Graphic Novel Review Weekend – Rebirth Era’s first Bang – Detective Comics 2016 – Rise of the Batmen ! Review

So New resolution regarding Graphic Novel/ Comics reviews on my blog , I’m Gonna post at Least one and At Max 4 Graphic Novel review each month . Last month I did the review for New 52 era Damian : Son of Batman 2013 and this month I decided to go for the Rebirth era comics , and not just any rebirth comics , the rebirth era’s best comics yet.

[Author notes for the review : while reading this review do note that the lines in blue details a rant / comic book history , The line in Red color are spoilers ]

 

For those not in the know , DC comics often like to do Timeline shifts making sometimes complete reboots to their stories and sometimes it’s just a few events back in 2011/12 they went full reboot and launched New 52 . The idea behind it was to draw in new readers . Readers who aren’t as well versed with the myths and feats of the DC’s Famed Characters.

To Some extent DC were successful in that as many new readers did join their ranks and many new authors and artists launched during this era became famous But in doing so DC managed to alienate many old fans , Myself included . In fact New 52’s final figure suggested that titles like Batman , Grayson, Justice League, Suicide Squad and Harley Quinn were the only consistently successful titles . With Batman and Harley Quinn Comics becoming the best titles in the New 52 era .

To stop the rotting sales of other and maximum comics issues and to bring back the fans that they earlier alienated themselves DC announced in June of an event called Rebirth ,which was as per them not a reboot , and true to their word it’s not, But it’ll bring the characters back to their roots and the continuity that lived before New 52 will be re-connected while the events of New 52 won’t be erased.

In fact I have planned to discuss this Rebirth issue itself in some future post.

About the Arc.

The Rise of the Batmen Arc is the first arc of the rebirth era Detective comics. Written by James Tynion IV & illustrated by Eddie Barrows and Alvaro Martinez . The arc spanned the length of 7 issues and told one of the finest story with superb art and bought DC so much success that DC broke all sorts of Comic books sales record ever made .For more info head over to google or click here .

The story details the aftermath of mysterious killings throughout Gothams which results in Batman believing that someone close to him is after the killing and that person may have a army of well equipped soldiers trained like Batman himself in the physical battle skills.This leads the caped crusader to form a new team who will be trained by the caped crusader and his new partner Batwoman for the upcoming battle of talented individuals that includes Red Robin, The Spoiler, Cassandra Cain and Clayface. But before Batman can start training the gifted individuals Batman is kidnapped by this aforementioned team of Skilled soldiers ergo the title “Rise of the BatmEn

What I liked :

If you have read it , you can of course make resemblance of this story to the now famous debut work of the talented Scott Snyder on the New 52 batman issue – The Court of Owls (a Must read for all action / Batman/ Comics fans ) and yes you would be right . So what makes this series so special ? it’s special because for once the Detective comics focuses majorly on the team and not on Batman .

In fact Batman has beaten the court of owls single handedly so it might mean that he could easily beat these so called BatmEn , calling themselves the Colony, but no this time there’s someone close to him who has enabled these Colony member to finally overcome the biggest hindrance to any evil in Gotham.

The interaction between the characters with the events taking place really connected the readers emotionally with every character involved in the team. James Tynion is a fantastic writer and this issue was no different from what I have come to expect from James Tynion’s work . The story was fast-paced and filled with action and even the moments without the action were brilliantly scripted to draw out emotions from the readers .

The Illustrated work from Eddie and Martinez was really good as well with the emotional final issue of the arc really sketched and coloured so beautifully that it appeared to be screaming for the attention that it deserve and the final splash panel involving Batman was just so vivid that words fall short of describing it’s importance to the story .

The Finale of the issue was so well done with the story dealing with a big event in the plot of all DC universe and the art making it feel the real deal. IT was exactly what DC rebirth wanted to do and successfully managed with emotion, action, art and story all being top-notch stuff.

What I Disliked :

 

I,Myself absolutely loved everything and didn’t dislike a single thing in this book , infact it’s a perfect 10 book for me . But some fans , those who like to be called “HARDCORE” Batman fans , would dislike about the arc and that’s the lack of major involvement of Batman . Sure Batman does a lot of Batman thing and at no point look like the opponent were stronger than him . But the story here is definitely not about Batman it’s about the Team he’s picked to stop the new menace that’s come around .

And honestly if you are a Batman fan you have to remember the first thing that Batman Learnt . He is not a superhuman he has limitation and what he has set out to do isn’t for the sake of glory like Shazam, not to get a feeling of Humanitarian like Green Arrow, Not coz he CAN do it like Superman . But because he knows that he has some ability to help and change the world that’s already corrupted to the core and he will definitely end up dying or losing but before that happens he’ll give his best to create as much a difference as he can

Conclusion:

Rebirth wanted to get back to the root of all characters and this was pretty good , Red Robin for all his merit looked like a Grade A Douchebag in New 52 , Rebirth brought him back to his root and made him loveable again . Batman being in a supporting role in a sister comics of Batman can obviously be a big let down but unless you are one of those people who want their fantasy with a Male Bulking Warrior , Your comics with Main characters being the only thing that matter and basically a guy with a very narrow range of view , than i guarantee you will love this book .