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Batman (2011)
Batman, Cilt 9: Bloom
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo conclude their #1 NEW YORK TIMES best-selling, critically acclaimed saga.
BATMAN RETURNS?
Bruce Wayne has a nearly perfect life. He’s in love with an amazing woman and works by her side every day at one of Gotham’s youth centers, helping the children of the city he loves. His memory has been patchy ever since he nearly died in the last Joker attack, but even so, he’s confident that this is the happiest he’s ever been.
And yet…he sometimes feels himself being tugged back to another life. In the negative space of his missing past is a half-remembered history, filled with violence and darkness, but also greatness.
The Batman is calling Bruce back. But if he returns to his past, what will become of the perfect, happy life he has built?
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s character-defining run on the Dark Knight demonstrates why Batman truly is forever.
Collects: Batman #46-50, as well as a story from Detective Comics #27.
BATMAN RETURNS?
Bruce Wayne has a nearly perfect life. He’s in love with an amazing woman and works by her side every day at one of Gotham’s youth centers, helping the children of the city he loves. His memory has been patchy ever since he nearly died in the last Joker attack, but even so, he’s confident that this is the happiest he’s ever been.
And yet…he sometimes feels himself being tugged back to another life. In the negative space of his missing past is a half-remembered history, filled with violence and darkness, but also greatness.
The Batman is calling Bruce back. But if he returns to his past, what will become of the perfect, happy life he has built?
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s character-defining run on the Dark Knight demonstrates why Batman truly is forever.
Collects: Batman #46-50, as well as a story from Detective Comics #27.
200 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2016
49 people are currently reading
2208 people want to read
About the author
Scott Snyder
1,779 books5,119 followersScott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews
February 7, 2023
(B) 73% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: Puzzling, poor portrayals, it's pretty pompous plotting, predisposed to puffed-up prose, preposterous and plodding.
Notes: Puzzling, poor portrayals, it's pretty pompous plotting, predisposed to puffed-up prose, preposterous and plodding.
October 23, 2022
Batman, Volume 9: Bloom (2011)
Warning: Some Spoilers
Well, there were several things I really liked about this volume, so let's start with that.
I thought Bloom was super creepy looking, and I loved the way he sorta stalked around doing...evil things. Very horror storyesque!
Also, I'm really glad that Bruce is back as Batman. Now Jim Gordon can retire his Bugs Bunny costume, and go back to being the world's best police commissioner.
And you know what? This new Robin really grew on me during this volume. Yeah, yeah, we've already got a ton of them, but...shrugs
I like this kid!
That scene with Bruce and Joker. That was sort of perfection.
Just sayin...
Ok.
The actual plot was, um, less than satisfying to me. I just...what was the point? Most the time I was confused as to what Bloom was trying to accomplish, and maybe more importantly how he was going to accomplish it.
Fucking seeds?!
Are you shitting me with this? He's going to get people angry/scared/disillusioned enough to cut open their skin, insert a seed inside, and then these mutant seeds will help him have a self-sustaining energy source for his own power? Did I understand that right?
I didn't get that. At. All.
And as much as I liked Bloom in the beginning for rocking the eerie villain thing, toward the end he kinda had more of a skinny mime vibe going. That, coupled with the flower on his face, reminded me of some DIY craft project with the kids that went horribly wrong.
Then there's the storyline with Bruce's girlfriend & the return of his memories.
Everything about that was just so friggin depressing. I get the point: Bruce must die for Batman to rise! But...oof. Does every tale of the Dark Knight need to end with feeling that you need to go have a drink somewhere?
And that's gonna be a question that each individual reader will have to answer for themselves. I know so many people who love it when the Batman stories lean toward the gritter side, so I'm not trying to say that those people are reading it wrong. My personal preference isn't universal, and I understand that. I'm just saying it would be nice to see him happy every now and then.
Ok, maybe not happy. We all have embarrassing secrets, and mine is that I want Batman to someday skip off into the sunset with a nice girl (or Catwoman!) and get a Happily Ever After.
Sorry, sorry...please don't crucify me for that, Batfans!
In all seriousness, this wasn't an amazing installation that wiped away my distaste for the last few volumes, but I found more to like here than I expected. I still feel like this whole story arc was a gross waste of time, and it has definitely tainted my view of the character. I've noticed myself scoffing when I see the bat-symbol on t-shirts, or rolling my eyes when I pass a display of anything with the logo on it. Then I catch myself, and I just feel kinda sad.
So maybe I'm more like Batman than I realized...
Warning: Some Spoilers
Well, there were several things I really liked about this volume, so let's start with that.
I thought Bloom was super creepy looking, and I loved the way he sorta stalked around doing...evil things. Very horror storyesque!
Also, I'm really glad that Bruce is back as Batman. Now Jim Gordon can retire his Bugs Bunny costume, and go back to being the world's best police commissioner.
And you know what? This new Robin really grew on me during this volume. Yeah, yeah, we've already got a ton of them, but...shrugs
I like this kid!
That scene with Bruce and Joker. That was sort of perfection.
Just sayin...
Ok.
The actual plot was, um, less than satisfying to me. I just...what was the point? Most the time I was confused as to what Bloom was trying to accomplish, and maybe more importantly how he was going to accomplish it.
Fucking seeds?!
Are you shitting me with this? He's going to get people angry/scared/disillusioned enough to cut open their skin, insert a seed inside, and then these mutant seeds will help him have a self-sustaining energy source for his own power? Did I understand that right?
I didn't get that. At. All.
And as much as I liked Bloom in the beginning for rocking the eerie villain thing, toward the end he kinda had more of a skinny mime vibe going. That, coupled with the flower on his face, reminded me of some DIY craft project with the kids that went horribly wrong.
Then there's the storyline with Bruce's girlfriend & the return of his memories.
Everything about that was just so friggin depressing. I get the point: Bruce must die for Batman to rise! But...oof. Does every tale of the Dark Knight need to end with feeling that you need to go have a drink somewhere?
And that's gonna be a question that each individual reader will have to answer for themselves. I know so many people who love it when the Batman stories lean toward the gritter side, so I'm not trying to say that those people are reading it wrong. My personal preference isn't universal, and I understand that. I'm just saying it would be nice to see him happy every now and then.
Ok, maybe not happy. We all have embarrassing secrets, and mine is that I want Batman to someday skip off into the sunset with a nice girl (or Catwoman!) and get a Happily Ever After.
Sorry, sorry...please don't crucify me for that, Batfans!
In all seriousness, this wasn't an amazing installation that wiped away my distaste for the last few volumes, but I found more to like here than I expected. I still feel like this whole story arc was a gross waste of time, and it has definitely tainted my view of the character. I've noticed myself scoffing when I see the bat-symbol on t-shirts, or rolling my eyes when I pass a display of anything with the logo on it. Then I catch myself, and I just feel kinda sad.
So maybe I'm more like Batman than I realized...
March 26, 2019
Alfred cries,
Gordon (almost) dies,
Bruce Wayne ponders,
Batman almost squanders
An opportunity to put away
A brand new foe who now holds sway
Gotham is all glitz and gloom
Taken over by Mister Bloom
His name is dumb but he is dangerous
It sucks that nothing rhymes with dangerous
I mean, it’s just as bad as orange and purple
Forcing us to make up words like “nurple”
But, anyhow, back to the story
Things do get a little gory
But in the end, all is well
Gordon tells Bloom to go to hell
Batman arrives back on the scene
Ever and anon a mystery-solving machine
Still can’t decide if Snyder’s run
Has been super awesome or just kinda fun
The art is good and nice and moody
Fits a hero who’s super broody
Guess we’ll see if this long slog
Is worth it in the Epilogue
Gordon (almost) dies,
Bruce Wayne ponders,
Batman almost squanders
An opportunity to put away
A brand new foe who now holds sway
Gotham is all glitz and gloom
Taken over by Mister Bloom
His name is dumb but he is dangerous
It sucks that nothing rhymes with dangerous
I mean, it’s just as bad as orange and purple
Forcing us to make up words like “nurple”
But, anyhow, back to the story
Things do get a little gory
But in the end, all is well
Gordon tells Bloom to go to hell
Batman arrives back on the scene
Ever and anon a mystery-solving machine
Still can’t decide if Snyder’s run
Has been super awesome or just kinda fun
The art is good and nice and moody
Fits a hero who’s super broody
Guess we’ll see if this long slog
Is worth it in the Epilogue
May 31, 2022
I feel like this story would have flowed better if they hadn't split it into 2 volumes. And the end of this series was seriously overly convoluted. The whole business with the seeds really made no sense. I still don't really feel like I know who or what Bloom is. That whole revelation could have been more straight-forward. That being said Bloom is a creepy villain. Duke makes for an interesting Robin. The scene between Batman and Joker make it worth the price of the book by itself. And Bruce Wayne finally returns as Batman! I just wish the whole thing with Julie wasn't so dire. Let the guy have a bit of happiness.
February 7, 2017
I used to look forward to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman books. Amidst the sea of crap that was the New 52, their title was one of the few that was genuinely good. Now, after reading this book, I’m just glad they’ve moved on as Snyder in particular seems burned out of ideas.
Bloom continues to tear up Gotham while Jim Gordon as Mecha-Batman struggles to keep the peace. Bruce Wayne finally realises he has to be Batman and blah blah blah.
Bloom was such a terrible character. He had poorly defined motivations that made him impossible to care about. He’s sorta against the one-percenters but he also wants to destroy Gotham with some kind of black hole device because… that’s what supervillains do? Which of course leads to giving ordinary people magic seeds to give them superpowers because… oh, I give up trying to understand this tripe! And his powers kept changing to suit the situation. His fingers can stretch infinitely, he can grow to the size of a city block, he can shoot electricity from his hands, now he can shoot fire from his hands, now he can control the army of Bat-bots with his mind - it’s so contrived.
Bruce’s return as Batman was just plain confusing. He uses a machine to sort of but not really travel across the Multiverse looking for… himself? Meanwhile an alternate white-armoured Batman who’s married with kids is also trying to break through to somewhere for some reason? And then suddenly Bruce is Batman again. I have no fucking clue what happened in that sequence!
Snyder’s writing style bothered me a lot in this one too. Maybe he’s started believing his own hype but he’s gotten way too verbose lately and his word diarrhea ruins certain scenes. There’s a totally uninteresting subplot about Duke (the new Robin) looking for info on his parents which, for some reason, has led him to the Iceberg Lounge, Penguin’s club. Before he breaks in, he tells himself a long, pointless story about his mom. It’s not only boring and needless but it drags down the pacing and looks stupid on the page - Duke’s just rambling out loud to no-one! And this is one of many such instances throughout. Characters can’t just appear somewhere, they’ve got to tell each other anecdotes about the locations or an incident from their past that’s just popped into their heads. Awful, plodding storytelling.
But the writing gets worse as the book goes on. The story ends up falling back on the superhero template of hero vs villain in a destructive final encounter which is bland enough without a key scene missing from the narrative. Bloom is a giant, Batman is just a man - how to defeat Bloom? Suddenly Batman happens to stumble across a giant Joker bot! Then the next time we see Batman he’s in a giant grey Bat-bot fighting Bloom. What?! Where did the Joker bot come from? Where did it go? Who was in it? Did Batman defeat it with his Bat-bot (where did he get that?) or did he defeat the Joker bot off-screen and somehow convert it into a Bat-bot in a few pages? We never used to get this kind of sloppy Geoff Johns-esque writing from Snyder in the past but that’s the level he’s reached at the end of his Batman run.
The Joker cameo was compelling and Batman’s triumphant return was awesome - leaping into action, kicking ass, none of this silly robot suit crap which is thankfully over and done with now. Greg Capullo’s art is fantastic as usual too, particularly in the Batman action scenes which he knocks out of the park. I also liked his design of Bloom (about the only thing I liked about the character) which was creepy and nightmarish. And while the alternate Batman sequence was bizarre, Yanick Paquette’s art made it all look right purty.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did some fantastic Batman arcs together - The Court of Owls, Death of the Family, and Zero Year – any one of which puts them in the pantheon of great Batman creators. But to have three, and back-to-back like that? That’s unique. Unfortunately they end their celebrated run with a very poor storyline in Superheavy. I appreciate that they took a risk with making Jim Gordon the new Batman but a bad idea is a bad idea. It didn’t so much bloom as it withered on the vine.
Bloom continues to tear up Gotham while Jim Gordon as Mecha-Batman struggles to keep the peace. Bruce Wayne finally realises he has to be Batman and blah blah blah.
Bloom was such a terrible character. He had poorly defined motivations that made him impossible to care about. He’s sorta against the one-percenters but he also wants to destroy Gotham with some kind of black hole device because… that’s what supervillains do? Which of course leads to giving ordinary people magic seeds to give them superpowers because… oh, I give up trying to understand this tripe! And his powers kept changing to suit the situation. His fingers can stretch infinitely, he can grow to the size of a city block, he can shoot electricity from his hands, now he can shoot fire from his hands, now he can control the army of Bat-bots with his mind - it’s so contrived.
Bruce’s return as Batman was just plain confusing. He uses a machine to sort of but not really travel across the Multiverse looking for… himself? Meanwhile an alternate white-armoured Batman who’s married with kids is also trying to break through to somewhere for some reason? And then suddenly Bruce is Batman again. I have no fucking clue what happened in that sequence!
Snyder’s writing style bothered me a lot in this one too. Maybe he’s started believing his own hype but he’s gotten way too verbose lately and his word diarrhea ruins certain scenes. There’s a totally uninteresting subplot about Duke (the new Robin) looking for info on his parents which, for some reason, has led him to the Iceberg Lounge, Penguin’s club. Before he breaks in, he tells himself a long, pointless story about his mom. It’s not only boring and needless but it drags down the pacing and looks stupid on the page - Duke’s just rambling out loud to no-one! And this is one of many such instances throughout. Characters can’t just appear somewhere, they’ve got to tell each other anecdotes about the locations or an incident from their past that’s just popped into their heads. Awful, plodding storytelling.
But the writing gets worse as the book goes on. The story ends up falling back on the superhero template of hero vs villain in a destructive final encounter which is bland enough without a key scene missing from the narrative. Bloom is a giant, Batman is just a man - how to defeat Bloom? Suddenly Batman happens to stumble across a giant Joker bot! Then the next time we see Batman he’s in a giant grey Bat-bot fighting Bloom. What?! Where did the Joker bot come from? Where did it go? Who was in it? Did Batman defeat it with his Bat-bot (where did he get that?) or did he defeat the Joker bot off-screen and somehow convert it into a Bat-bot in a few pages? We never used to get this kind of sloppy Geoff Johns-esque writing from Snyder in the past but that’s the level he’s reached at the end of his Batman run.
The Joker cameo was compelling and Batman’s triumphant return was awesome - leaping into action, kicking ass, none of this silly robot suit crap which is thankfully over and done with now. Greg Capullo’s art is fantastic as usual too, particularly in the Batman action scenes which he knocks out of the park. I also liked his design of Bloom (about the only thing I liked about the character) which was creepy and nightmarish. And while the alternate Batman sequence was bizarre, Yanick Paquette’s art made it all look right purty.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did some fantastic Batman arcs together - The Court of Owls, Death of the Family, and Zero Year – any one of which puts them in the pantheon of great Batman creators. But to have three, and back-to-back like that? That’s unique. Unfortunately they end their celebrated run with a very poor storyline in Superheavy. I appreciate that they took a risk with making Jim Gordon the new Batman but a bad idea is a bad idea. It didn’t so much bloom as it withered on the vine.
June 13, 2023
What to say? After an awesome first volume, Snyder & Capullo run went up and down for good, never reaching again the peak of goodness of "The court of Owls".
It was (not so much) good until it lasted.
Bye.
October 30, 2018
Two volumes it took to confirm what Jim Gordon knew from the beginning: “My being Batman? Jim Gordon? That was a mistake,” and all the disappointed former Snyder-created Batman fans seem to agree. And you were doing so well, Scott! Up until you ran out of ideas on how to follow up the Big Endgame Showdown with Joker. So we have Bruce Wayne get over his amnesia (wow, that was original, dude!) leave his girlfriend and kid and his day care job where he was doing some conventional good in the world, so he could return to being the mopey intense superhero we knew and apparently needed. Instead of the Commish as Batman or an Army of techno-Bats and highly trained guys in Batman suits.
Okay, I liked The Bloom villain visually, it’s inventively creepy with those long tendril killer arms, though he is not all that memorable as a super-villain, otherwise. The whole seed thing? O-kay. . . . next? I guess the point of these two volumes on one level is to allow Bruce and us to reflect on whether we ACTUALLY need him to be Batman. I say the jury’s still out on that one.
But there’s some pretty good reflective writing about superheroes and self-reliance near the end. Jim Gordon: “Maybe you just want a superhero to fix it all. Well, I tried to BE that superhero, to try and fix what I couldn’t fix as Jim Gordon. But superheroes never fix those things, not even Batman. He can’t fix the real things, because he isn’t real.”
Batman can only be successful, Gordon says, if he helps us see we have to save ourselves:
“Places like Gotham City are leaps of faith. . . We may hate each other, or fear each other. But we’re Gotham, an ‘island of stability’ where brave new things are made.”
Sounds good, this self-help crime fighting, but we’ll have to see if the new Batman creations actually go in this direction, but I have my doubts they will put there money on that number. This run wasn’t as good as Court of Owls or Death in the Family, but it had it’s moments.
Okay, I liked The Bloom villain visually, it’s inventively creepy with those long tendril killer arms, though he is not all that memorable as a super-villain, otherwise. The whole seed thing? O-kay. . . . next? I guess the point of these two volumes on one level is to allow Bruce and us to reflect on whether we ACTUALLY need him to be Batman. I say the jury’s still out on that one.
But there’s some pretty good reflective writing about superheroes and self-reliance near the end. Jim Gordon: “Maybe you just want a superhero to fix it all. Well, I tried to BE that superhero, to try and fix what I couldn’t fix as Jim Gordon. But superheroes never fix those things, not even Batman. He can’t fix the real things, because he isn’t real.”
Batman can only be successful, Gordon says, if he helps us see we have to save ourselves:
“Places like Gotham City are leaps of faith. . . We may hate each other, or fear each other. But we’re Gotham, an ‘island of stability’ where brave new things are made.”
Sounds good, this self-help crime fighting, but we’ll have to see if the new Batman creations actually go in this direction, but I have my doubts they will put there money on that number. This run wasn’t as good as Court of Owls or Death in the Family, but it had it’s moments.
February 9, 2020
Well, here we go. In this volume, Bruce Wayne finally confronts who he is and he is able to become Batman again. He takes up the mantel. I thought this whole thing was so interesting. Batman died, but he sort of didn't and now he's back.
Jim Gordan did his best as Batman, but there just isn't a substitute and Jim ultimately wasn't able to pull this off, nor was the rest of the police unit driving those Bat suits around.
The villain was Bloom, some sort of plant based life form that may have been human at some point. I sort of enjoyed the beginning part of the story and then Bloom just got too weird. He was destroying the city. I mean after the last 2 times it was destroyed, I'm surprised there is much left to destroy anymore. Bloom quickly, too quickly, kept getting more powerful and turned out to be a monotonous villain and got on my nerves. I felt the ending was anti-climatic. The ending could have been Bruce taking up Batman again, but the story went on after that.
It is a little heartbreaking to see Bruce finally start to have a bit of a life and then he gives it all up. Batman is a tough gig. It's an all consuming job really. The court of owls was back in this one and I thought that was strange.
There were some things I really loved and some, not so much. I feel like it was a good story and I do think this is the end of Scott's run with Batman. I guess it will move on with Rebirth.
I thought Scott told a unique and interesting story, but the ending feels like it got lost and was a bit of a let down after how well it all started out.
Jim Gordan did his best as Batman, but there just isn't a substitute and Jim ultimately wasn't able to pull this off, nor was the rest of the police unit driving those Bat suits around.
The villain was Bloom, some sort of plant based life form that may have been human at some point. I sort of enjoyed the beginning part of the story and then Bloom just got too weird. He was destroying the city. I mean after the last 2 times it was destroyed, I'm surprised there is much left to destroy anymore. Bloom quickly, too quickly, kept getting more powerful and turned out to be a monotonous villain and got on my nerves. I felt the ending was anti-climatic. The ending could have been Bruce taking up Batman again, but the story went on after that.
It is a little heartbreaking to see Bruce finally start to have a bit of a life and then he gives it all up. Batman is a tough gig. It's an all consuming job really. The court of owls was back in this one and I thought that was strange.
There were some things I really loved and some, not so much. I feel like it was a good story and I do think this is the end of Scott's run with Batman. I guess it will move on with Rebirth.
I thought Scott told a unique and interesting story, but the ending feels like it got lost and was a bit of a let down after how well it all started out.
February 8, 2017
4.25 stars. Horror. Science fiction. Comedy. Sentimentality. The best of Batman fused into a whole new beast. Pretty crazy, but for me a satisfying close to Snyder's legendary run on Batman.
Bloom may not be the coolest villain, even from Snyder, but he's creepy, weird, near-omnipotent, and a damn worthy adversary. The fact that the source of his power can be distributed to others and rerouted back to him? Genius. I can't say I totally understand it, something about electromagnetism and radioactivity, but it's enough to dominate Gotham and the new Batman, Jim Gordon. And it's a solid villain (even being new) to end Snyder's run.
I can't say enough about Greg Capullo and FCO Plascencia. It's rare when an illustrator and colorist are perfectly in sync, let alone in mainstream superhero comics, and are able to achieve something extraordinary and special. Other than Chris Burnham and Yanick Paquette in Grant Morrison's Batman run, Capullo and FCO are Batman for me.
And quickly, not really sure what that Detective Comics #27 was about. I mean I guess I do. The whole cloning thing. Although unnecessary and albeit short, one of my favorite illustrator's, Sean Murphy makes Batman look incredible. So he should do some work on a Bat series soon!
Overall, what a blast! Scott Snyder gets Batman. The struggle, the curse, the necessity of Batman. The immortality of Batman. The inability to be Bruce Wayne. The heroism and bombast. The horror and comic relief. The drama. What a badass series.
March 2, 2017
With this ninth volume covering the last five issues of Superheavy, there is no way in discussing the highs and lows without giving away spoilers, so… SPOILERS, if you dare.
At the beginning of this last story arc in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s seminal Batman run, Batman died following his final bloody battle with the Joker, only to be reborn by the financing of Powers International, along with former police commissioner James Gordon stepping into the Bat-mantle. With the mysterious weed-like Mr Bloom terrorising Gotham, can Gordon live up to the Dark Knight’s legacy by fighting this new evil? Plus, what role does an amnesiac Bruce Wayne play in this crisis?
Although the previous volume raised many questions, this volume gives us the answers. For starters, the biggest question raised was why Gordon was donning the Bat-suit? Despite Snyder playing with interesting ideas of Batman being a corporate product for law enforcement, Gordon, who is a middle-aged smoker seems like an unlikely fit, as the journey into becoming Batman allows to be pushed into physical and psychological perfection. Ultimately, Snyder doesn’t have an answer other than to give Gordon this quote: “The dumbest idea in the history of Gotham City.” The lesson he learns is not to be Batman or any other superhero, but to be a hero in your right, even in the worst situations. This is something we have heard before, but it’s an idea that should encompass every superhero who are not supposed to be real in front of our eyes, but how they can influence us as people.
Amidst the Robo-mechanics from Gordon’s “super-bunny” and the flowering horrors of Mr Bloom, the true heart of the story and always been throughout Snyder’s run is the original Dark Knight. Following the events of Endgame, we have seen a Bruce Wayne, who not only has no memory of Batman, but is living a happy life with Julie Madison, whilst rocking a hunky beard. Throughout this new period in his life, Bruce knows there are gaps in his past, but ignores them and yet they come back to haunt him. This all comes to a standstill when he has a conversation on a park bench with a normal and sane human being, who may or may not be the Joker. In this brilliantly unconventional battle between these two characters who have had a history with each other and perhaps do not want to revisit, this continues Snyder’s redefinition of the relationship between Batman and the Joker as he finds new shades into why these two cannot exist without one another.
Snyder has always said that Grant Morrison’s seven-year run on Batman was an influence upon him as both writers have delved into his seventy-five-year history that evoke their stories, although the former has always humanised the Dark Knight as oppose to the latter’s “Bat-God”. With issue #49, Snyder is doing his best Morrison impression with Bruce trying to remember his Bat-past in order to fight Gotham’s impending doom by activating his fail-safe machine and restore his lost memories, much to the reluctance of his trusted butler Alfred, who all he ever wanted for Bruce, was a normal life. Illustrated by Wonder Woman: Earth One’s Yanick Paquette as opposed to Capullo (more of him later), this issue presents visually striking pages that glimpses potential Batmen and their strange versions of Gotham City, which very much echoes Morrison’s labyrinthine approach to Batman.
Although Batman has the greatest rogues gallery in all of superhero comics, eyebrows are always raised when a new villain is conceived, however, the Court of Owls have been around for five years and have already appeared in direct-to-video animation and live-action television. In the case of Mr Bloom, who you could see as Gordon’s own Joker, he is a monster that originates during the post-Zero Year era and how he is born out the psychology of Gotham’s troubled citizens. Although his origin is overly convoluted and how it shoehorns the young Duke Thomas into the plot (who has become a significant figure during DC’s Rebirth), Greg Capullo draws Bloom as a plantation “Slender Man”. Although the climax seems like a repeat of Endgame’s, with the city once again under fire and Gothamites fighting one another, Bruce Wayne's return with an all-new Bat-suit is a fan-pleasing moment, whilst Capullo has a lot of fun with its Pacific Rim-styled action.
What is frustrating about this volume is that although it concludes the final big arc in Snyder and Capullo’s Batman, it doesn’t feature their last issue which supposedly bookends their run. We will have to wait till the end of the year for the Epilogue volume to be released, which is odd considering this volume features Twenty-Seven, what many would consider to be Snyder’s final Batman story. Published as part of Detective Comics #27 which celebrated the 75th anniversary of Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s creation, this short story drawn by Sean Murphy, we see Snyder’s sci-fi approach towards the legacy of Batman, stating that through cloning, Bruce Wayne will never die and will be a symbol that never ends, as well as future generations that will carry on.
“Never the end.”
At the beginning of this last story arc in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s seminal Batman run, Batman died following his final bloody battle with the Joker, only to be reborn by the financing of Powers International, along with former police commissioner James Gordon stepping into the Bat-mantle. With the mysterious weed-like Mr Bloom terrorising Gotham, can Gordon live up to the Dark Knight’s legacy by fighting this new evil? Plus, what role does an amnesiac Bruce Wayne play in this crisis?
Although the previous volume raised many questions, this volume gives us the answers. For starters, the biggest question raised was why Gordon was donning the Bat-suit? Despite Snyder playing with interesting ideas of Batman being a corporate product for law enforcement, Gordon, who is a middle-aged smoker seems like an unlikely fit, as the journey into becoming Batman allows to be pushed into physical and psychological perfection. Ultimately, Snyder doesn’t have an answer other than to give Gordon this quote: “The dumbest idea in the history of Gotham City.” The lesson he learns is not to be Batman or any other superhero, but to be a hero in your right, even in the worst situations. This is something we have heard before, but it’s an idea that should encompass every superhero who are not supposed to be real in front of our eyes, but how they can influence us as people.
Amidst the Robo-mechanics from Gordon’s “super-bunny” and the flowering horrors of Mr Bloom, the true heart of the story and always been throughout Snyder’s run is the original Dark Knight. Following the events of Endgame, we have seen a Bruce Wayne, who not only has no memory of Batman, but is living a happy life with Julie Madison, whilst rocking a hunky beard. Throughout this new period in his life, Bruce knows there are gaps in his past, but ignores them and yet they come back to haunt him. This all comes to a standstill when he has a conversation on a park bench with a normal and sane human being, who may or may not be the Joker. In this brilliantly unconventional battle between these two characters who have had a history with each other and perhaps do not want to revisit, this continues Snyder’s redefinition of the relationship between Batman and the Joker as he finds new shades into why these two cannot exist without one another.
Snyder has always said that Grant Morrison’s seven-year run on Batman was an influence upon him as both writers have delved into his seventy-five-year history that evoke their stories, although the former has always humanised the Dark Knight as oppose to the latter’s “Bat-God”. With issue #49, Snyder is doing his best Morrison impression with Bruce trying to remember his Bat-past in order to fight Gotham’s impending doom by activating his fail-safe machine and restore his lost memories, much to the reluctance of his trusted butler Alfred, who all he ever wanted for Bruce, was a normal life. Illustrated by Wonder Woman: Earth One’s Yanick Paquette as opposed to Capullo (more of him later), this issue presents visually striking pages that glimpses potential Batmen and their strange versions of Gotham City, which very much echoes Morrison’s labyrinthine approach to Batman.
Although Batman has the greatest rogues gallery in all of superhero comics, eyebrows are always raised when a new villain is conceived, however, the Court of Owls have been around for five years and have already appeared in direct-to-video animation and live-action television. In the case of Mr Bloom, who you could see as Gordon’s own Joker, he is a monster that originates during the post-Zero Year era and how he is born out the psychology of Gotham’s troubled citizens. Although his origin is overly convoluted and how it shoehorns the young Duke Thomas into the plot (who has become a significant figure during DC’s Rebirth), Greg Capullo draws Bloom as a plantation “Slender Man”. Although the climax seems like a repeat of Endgame’s, with the city once again under fire and Gothamites fighting one another, Bruce Wayne's return with an all-new Bat-suit is a fan-pleasing moment, whilst Capullo has a lot of fun with its Pacific Rim-styled action.
What is frustrating about this volume is that although it concludes the final big arc in Snyder and Capullo’s Batman, it doesn’t feature their last issue which supposedly bookends their run. We will have to wait till the end of the year for the Epilogue volume to be released, which is odd considering this volume features Twenty-Seven, what many would consider to be Snyder’s final Batman story. Published as part of Detective Comics #27 which celebrated the 75th anniversary of Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s creation, this short story drawn by Sean Murphy, we see Snyder’s sci-fi approach towards the legacy of Batman, stating that through cloning, Bruce Wayne will never die and will be a symbol that never ends, as well as future generations that will carry on.
“Never the end.”
December 11, 2025
2025: Enjoyable and fun at times but really long winded and silly at times. Overall good but not great. like Snyder's entire run after death of the Family.
2017 Review: And so this is really the end of Scott's run, or last arc anyway, and boy did I enjoy.
So much great things to really smile about. The return of Bruce (badass return too), mecha suit gundam showdown, love the joker/bruce moment, and Jim's message at the end of the arc was wonderful. This really summed up what Batman was to Scott, and a lot of his views are mine as well so it was nice to see it all come to a close.
I really loved Bloom, and sure him getting Gundam size was a little meh, but by the end I really did love the final fight. Of course the last moments of it are powerful too thanks to Jim speaking, and really talking to the readers as a whole.
Yep, I really thought this was a great arc comeback after end game. Goodjob Scott, you did a damn fine job with your Batman run.
2017 Review: And so this is really the end of Scott's run, or last arc anyway, and boy did I enjoy.
So much great things to really smile about. The return of Bruce (badass return too), mecha suit gundam showdown, love the joker/bruce moment, and Jim's message at the end of the arc was wonderful. This really summed up what Batman was to Scott, and a lot of his views are mine as well so it was nice to see it all come to a close.
I really loved Bloom, and sure him getting Gundam size was a little meh, but by the end I really did love the final fight. Of course the last moments of it are powerful too thanks to Jim speaking, and really talking to the readers as a whole.
Yep, I really thought this was a great arc comeback after end game. Goodjob Scott, you did a damn fine job with your Batman run.
September 19, 2016
This is the end of Batman new 52 run.There is epilogue but all "big" story arcs are over.
My final impression is that Snyder/Capullo Batman series is probably the best and certainly most consistent one.Maybe I will write something more later but for now biggest highlights for me where stories involving Joker.This is the best/worst we seen from him.
I hope this duo continues cooperation on future Batman comics.
My final impression is that Snyder/Capullo Batman series is probably the best and certainly most consistent one.Maybe I will write something more later but for now biggest highlights for me where stories involving Joker.This is the best/worst we seen from him.
I hope this duo continues cooperation on future Batman comics.
April 14, 2016
When writer Scott Snyder had Batman and the Joker face off each other in one epic final battle of everything in his ENDGAME arc (Volume 7, issues #34-40), they both eradicated one another not just in a physical sense but in a symbolic one, making this a rather meaningful moment since it was supposed to close the chapter of both characters' prolonged rivalry.
Not only that, but it was also later revealed that Bruce Wayne himself had forgotten who he is and what made him Batman in the first place; including his childhood loss and trauma that motivated him to take up the cowl. To replace him was former GCPD commissioner James Gordon, who had to deal with a lot of cynical reception not just within the comic book pages itself but with the fanbase of loyal readers.
But this is a superhero comic book, so it wasn't really the first time when Batman died before; or at least made believe to have died. Given the character's history and legacy, Batman is irreplaceable but there have been other characters who have taken up the mantle. The most recent example before Gordon was his former ward and first Robin, Dick Grayson. Now DC had gone down the same path with Gordon and for the last eight months starting with issue #41, Gordon was Batman. He was fantastic, dimensional and often fun to read about, even as he struggles to fill such mighty shoes. In the hands of more than competent writers who understand Gordon's psychology and personality, we get stories that represent why he was such a fan-favorite to begin with, and how deeply cares about his city and would do all in his power to protect it even when he feels like his shortcomings as a crime-fighter outweigh his passion.
In the last eight months, we have to contend ourselves with this Batman and though the fanbase was divided in a lot of factions concerning Gordon's run at the cowl, one thing remains certain that we all can agree upon:
Only Bruce Wayne is Batman. He was, will always be, and should be Batman forever.
I expressed in my previous review of the combined issues #45-46 that I was unhappy that Snyder has to bring back Bruce as Batman because it came off as a cheap cop-out. I do think I was harsh to claim this, only because I was under the impression that Bruce Wayne was NEVER supposed to come back as Batman, and that Gordon will stay as Batman until...I don't know, when Damian Wayne finally takes the mantle once and for all? That would probably happen decades from now, who knows, but for now in this generation and as far as 75 years of history and legacy is concerned, Bruce Wayne IS Batman even when he wasn't.
I suppose the two things that had me convinced that Bruce is permanently removed from the equation were because of (1) The Dionysium completely erased his memories and changed his identity; and (2) A glimpse at the future a century from now during a special story written by Snyder himself where a series of Batman clones take over protecting Gotham even after Bruce's death. Now that Bruce Wayne is once again Batman (after the really convoluted and drawn-out arc that included the sadly expendable Mister Bloom), does it mean that the Batman clones won't happen at all? Did Bruce's return change that future? Again, anything is fair game at this point and I'm sure that if the times demanded it, DC would just do yet another Crisis/convergence/divergence thing again that will make it plausible for a future with Bat-clones to come to pass. It's DC, so I won't put it past them.
Enough with the speculations, and let's talk about the journey towards this inevitable destination.
To make this review as succinct while still substantial, I just want to talk about the highlights. Snyder's Superheavy issues during its second cycle were A LOT to digest because of Snyder's verbosity which you don't notice (or would easily overlook) because of his artistic team's way of balancing the text with the visuals. Capullo, Miki and Plascencia once again bring the most dynamic and creative illustrations that defined Snyder's run of Batman as one of the more visually captivating comics out there. Most of its pages don't even strike you as something you would normally see in superhero comics. In fact, while I was reading this inside my parents' bedroom and my father walked by and glanced at what I was reading, he asked me if it was Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. My dad has good eyesight, by the way, so I know he was paying attention to what he was looking at, and so when I told him that it was Batman, he looked a little unconvinced about it. It led me to the conclusion that he was deceived by the colors and presentation that made him believe it couldn't possibly be a superhero comic book.
FIRST HIGHLIGHT: In the previous issue #47, we ended with a cliffhanger between Bruce Wayne and the Joker--or the normalized version of him post-death at least. The Dionysium seemed to have cured the crazy out of him which would be disappointing indeed if not for the ominous tone the entire dialogue exchange between him and Bruce was written in. As far as I'm concerned, if Bruce Wayne comes back as Batman then this guy will become the Joker again. They're intrinsically inseparable characters after all. Snyder seemed to be gearing towards that reality as well, but it was quite interesting to see that this normal Joker (how should I call him? Joe?) was essentially though subtly begging Bruce to move on and not fall back to the Batman role.
If he does, then Joe has no choice but to become the Joker again--for symbolism and old times' sake, you know. There is actually a part of me that feels sad for Joe because based from his dialogue here, he seems happy that for the first time in forever, he is free from playing the chaotic evil to Batman's lawful good. He would even rather die than go back:
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW LARGER IMAGES]
SECOND HIGHLIGHT: Joe's climactic suicide attempt was interrupted by this bullshit: Mister Bloom's hostile takeover of Gotham City. The city has been under attack SO MANY TIMES already than whenever a villain starts doing it again, I just--I don't know, I feel like rolling my eyes and just skimming through the panels, waiting for the good guys to clean up the mess. To be fair to Snyder, each city-wide attack that he made Gotham undergo (whether perpetuated by the Owls, Riddler, or the Joker) have been transformative in spirit. These acts of terrorism didn't just happen for the sake of action fodder; there was always a metaphor he manages to put in that neatly and poignantly makes sense of the tragedies that Gothamites keep on facing and ultimately enduring for the better. So what makes Mister Bloom's act of terror different from his predecessor? Not much; most of it is a little overdone and for shock value--but what it does establish in the end is become a representation of cynicism and hopeless for Gothamites who have probably given up and allowed for sorrow and despair to take root and bloom into something dark and deadly.
I wouldn't say Mister Bloom is a formidable new villain, but I appreciated what he was supposed to stand for at this point in Snyder's run for Batman. This is a villain borne out of the citizens themselves when they lost their hero and have to face the facts that no one is possibly going to save them. Even Jim Gordon's Batman was casually brushed aside as an undeserving pretender who didn't make a damn difference. THAT PART OF THE STORY MADE ME A LITTLE ANGRY. Snyder somewhat attempts to diminish Gordon's contribution and hard work as Batman Regent, only to have Bruce himself affirm it again by driving home the point that Gordon has done a spectacular job holding it all together for the sake of Gotham; for stepping up and embracing the challenge of it. Phew, for a while there I thought Snyder was dissing Gordon. And so we get this marvelous speech Gordon made during the climax:
THIRD HIGHLIGHT: ;As I've mentioned many times here, Bruce Wayne coming back as Batman was inevitable. It's downright predictable. Snyder handled his comeback in a dignified manner that his character more than deserved. Sure, there were some annoying details such as the fact that yet another one of Dionysium's erasure side effects was the removal of Bruce's mental and physical scars. I take offense to that because has undone all the pain and suffering that Bruce has undergone to become Batman in favor of him truly becoming 'reborn' in the most literal way possible. Ergo, acquiring perfect, unblemished skin and top physical condition. So the entire emotional journey of his baptism of fire, as well as those lifelong battle scars he had worn with pride, were all for naught becomes here comes the fix-all Dionysium cure? UGH. I was not a big fan of that.
What I did approve of was Bruce's last gift to his now ex-fiancée Julie. He donated the dinosaur statue from his Bat-cave to the children's recreation center. I thought that was a nice gesture. It didn't automatically make the abrupt break-up and ending of that relationship any less tacky and unfair--but Julie and I are just going to have to contend with it now, won't we? It's such a shitty thing, you know. It was as if Bruce's relationship with Julie has been a placeholder for him becoming Batman again all this time. How else am I supposed to see it but just that? The only thing that softened the blow was the fact that I barely knew Julie to care too much about how she was badly treated as the love interest when all is said and done. But whatever, right?
It's not like superhero comics have female readers too who might expect women who play as romantic foils to the heroes to be written at least with more active roles--even if they are just secondary characters. WHATEVER.
My favorite part of this entire arc had to be issue #49 which was illustrated by Yanick Paquette (of Batman Incorporated!) as opposed to Capullo. The visuals for that issue were still pretty awesome especially the gorgeous full-paged spreads depicting the kooky, inventive ways Bruce tried to remember being Batman by using a machine that was originally supposed to conceive Batman clones. His DNA imprint was stored there so in order to remember his identity, he had to subject himself to agonizing simulations. I really didn't need to see him die over and over again, or choose a life of fighting crime over having a stable, happy life, mind you. But it was a necessary evil. Besides, I think the one thing that has made me tear up was Alfred's role in all of this, as well as his reactions to what is happening and about to happen yet again to the man he deeply cared for and would want to be set free from his lifelong burden. He was the character who broke my heart the most.
So Bruce Wayne as Batman is back. It has finally happened, fanboys, so shut the fuck up and enjoy it. Your have been appeased. That costume below had me in a state of giddy nostalgia, if I may add, because the gray tights were reminiscent of the BTAS costume. I don't really have anything else to say anymore that I didn't say in the introduction of this post, so I'm afraid I will end this review in a rather anticlimactic note. All I could say is that I am...relieved though a little peeved that Bruce Wayne is back. I can't really complain now, can I? It's all we wanted. Gordon had been great but Bruce is forever and always will be Batman. As painful as it was for Bruce, he simply needs to keep being the hero Gotham wanted because the alternative is accepting that Gothamites have to save themselves and they can't do that. And neither can us fans.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY BATMAN COMICS REVIEWS AT:
Not only that, but it was also later revealed that Bruce Wayne himself had forgotten who he is and what made him Batman in the first place; including his childhood loss and trauma that motivated him to take up the cowl. To replace him was former GCPD commissioner James Gordon, who had to deal with a lot of cynical reception not just within the comic book pages itself but with the fanbase of loyal readers.
But this is a superhero comic book, so it wasn't really the first time when Batman died before; or at least made believe to have died. Given the character's history and legacy, Batman is irreplaceable but there have been other characters who have taken up the mantle. The most recent example before Gordon was his former ward and first Robin, Dick Grayson. Now DC had gone down the same path with Gordon and for the last eight months starting with issue #41, Gordon was Batman. He was fantastic, dimensional and often fun to read about, even as he struggles to fill such mighty shoes. In the hands of more than competent writers who understand Gordon's psychology and personality, we get stories that represent why he was such a fan-favorite to begin with, and how deeply cares about his city and would do all in his power to protect it even when he feels like his shortcomings as a crime-fighter outweigh his passion.
In the last eight months, we have to contend ourselves with this Batman and though the fanbase was divided in a lot of factions concerning Gordon's run at the cowl, one thing remains certain that we all can agree upon:
Only Bruce Wayne is Batman. He was, will always be, and should be Batman forever.
I expressed in my previous review of the combined issues #45-46 that I was unhappy that Snyder has to bring back Bruce as Batman because it came off as a cheap cop-out. I do think I was harsh to claim this, only because I was under the impression that Bruce Wayne was NEVER supposed to come back as Batman, and that Gordon will stay as Batman until...I don't know, when Damian Wayne finally takes the mantle once and for all? That would probably happen decades from now, who knows, but for now in this generation and as far as 75 years of history and legacy is concerned, Bruce Wayne IS Batman even when he wasn't.
I suppose the two things that had me convinced that Bruce is permanently removed from the equation were because of (1) The Dionysium completely erased his memories and changed his identity; and (2) A glimpse at the future a century from now during a special story written by Snyder himself where a series of Batman clones take over protecting Gotham even after Bruce's death. Now that Bruce Wayne is once again Batman (after the really convoluted and drawn-out arc that included the sadly expendable Mister Bloom), does it mean that the Batman clones won't happen at all? Did Bruce's return change that future? Again, anything is fair game at this point and I'm sure that if the times demanded it, DC would just do yet another Crisis/convergence/divergence thing again that will make it plausible for a future with Bat-clones to come to pass. It's DC, so I won't put it past them.
Enough with the speculations, and let's talk about the journey towards this inevitable destination.
To make this review as succinct while still substantial, I just want to talk about the highlights. Snyder's Superheavy issues during its second cycle were A LOT to digest because of Snyder's verbosity which you don't notice (or would easily overlook) because of his artistic team's way of balancing the text with the visuals. Capullo, Miki and Plascencia once again bring the most dynamic and creative illustrations that defined Snyder's run of Batman as one of the more visually captivating comics out there. Most of its pages don't even strike you as something you would normally see in superhero comics. In fact, while I was reading this inside my parents' bedroom and my father walked by and glanced at what I was reading, he asked me if it was Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. My dad has good eyesight, by the way, so I know he was paying attention to what he was looking at, and so when I told him that it was Batman, he looked a little unconvinced about it. It led me to the conclusion that he was deceived by the colors and presentation that made him believe it couldn't possibly be a superhero comic book.
FIRST HIGHLIGHT: In the previous issue #47, we ended with a cliffhanger between Bruce Wayne and the Joker--or the normalized version of him post-death at least. The Dionysium seemed to have cured the crazy out of him which would be disappointing indeed if not for the ominous tone the entire dialogue exchange between him and Bruce was written in. As far as I'm concerned, if Bruce Wayne comes back as Batman then this guy will become the Joker again. They're intrinsically inseparable characters after all. Snyder seemed to be gearing towards that reality as well, but it was quite interesting to see that this normal Joker (how should I call him? Joe?) was essentially though subtly begging Bruce to move on and not fall back to the Batman role.
If he does, then Joe has no choice but to become the Joker again--for symbolism and old times' sake, you know. There is actually a part of me that feels sad for Joe because based from his dialogue here, he seems happy that for the first time in forever, he is free from playing the chaotic evil to Batman's lawful good. He would even rather die than go back:
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW LARGER IMAGES]
SECOND HIGHLIGHT: Joe's climactic suicide attempt was interrupted by this bullshit: Mister Bloom's hostile takeover of Gotham City. The city has been under attack SO MANY TIMES already than whenever a villain starts doing it again, I just--I don't know, I feel like rolling my eyes and just skimming through the panels, waiting for the good guys to clean up the mess. To be fair to Snyder, each city-wide attack that he made Gotham undergo (whether perpetuated by the Owls, Riddler, or the Joker) have been transformative in spirit. These acts of terrorism didn't just happen for the sake of action fodder; there was always a metaphor he manages to put in that neatly and poignantly makes sense of the tragedies that Gothamites keep on facing and ultimately enduring for the better. So what makes Mister Bloom's act of terror different from his predecessor? Not much; most of it is a little overdone and for shock value--but what it does establish in the end is become a representation of cynicism and hopeless for Gothamites who have probably given up and allowed for sorrow and despair to take root and bloom into something dark and deadly.
I wouldn't say Mister Bloom is a formidable new villain, but I appreciated what he was supposed to stand for at this point in Snyder's run for Batman. This is a villain borne out of the citizens themselves when they lost their hero and have to face the facts that no one is possibly going to save them. Even Jim Gordon's Batman was casually brushed aside as an undeserving pretender who didn't make a damn difference. THAT PART OF THE STORY MADE ME A LITTLE ANGRY. Snyder somewhat attempts to diminish Gordon's contribution and hard work as Batman Regent, only to have Bruce himself affirm it again by driving home the point that Gordon has done a spectacular job holding it all together for the sake of Gotham; for stepping up and embracing the challenge of it. Phew, for a while there I thought Snyder was dissing Gordon. And so we get this marvelous speech Gordon made during the climax:
THIRD HIGHLIGHT: ;As I've mentioned many times here, Bruce Wayne coming back as Batman was inevitable. It's downright predictable. Snyder handled his comeback in a dignified manner that his character more than deserved. Sure, there were some annoying details such as the fact that yet another one of Dionysium's erasure side effects was the removal of Bruce's mental and physical scars. I take offense to that because has undone all the pain and suffering that Bruce has undergone to become Batman in favor of him truly becoming 'reborn' in the most literal way possible. Ergo, acquiring perfect, unblemished skin and top physical condition. So the entire emotional journey of his baptism of fire, as well as those lifelong battle scars he had worn with pride, were all for naught becomes here comes the fix-all Dionysium cure? UGH. I was not a big fan of that.
What I did approve of was Bruce's last gift to his now ex-fiancée Julie. He donated the dinosaur statue from his Bat-cave to the children's recreation center. I thought that was a nice gesture. It didn't automatically make the abrupt break-up and ending of that relationship any less tacky and unfair--but Julie and I are just going to have to contend with it now, won't we? It's such a shitty thing, you know. It was as if Bruce's relationship with Julie has been a placeholder for him becoming Batman again all this time. How else am I supposed to see it but just that? The only thing that softened the blow was the fact that I barely knew Julie to care too much about how she was badly treated as the love interest when all is said and done. But whatever, right?
It's not like superhero comics have female readers too who might expect women who play as romantic foils to the heroes to be written at least with more active roles--even if they are just secondary characters. WHATEVER.
My favorite part of this entire arc had to be issue #49 which was illustrated by Yanick Paquette (of Batman Incorporated!) as opposed to Capullo. The visuals for that issue were still pretty awesome especially the gorgeous full-paged spreads depicting the kooky, inventive ways Bruce tried to remember being Batman by using a machine that was originally supposed to conceive Batman clones. His DNA imprint was stored there so in order to remember his identity, he had to subject himself to agonizing simulations. I really didn't need to see him die over and over again, or choose a life of fighting crime over having a stable, happy life, mind you. But it was a necessary evil. Besides, I think the one thing that has made me tear up was Alfred's role in all of this, as well as his reactions to what is happening and about to happen yet again to the man he deeply cared for and would want to be set free from his lifelong burden. He was the character who broke my heart the most.
So Bruce Wayne as Batman is back. It has finally happened, fanboys, so shut the fuck up and enjoy it. Your have been appeased. That costume below had me in a state of giddy nostalgia, if I may add, because the gray tights were reminiscent of the BTAS costume. I don't really have anything else to say anymore that I didn't say in the introduction of this post, so I'm afraid I will end this review in a rather anticlimactic note. All I could say is that I am...relieved though a little peeved that Bruce Wayne is back. I can't really complain now, can I? It's all we wanted. Gordon had been great but Bruce is forever and always will be Batman. As painful as it was for Bruce, he simply needs to keep being the hero Gotham wanted because the alternative is accepting that Gothamites have to save themselves and they can't do that. And neither can us fans.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY BATMAN COMICS REVIEWS AT:
October 6, 2016
Bloom, while far away from being a mediocre Batman story arc is not the one that I have expected from Scott Snyder. He's been killing it for five years now, giving us a series that continuously satisfied our Bat nerdiness, both in depth and action-entertainment.
This arc though, it doesn't live to the name of Snyder and Capullo. I liked the concept of Gordon as Batman, he's funny and sarcastic, constantly saying his disgust over the idea, yet he does it anyway. The cowl (or I say, the armor) is just too heavy for him to handle. Mr. Bloom on the other hand, I really don't get what he is trying to prove. He says he's the cure, "entrusting" the power to the people of Gotham through his seeds, yet he's also a murderer, a mob, an I don't know former Gotham city supergenius in nanotech gardener. You see, Mr. Bloom though the action in his story were bloombastic (hehe), he's out of place in Gotham City.
The better part of this arc are definitely the quiet conversations. You know, Bruce's talk with Alfred to let him become the Batman again, I felt pity for Pennyworth, like as a reader, you want him to be back but you feel the other side too. Batman's talk with Gordon was gold too. You know, they've been through hell so many times and Gordon, with an apologetic tone tells him how much he has failed the city and especially Batman, his ally and most of all his friend.
But the most endearing of all was Bruce's heart to heart talk with Joker (yes I know it is debatable but for me he's Joker) by the lake. That place, the peaceful place only the two of them knew was like their exclusive bro-zone. And I love how these two characters, in their own ways struggle after what happened to them post-Endgame. Two lost souls, life-long enemies just there talking about what has become of them. I felt for Joker. He doesn't want to be the Clown anymore.
Bloom, even though I don't want to admit it, is my least favorite arc in Snyder's run. Even the two-part Clayface story felt better for me. I didn't hate volume 9 though, far from it in fact.
This arc though, it doesn't live to the name of Snyder and Capullo. I liked the concept of Gordon as Batman, he's funny and sarcastic, constantly saying his disgust over the idea, yet he does it anyway. The cowl (or I say, the armor) is just too heavy for him to handle. Mr. Bloom on the other hand, I really don't get what he is trying to prove. He says he's the cure, "entrusting" the power to the people of Gotham through his seeds, yet he's also a murderer, a mob, an I don't know former Gotham city supergenius in nanotech gardener. You see, Mr. Bloom though the action in his story were bloombastic (hehe), he's out of place in Gotham City.
The better part of this arc are definitely the quiet conversations. You know, Bruce's talk with Alfred to let him become the Batman again, I felt pity for Pennyworth, like as a reader, you want him to be back but you feel the other side too. Batman's talk with Gordon was gold too. You know, they've been through hell so many times and Gordon, with an apologetic tone tells him how much he has failed the city and especially Batman, his ally and most of all his friend.
But the most endearing of all was Bruce's heart to heart talk with Joker (yes I know it is debatable but for me he's Joker) by the lake. That place, the peaceful place only the two of them knew was like their exclusive bro-zone. And I love how these two characters, in their own ways struggle after what happened to them post-Endgame. Two lost souls, life-long enemies just there talking about what has become of them. I felt for Joker. He doesn't want to be the Clown anymore.
Bloom, even though I don't want to admit it, is my least favorite arc in Snyder's run. Even the two-part Clayface story felt better for me. I didn't hate volume 9 though, far from it in fact.
July 8, 2021
Mr Bloom has attacked the place where they were having their meeting and Gordon chases him off only to see he has returned big time and he takes them out like they are nothing. He is attacking Gotham city and we see he has put seeds everywhere and people are turning into that sort of monster and so its upto Bruce to become Batman again and we see this wonderful montage where he hooks himself to the Bat machine and we see these alternate realities and the art and storytelling is so wonderful. I like how the artist lays the panel and I remember reading it in single issue in 2016 and loved it and still do. Amazing paneling.
Then comes the big fight and seeing Batman get his own mech and Jim saving the day was amazing to see. The status quo is sort of restored and we see how they have to continue to do the job because thats what Batman is and we have a story of the Immortal Batman. Great story and has great moments but the ending was so sudden, like deus-ex-machina but its a trait of Snyder. I like the writing and how he shows how and why Batman is so important and one of the greatest hero and showcases problems of AI gone wrong and also great focus on Jim and the way he struggles against this plant monolith. A good read overall and a great ending to their run. Its been fun throughout and seeing Batman reborn and have a clear understanding of his mission again is awesome!
Then comes the big fight and seeing Batman get his own mech and Jim saving the day was amazing to see. The status quo is sort of restored and we see how they have to continue to do the job because thats what Batman is and we have a story of the Immortal Batman. Great story and has great moments but the ending was so sudden, like deus-ex-machina but its a trait of Snyder. I like the writing and how he shows how and why Batman is so important and one of the greatest hero and showcases problems of AI gone wrong and also great focus on Jim and the way he struggles against this plant monolith. A good read overall and a great ending to their run. Its been fun throughout and seeing Batman reborn and have a clear understanding of his mission again is awesome!
May 23, 2020
Uh huh.
September 5, 2016
I received this from Edelweiss and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, if I had known how the story arc that began with Batman, Vol. 8: Superheavy ended, I wouldn't have rated that volume as low as I did. I absolutely hated, HATED, Jim Gordon wearing the Bat-suit, and HATED the idea of Bat-robots being controlled by GCPD. It made absolutely no sense, not one lick. But then Volume 9 happened. I should know better by now than to doubt Batman in the hands of Scott Snyder. And to think I almost gave up on this series! (DC really needs to consider marketing a "supervolume" combining 8 and 9 together. The storyline makes so much more sense this way!)
At the beginning of this volume, I was just waiting to complain about how amnesia is such a worn-out, overused, and just downright lazy writing. (It's almost as bad as Marvel's non-stop use of time travel.) But then I got into the storyline, the long soliloquies by Bloom and by Gordon from their perspectives of Gotham City. And amazingly, it all fell into place.
I am eminently satisfied that Gordon isn't going to remain Batman, and that Bruce Wayne's future is secure in that role. I am wondering how the bat-villains will make their returns, especially the Joker. Just like Batman can't stay dead, the Joker can't either...
Wow, if I had known how the story arc that began with Batman, Vol. 8: Superheavy ended, I wouldn't have rated that volume as low as I did. I absolutely hated, HATED, Jim Gordon wearing the Bat-suit, and HATED the idea of Bat-robots being controlled by GCPD. It made absolutely no sense, not one lick. But then Volume 9 happened. I should know better by now than to doubt Batman in the hands of Scott Snyder. And to think I almost gave up on this series! (DC really needs to consider marketing a "supervolume" combining 8 and 9 together. The storyline makes so much more sense this way!)
At the beginning of this volume, I was just waiting to complain about how amnesia is such a worn-out, overused, and just downright lazy writing. (It's almost as bad as Marvel's non-stop use of time travel.) But then I got into the storyline, the long soliloquies by Bloom and by Gordon from their perspectives of Gotham City. And amazingly, it all fell into place.
I am eminently satisfied that Gordon isn't going to remain Batman, and that Bruce Wayne's future is secure in that role. I am wondering how the bat-villains will make their returns, especially the Joker. Just like Batman can't stay dead, the Joker can't either...
June 13, 2023
When Bloom proves to be too much for Jim Gordon, the new Batman, Bruce Wayne has to make a difficult choice...
Well, we knew the toys were going back into the box but Snyder does so in spectacular fashion. I don't think it's a spoiler to say we all knew Bruce Wayne would choose regaining his Batman memories over his happy life with Julie when Gotham was in danger. The story and art are top notch and I had a nerd boner when Bruce put on the cape and cowl again.
One more book left. I'll save my analysis of the entire run for then.
Well, we knew the toys were going back into the box but Snyder does so in spectacular fashion. I don't think it's a spoiler to say we all knew Bruce Wayne would choose regaining his Batman memories over his happy life with Julie when Gotham was in danger. The story and art are top notch and I had a nerd boner when Bruce put on the cape and cowl again.
One more book left. I'll save my analysis of the entire run for then.
July 29, 2022
The plot is a complete mess, but it hits all the right notes at the right times (you'll forgive me for mixing metaphors). There are a few scenes that are really great, like when Batman finally returns to Gotham City, and several that make almost no sense at all. However, I'm inclined to be generous, and I enjoyed reading this penultimate volume of Scott Snyder's New 52 Batman.
Read
March 19, 2017Straight up DNF. If there's one kind of Batman story I haven't got much time for it's the 'Batman as an Eternal Symbol' ilk. Bloom seemed like a well-designed villain, but the story just circled the same old drain endlessly.
May 18, 2021
A good showdown and he, who has no fears lives again.
December 14, 2016
Scott Snyder's finale to his Batman run has a few nice moments as Bruce Wayne finds his way back to his fated path, but it does little to change my opinion that Snyder's tenure has been a godawful train wreck. Wish I had skipped all this and that Batman Eternal crap. I need to scour owls, a brother (?), Zero Year, RoboGordon, and Bat-clones from my long-term memory.
September 17, 2016
I could describe Snyder's run as a project that tried to fix something that isn't broken.
Finally we have come to the end of perhaps one of the most damaging runs in the history of Batman (at least until the 80's).
Ok, it wasn't all bad. The Court of Owls story was pretty good, and Death of the Family was amazing. Perhaps the 3 first issues of Endgame were good and...that's about it. But everything else, "jeez louise", unnecessary (I'm looking at you ZERO YEAR and Graveyard Shift), badly written at times(Superheavy ), lazy story-telling (Endgame & Bruce's story in vol. 8 and 9) in the end they hurt Batman's legacy in a way that I didn't think possible.
Anywho, vol.9 (a.k.a Bloom) tells the final part of the bunny batman story. A story so bad that, ugh, it hurts to remember. We have this Bloom guy, we never knew who he was and despite his generic motivation and very bad lawn-related-puns, we never really got emotionally-invested with the character.
I understand that this was the last attempt of Snyder into contribute to Batman's legacy. He will introduce a new villain! He will recreate the Origin! and he failed miserably. Bloom is like a badly written Nolan's Dark Knight Joker. Bloom tried to play with the idea that if you force enough the people of Gotham they will show their true nature. An ugly nature. We are weeds in a Garden!! He wanted to be the new main villain and he just ended up being a lazy-written rip-off version of slender man.
The writing is lazy at times. Resorting to plot devices such as the machine that gives Bruce all his..what?...memories?...Batman's mindset?... the, I don't know, it looked like a very weird trip on acid.
Of course, vol. 8 and 9 were Snyder's failed attempts to show a world without Batman or at least a world in which Bruce is not the one behind (inside?) the cowl. This story is not new, we already saw Jean Paul Valley taking a proto-mech-Bat-suit in Knightfall and Dick taking the mantle in Battle for the Cowl and then onwards. This time third time wasn't a charm.
The epilogue was pretty good though, "27", it makes sense. After the fail attempt to replace the OG, Batsy made a plan to ensure something that we all know: Only Bruce can be Batman.
Good riddance.
Finally we have come to the end of perhaps one of the most damaging runs in the history of Batman (at least until the 80's).
Ok, it wasn't all bad. The Court of Owls story was pretty good, and Death of the Family was amazing. Perhaps the 3 first issues of Endgame were good and...that's about it. But everything else, "jeez louise", unnecessary (I'm looking at you ZERO YEAR and Graveyard Shift), badly written at times(Superheavy ), lazy story-telling (Endgame & Bruce's story in vol. 8 and 9) in the end they hurt Batman's legacy in a way that I didn't think possible.
Anywho, vol.9 (a.k.a Bloom) tells the final part of the bunny batman story. A story so bad that, ugh, it hurts to remember. We have this Bloom guy, we never knew who he was and despite his generic motivation and very bad lawn-related-puns, we never really got emotionally-invested with the character.
I understand that this was the last attempt of Snyder into contribute to Batman's legacy. He will introduce a new villain! He will recreate the Origin! and he failed miserably. Bloom is like a badly written Nolan's Dark Knight Joker. Bloom tried to play with the idea that if you force enough the people of Gotham they will show their true nature. An ugly nature. We are weeds in a Garden!! He wanted to be the new main villain and he just ended up being a lazy-written rip-off version of slender man.
The writing is lazy at times. Resorting to plot devices such as the machine that gives Bruce all his..what?...memories?...Batman's mindset?... the, I don't know, it looked like a very weird trip on acid.
Of course, vol. 8 and 9 were Snyder's failed attempts to show a world without Batman or at least a world in which Bruce is not the one behind (inside?) the cowl. This story is not new, we already saw Jean Paul Valley taking a proto-mech-Bat-suit in Knightfall and Dick taking the mantle in Battle for the Cowl and then onwards. This time third time wasn't a charm.
The epilogue was pretty good though, "27", it makes sense. After the fail attempt to replace the OG, Batsy made a plan to ensure something that we all know: Only Bruce can be Batman.
Good riddance.
August 21, 2016
Fitting and satisfying conclusion to Snyder's arc on this series. Following an epic battle, both Batman and the Joker have forgotten who they used to be and are now trying to make regular lives for themselves. Bruce Wayne is working in a community center and has fallen in love with Julie Madison, a co-worker, even going so far as to propose to her. In Batman's absence, Jim Gordon has taken up the mantle, fighting in a mecha-Batman suit under the auspices of the GCPD, against the likes of Mr. Bloom, the latest menace threatening to destroy the city and its people. When all looks bleak, Bruce must don the mantle of Batman again, even if it means giving up his chance at a normal life. Not everyone has been too crazy about where this story has gone, but at least it comes full circle here, and Greg Capullo proves himself one of the best artists ever to work on a Bat-title. Highly recommended and so is this entire run.
January 19, 2022
5 stars
Nice to see Jim as Batman again. Glad he was able to become Commissioner again. Also glad to see Bruce as Batman again. Hope to see them in many more adventures together. The villain, Mr. Bloom, was good too.
Can't wait to read Batman: Epilogue!!!!!
Nice to see Jim as Batman again. Glad he was able to become Commissioner again. Also glad to see Bruce as Batman again. Hope to see them in many more adventures together. The villain, Mr. Bloom, was good too.
Can't wait to read Batman: Epilogue!!!!!
April 25, 2018
Pretty amazing start but then became a little overly complicated with all the different seeds. Not sure it was even necessary to go that way. Looking forward to the last installment.
March 4, 2018
I wasn't such a fan of this volume (Bloom) or Bloom (the villain).
I didn't really get it -was he a plant-based villain? Or could he control power/electricity? Both?
And how did he make seeds?
Maybe I missed something, but I thought the whole thing was very unclear.
The most important part of this volume is ***drumroll/spoilers coming up***........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Batman is back!
Things I liked about this volume:
*Duke's interaction with Bruce. "Look at the shadows!"
It's funny that Duke says Bruce's amnesia is about his "selfishness" since I think his becoming Batman was also about selfishness. It's a singular obsession that Bruce became Batman (Bruce Wayne was the mask & Batman was the identity.), yes to help people, but also because he had to for himself. I think Batman has always been more about Bruce's trauma and how he dealt with it than it is about helping people. The helping people is just a bonus.
*Alfred, as always. He is the best and deserves all our love and adoration. Bruce named his crazy Batman backup system after him because he's "the one who would always patch him up and make him new when he fell. Who else would he entrust the whole of Batman to?"
Also, his (Alfred's) heartbreak at having to see Bruce destroy his Bruce Wayne identity again. That was a tearjerker for sure!
It's a lot of bonkers that a living mind wouldn't be able to handle Batman & the trauma of the Batman identity. It's a bit much that Bruce/Batman has to forget the last few months with his new life & girlfriend/fiance in order to become Batman again. And yes, I understand that's Scott Snyder's whole point, that Batman can't be or have anything other than Batman, but it would also be OK if he could. I'm personally OK with Batman having a life as Bruce Wayne outside the cowl...
Best part of Batman coming back for reals ... is no more GordonBatman!
And speaking of Gordon. Does he know about Bruce Wayne? Because when he was talking to Batman at the end of the volume, he says "You could have been that, B... That person." Was he about to say "Bruce"?
Further on identities:
-The Bruce/Joker interaction at the lake was bonkers & I'm not sure how I feel about it. That was the Joker, right?
-And, is Duke or is Duke not a Robin? The boy keeps flip-flopping. Last I read in Robin Wars, he said he wasn't.
Volume was a 2.5 = OK for me, but not a 3 because I didn't like Bloom, the main plot point.
I didn't really get it -was he a plant-based villain? Or could he control power/electricity? Both?
And how did he make seeds?
Maybe I missed something, but I thought the whole thing was very unclear.
The most important part of this volume is ***drumroll/spoilers coming up***........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Batman is back!
Things I liked about this volume:
*Duke's interaction with Bruce. "Look at the shadows!"
It's funny that Duke says Bruce's amnesia is about his "selfishness" since I think his becoming Batman was also about selfishness. It's a singular obsession that Bruce became Batman (Bruce Wayne was the mask & Batman was the identity.), yes to help people, but also because he had to for himself. I think Batman has always been more about Bruce's trauma and how he dealt with it than it is about helping people. The helping people is just a bonus.
*Alfred, as always. He is the best and deserves all our love and adoration. Bruce named his crazy Batman backup system after him because he's "the one who would always patch him up and make him new when he fell. Who else would he entrust the whole of Batman to?"
Also, his (Alfred's) heartbreak at having to see Bruce destroy his Bruce Wayne identity again. That was a tearjerker for sure!
It's a lot of bonkers that a living mind wouldn't be able to handle Batman & the trauma of the Batman identity. It's a bit much that Bruce/Batman has to forget the last few months with his new life & girlfriend/fiance in order to become Batman again. And yes, I understand that's Scott Snyder's whole point, that Batman can't be or have anything other than Batman, but it would also be OK if he could. I'm personally OK with Batman having a life as Bruce Wayne outside the cowl...
Best part of Batman coming back for reals ... is no more GordonBatman!
And speaking of Gordon. Does he know about Bruce Wayne? Because when he was talking to Batman at the end of the volume, he says "You could have been that, B... That person." Was he about to say "Bruce"?
Further on identities:
-The Bruce/Joker interaction at the lake was bonkers & I'm not sure how I feel about it. That was the Joker, right?
-And, is Duke or is Duke not a Robin? The boy keeps flip-flopping. Last I read in Robin Wars, he said he wasn't.
Volume was a 2.5 = OK for me, but not a 3 because I didn't like Bloom, the main plot point.
March 2, 2019
Snyder goes out with a real whimper on this, the final actual story arc of his New 52 Batman run. It's really upsetting how bad this run has turned out to be. Court of Owls, Death of the Family and parts of Zero Year were wonderfully written: full of energy and mystery and an excellent sense of dread. I used to read these books at a breakneck speed because I was so excited to dive into their worlds, but now I read them at a breakneck speed just to get them over with.
Snyder really displays all the things I've come to dislike about his writing style here. Characters ramble on and on, monologizing at the drop of a hat, always about some entry-level philosophical idea or "what it means to be a citizen of Gotham." The villain, Bloom, is completely ill-defined, just some big bad guy with no clear motivation besides wanting to tear down Gotham, ultimately leading to Snyder's 10,000th Massive Battle That Threatens To Destroy The City. I was getting very tired of Snyder's side character Harper Row, a teen genius who can do literally anything she thinks about with no training, and she was thankfully gone here. But then, he replaces her with Duke, a character from We Are Robin, who he makes equally unfathomably brilliant and capable. He really shows that his well of ideas is extremely shallow, and he should've moved on from Batman years ago.
I mean, one of the few "new" ideas Snyder brought to the table here was the fact that he gave Bruce Wayne amnesia, something that's been done utterly to death by other writers. Sure, it's a slightly different kind of amnesia, but it's still amnesia, and it's hacky. And not only that, but this problem gets solved based on a totally unjustified deus ex machina, all in the interest of just returning to the status quo.
There's a point in this where Jim Gordon (the current Batman, inexplicably) says "Allowing me to become Batman was the dumbest idea ever." The thing is, with some slight tweaks and more character work, it could've been cool! Instead, this idea is blown past and swept under the rug after about 7 short issues. Nothing in here feels like it was built to or earned. Things just happen and then Batman wins. Big surprise.
What a letdown this series has turned out to be. When I first started in on New 52 stuff, this was my favorite series. But now it's been easily replaced by Azzarello's Wonder Woman, Peter J. Tomasi's Batman & Robin, Charles Soule's Swamp Thing, and Tim Seeley & Tom King's Grayson. The key ingredient all those series have that this one has lost: character. There's emotional grounding and justifiable motivation in all of those, just as there was in Snyder's early Batman work. But now he just has big crazy things happen because they're ideas, and therefore they must happen.
I still recommend everything through Zero Year, but after that, don't bother with any of these. Not even Capullo's amazing artwork can save them.
Snyder really displays all the things I've come to dislike about his writing style here. Characters ramble on and on, monologizing at the drop of a hat, always about some entry-level philosophical idea or "what it means to be a citizen of Gotham." The villain, Bloom, is completely ill-defined, just some big bad guy with no clear motivation besides wanting to tear down Gotham, ultimately leading to Snyder's 10,000th Massive Battle That Threatens To Destroy The City. I was getting very tired of Snyder's side character Harper Row, a teen genius who can do literally anything she thinks about with no training, and she was thankfully gone here. But then, he replaces her with Duke, a character from We Are Robin, who he makes equally unfathomably brilliant and capable. He really shows that his well of ideas is extremely shallow, and he should've moved on from Batman years ago.
I mean, one of the few "new" ideas Snyder brought to the table here was the fact that he gave Bruce Wayne amnesia, something that's been done utterly to death by other writers. Sure, it's a slightly different kind of amnesia, but it's still amnesia, and it's hacky. And not only that, but this problem gets solved based on a totally unjustified deus ex machina, all in the interest of just returning to the status quo.
There's a point in this where Jim Gordon (the current Batman, inexplicably) says "Allowing me to become Batman was the dumbest idea ever." The thing is, with some slight tweaks and more character work, it could've been cool! Instead, this idea is blown past and swept under the rug after about 7 short issues. Nothing in here feels like it was built to or earned. Things just happen and then Batman wins. Big surprise.
What a letdown this series has turned out to be. When I first started in on New 52 stuff, this was my favorite series. But now it's been easily replaced by Azzarello's Wonder Woman, Peter J. Tomasi's Batman & Robin, Charles Soule's Swamp Thing, and Tim Seeley & Tom King's Grayson. The key ingredient all those series have that this one has lost: character. There's emotional grounding and justifiable motivation in all of those, just as there was in Snyder's early Batman work. But now he just has big crazy things happen because they're ideas, and therefore they must happen.
I still recommend everything through Zero Year, but after that, don't bother with any of these. Not even Capullo's amazing artwork can save them.
May 26, 2018
This comic arc commits one of my “Comic Book No-No’s,” #2- Having the superhero be out of costume or without powers for way too long. But luckily, in the hands of Scott Snyder, this story totally works, and I give him a pass on breaking on of my rules.
Bruce Wayne not remembering he is Batman makes for a great story here, and Synder’s subplot of Jim Gordon stepping into the role of Batman, not only allow the story to stay action packed, it allows for greater depth and characterization of the soon-to-be commissioner. The scene with Alfred begging Bruce not to go down into the Batcave and become Batman again is tear inducing and gets the heart of why these characters are iconic.
The villain, Bloom, is secondary to all the characterization this time around, and that is fine with me, because he’s very bizarre, and seems out of place to me in Gotham. New 52 had already blown through most of Batman’s main-stay villains, and again, the villain isn’t the point here, but his scheme felt like a leftover Poison Ivy plot that was reworked to fit here.
Bruce Wayne not remembering he is Batman makes for a great story here, and Synder’s subplot of Jim Gordon stepping into the role of Batman, not only allow the story to stay action packed, it allows for greater depth and characterization of the soon-to-be commissioner. The scene with Alfred begging Bruce not to go down into the Batcave and become Batman again is tear inducing and gets the heart of why these characters are iconic.
The villain, Bloom, is secondary to all the characterization this time around, and that is fine with me, because he’s very bizarre, and seems out of place to me in Gotham. New 52 had already blown through most of Batman’s main-stay villains, and again, the villain isn’t the point here, but his scheme felt like a leftover Poison Ivy plot that was reworked to fit here.
September 13, 2016
Reviewed each issue of this, but, to put my 2 cents in this collected format, this isn't worth it.
It started out great. Dark, creepy, and mysterious. It was awesome.. and then it went downhill from there.
Half the book is read like a bad-written Power Rangers episode from the 90s (was there a good one?) and Mr. Bloom got from a great villain to a story we've seen a million times before. Cringe-worthy moments, lots of those. An ending that does not satisfy at all. Mediocre at best.
Sadness.
It started out great. Dark, creepy, and mysterious. It was awesome.. and then it went downhill from there.
Half the book is read like a bad-written Power Rangers episode from the 90s (was there a good one?) and Mr. Bloom got from a great villain to a story we've seen a million times before. Cringe-worthy moments, lots of those. An ending that does not satisfy at all. Mediocre at best.
Sadness.
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