DC Comics announced today via the
AP that superstar writer and artist duo Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo would continue their bestselling run on Batman with a look back at the Dark Knights origins in an 11-issue series titled The Zero Year. Set to begin this June, Snyder confirmed that he and Capullo would be revisiting the formative years of Bruce Wayne:
"It's not 'let's redo the origin,'" he said "It's time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52." "We tried to preserve as much of Batman's history as we could and keep what we could of this history intact," Snyder said of the change. "It's 'The Zero Year,' the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain."
Snyder and Capullo have had enormous critical and commercial success with their run on Batman in DCs New 52 relaunch with The Court of Owls, The Night of Owls, and the forthcoming finale The City of Owls, as well as the recent return of the Joker in Death of the Family. But as most Batman fans will know, Bruce Wayne's origins have already been definitively written in Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's "Year One". "We're not going to take apart 'Year One,' said Snyder. "It's time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52. It builds up the mythology." Conspicuously absent was any mention of the villain Batman will face. With Snyder having already written stories featuring James Gordon Jr, the Joker, and his own creations the Court of Owls, the position for a classic Batman rogue is wide open. Who do you think should feature in "The Zero Year"?