Batman 24# came out this week, and boy is it a good one. Capping off the battle between Batman and the Red Hood gang, the issue is a continuation of DC's Batman Zero Year, a retelling of the Dark Knight's origin for the New 52. How the Bat began has been told many times before (with Frank Miller's Year One story being the most popular rendition), yet Snyder and Capullo somehow manage to not only avoid making this umpteenth retelling boring, but to form it in such a way it's a genuine pleasure to read. If you haven't read it yet, be warned, this article contains some pretty big-time spoilers, so if you follow the comics and don't want to know what happens, look away now. For those of you who've already read the issue, or perhaps are just interested to how it ties into other Batman stories you may know, here are four main allusions present in Batman #24...
4. One: The Golden Age
This one is strictly down to the art style early on in the issue, but the reference is undeniable. When you think of the 1940s' Batman the first image that likely comes to mind is one of those big front covers showing Batman and Robin swinging through the air, maybe in pursuit of some criminal or just out on patrol. While all these images where different, the majority of them had the same bright yellow background, as yellow is a cheap colour to print and DC weren't so rich back in the day, meaning they had to save the pennies when they could. The image shown above is from Batman's first scene in the comic, throughout we we're treated to a golden age throwback with the familiar yellow glow (this time used to suggest sunrise) sitting nostalgically in the background. This genius decision was probably made by the artist Greg Capullo, linking this 52 origin all the way back to the first Batman comics that came out 74 years ago. Even if you aren't that fussed about artwork, this is some superb attention to detail.