I have been waiting for this event to finish for a while now and I will have to say I was not disappointed. Picking up this book on National Batman Day made it even better. The cover work was awesome although the lions didn’t appear in this issue. I am also glad to see FCO get his name on the cover. It was long over due. With this story continuing from the trap that Batman fell into, he needs to answer riddles in order to get the lasers that are locked onto him to fall away. The riddles that Nygma was asking were well thought out by Snyder. I didn’t have the slightest clue to what the answer would be. That is one reason I could never be Batman. Ol’ Bruce with his keen intellect was able to make his way through the question rather easily. All while this is going on, there are some fighter jets making their way towards Gotham read to drop some bombs on the decaying city. Gordon and Fox are still working hard at finding a way to signal the jets since communications were dead. (Insert the invention of the Bat Signal here). Without giving away too much detail around what happens next, it is safe to say that Batman wins this encounter. At the end of the battle, Scott threw in some nice humor around the whole “Because I’m Batman” saying that I enjoyed a lot. During that scene, some of us might have to hold back some tears because…the feels. I also liked the touch they did in the narrative around Nygma being in Arkham. Snyder really made this story his own and I loved the details that set it apart from other initial year stories. The book ends with a “One Month Later” back after Gotham was into rehabilitation. Some pieces from earlier in the Zero Year storyline come up again here. A wonderful explanation of Bruce’s reasoning for doing what he does perfect. As he soars off into the night, I can only expect more great things to come in further arcs from this creative team.
Needless to say I enjoyed the story very much. While it did tend to go on for a long time, the finale was worth it to me. This was much more than I expected it to be and everything I needed it to be as well. Great story. Great arc. I only hear great things are to come after this from Snyder and Capullo. If I do recall they are set to work on Batman until around issue 50 which means we should get lots of more Bat-tastic stuff from those guys.
Batman #33 (Zero Year) – Savage City
Written by: Scott Snyder
Pencils by: Greg Capullo
Inks by: Danny Miki
Colors by: FCO Plascencia
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