It’s a major bummer when, even though there’s an overwhelming majority of Bat-books over at DC right now, there’s only one that our team is consistently excited about. It’s a major win, however, when I get to review that book.
Let’s talk about Batman: The Knight #2
Nick took my “who was in Paris” joke so this part is titled A Perfect Premise
I gotta get this out of the way, I love this book. From the moment I heard about it, I was in love. Chip Zdarsky taking on a Batman story before he was even Batman?
Sign me up. Save me 20 copies. Give me 6 years of this book. I don’t care, just give it to me.
And lucky for me, my hype has paid off! Where issue #1 was setup, giving Bruce inspiration to leave Gotham, issue #2 goes full throttle on the globetrotting shenanigans. I mean, Bruce is learning stealth skills, lockpicking, and infiltration techniques from France’s greatest super thief! That’s awesome! I have no other words.
It’s really cool to see the actual training Bruce does in his pre-Batman days. Which habits he picks up, what he changes, and what lessons he learns are all incredibly exciting to see, especially when he’s undergoing a moral crisis over the very education he’s undergoing!
There’s even an early glimpse of the utility belt!
I love this whole setup, the fact that there’s no Bat motif in sight yet. I know it’s a Batman book, but the series seeming to skew towards a globetrotting spy drama rather than a full on Bat-story is a refreshing take that I can’t wait to see more of.
It’s a large reason that I fell in love with the 2004 cartoon series The Batman. Seeing Batman portrayed as a superspy, with lots of cool gadgets and intricate methods of infiltration, the whole thing just oozed cool.
I get a similar vibe from this book, and I love it.
Speaking of Vibes…
Let’s talk about these VISUALS.
I have an incessant urge to sit on this rooftop and listen to music oh my GOD.
The vibes are immaculate. It’s moody, it’s mysterious, the palette is just… MMM. Every single part of the look of this book works in perfect tandem with the script to bring you into this version of Paris that’s populated by high tech thieves and their young proteges, some of whom are training to one day be the greatest crime-fighters in the world. It’s an absolute delight for both readers and their eyes.
Also, of course, I have to give a shoutout to Pat Brousseau for those caption bubbles. I’m a major fan of scrap-of-paper-style captions, and I think it works really well in evoking a journal Bruce is keeping over the course of his travels.
This book is too good so I’m just going to focus on this one joke I really liked to close things out
So, pretty early on, there’s a bit where Bruce confronts our super thief for the first time, and in the course of apprehending her, well…
This is so cute. I absolutely love jokes where other characters disappear on Batman, but there’s a certain charming genius to putting it in his origin story. I am absolutely here for a Bruce who learned to vanish purely because he saw a super cool and badass master thief do it. It adds a level of depth to the character, a reminder that his main gimmicks were learned, fused together from masters all around the globe.
It’s also an interesting choice to have Bruce’s first teacher be a master thief. Bruce in Batman: The Knight #1 is a hardass about following the law, enforcing the law, etc. I mean, he wants to be a cop, for crying out loud!
Throwing in the conflict of Bruce having to not only interact with criminals, but learn from them and work with them in order to accomplish his goal adds another dimension to his globetrotting mission that I think will set a very interesting precedent for some inner moral conflict later down the line.
Recommended if…
- Fresh, interesting takes on Batman’s early years appeal to you.
- Globetrotting spy antics are your jam.
- You just want a good Bat-book.
Overall
This is the first Batman book that’s had me genuinely excited in a long time. Go check it out!
Score: 9/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
