I think I'm just tired of seeing where Batman came from... ( )

Estou um pouco velho pra ver a cada década alguém fazendo "Ano Um" ou "Ano Zero" destes personagens icônicos, mas é uma HQ divertida, tem bons momentos e deve ser ainda melhor para quem é mais jovem. ( )

A great origin story that flows from start to end. The art is great (the first page is mesmerizing in its simplicity, but tells the story of Gothom's state. I especially like the riddle sequence. The backup stories are all very good as well. ( )

I was intensely skeptical when DC announced that they were going to be doing a yearlong Batman origin as part of the variable-quality (to put it lightly) New 52. I am just going to take this opportunity now to state that I was wrong.

Snyder's script for the first issue in the back of the book basically says "Let's turn every dial we can't break off up to 11" and it comes through from minute one, with Gotham apparently now just a total urban wasteland with fish living in the subway. While I'm not really thrilled by some of the initial stuff with Bruce as a nameless vigilante pre-Batman (the Mission Impossible-ish idea of him using his disguise talents to fight crime from behind any one of several masks is cool, the "brownstone in Crime Alley" headquarters feels like a really weird idea for reasons I can't articulate), the introduction of is-he-or-isn't-he-the-Joker Red Hood One is pretty cool, and Snyder's rejiggering of the big "Yes, father" moment is fascinating and leads to some really good art.

Speaking of art, Greg Capullo is basically a one-man wrecking crew on this, from the big, splashy, crazy stuff (the Red Hoods' attack on Bruce is just dripping with color) to the little details that are smartly used everywhere (note the portraits in Uncle Philip's office at Wayne Enterprises!)

Much like DC's other books these days, this comes packaged with a set of back-ups that ran alongside the comics -- in this case, expanding on Bruce's world-travelling training with various masters of their fields. They're nothing really special, but they don't really detract from the main event here. I'm definitely looking forward to much more of this. ( )

I posted my full review of this on my blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Click (or copy/paste to your favorite browser) the link below to check out the review.

Review link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/booknote-batman-volume-4-zero-yea... ( )