t as good as what Snyder and Capullo did.

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And while Batman: Rebirth does set the title off in a new direction and it definitely isn’t Snyder and Capullo, that might not be the worst thing in the world.

Of course, having Snyder co-write the issue was a brilliant move on DC’s part. It acts as a nice passing of the torch to the new creative team and gives the issue a vague feeling of being connected to what happened before without it overshadowing the tone that new writer Tom King is trying to establish.

As for the issue itself, well damn if I wasn’t impressed as hell.

It’s not so much that anything of real importance happens, because it doesn’t. Batman: Rebirth acts as a way to reacquaint lapsed readers to Bruce Wayne and introduce Duke Tomas as Batman’s new sidekick.

Actually, sidekick may be the wrong term here. Because, as Batman says in the issue “I’m trying something new.” It would appear that instead of Duke functioning as a sidekick, he is more of a partner to Batman, similar to how he and Nightwing operate. It’s a very intriguing change, and one I’m looking forward to watching play out in the pages of the new Batman series.

No, what I really liked about Batman: Rebirth was that sense of a new direction and new things to come and how exciting that is. To start we get a revamped Calendar Man who life cycle is determined by the seasons. It’s a simple yet brilliant change that has me waiting with baited breath for his next appearance.

It would have been easy for Tom King to simply imitate what Snyder had done and most people would have been thrilled. Instead he is daring to go his own way and create something all his own. It’s a big risk, but it could pay off with a big reward, especially for us readers.

As for the art, Mikel Janin hits it out of the ballpark. He will be one of the artists handling Batman now that is is a twice-a-month title and his work is everything you would expect from the man largely responsible for making Justice League Dark a must-read book while it was published.

It seems every week a book comes out that heralds the start of a “Brand New Era!” but fails miserably to live up to the hype (I’m looking right at you All-New, All-Different Avengers). If Batman: Rebirth is any indication, we might just see a comic live up to that billing.

The Bottom Line: Batman: Rebirth really is a rebirth for not only Batman the character, but Batman the comic book series. Following up the Snyder/Capullo era should have been a thankless task, but King seems not only ready for the challenge, he seems prepared to blow everyones expectations out of the water.

Tom King. Remember that name folks. Soon you won’t be able to forget it.

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