5 Reasons You Should Be Reading Batman: Zero Year

2. The Narratives Thus Far A brief mention of James Tynion's back ups here. Fleshing out peripheral elements of this new mythology with such craft his star should surely be in ascension in the years to come. The thing with Batman is that all his power and expertise comes from experience. Within reason his experiences are one's any person could seek out or share, whereas other heroes such as Superman are born with their gifts, if one wanted to become Batman all one really would need to do is start hitting some gyms and start reading some books, maybe travel the world. Yet it is only in relatively recent comic book history that Bruce's exodus has really been explored. Together, Snyder, Tynion and the rest of the back up team really add to that core mythology and to the continuing narrative itself. With the supposed demise of the leader of the Red Hood Gang (twice over if you recall the investigative revelation in the back up for issue 24) the first act of Zero Year could well be seen as being over, and so we move into act two. The man who will become the Riddler has made his first move as a major player in Gotham by plunging the city into darkness. Yet, Batman has only just appeared. The first act; Secret City, it seems belongs to Bruce. His inability to successfully take down the criminals he encounters or to perceive how close to home corruption lies mirrors his state as presumed dead. Finally and eerily coincidentally, the moment Bruce chooses to reveal his return and dedication to Gotham is also the moment Batman is born. Up until that moment our story lies in flux, the legend waiting to be born. It is interesting to note that we only learn the history of our villains or there is a show of hand once Bruce cements, at least in his mind, his strategy and identity. Bruce will go on to establish this identity in the minds of others, mainly using his fists. Once again raising age old questions perhaps first asked in Dark Knight Returns. Does Batman attract and encourage his foes or is his presence the only plausible deterrent to pre existing threat? I've spoken previously in the article about components of the narrative so far and that narrative itself is at such a stage that one could, if one is not already, pick up old and current issues of the Zero Year arc and strap yourself in for the rest of the ride...