When I heard that Judd Winick would be taking over on Batman, I was more than just a little nervous. While he is the man who came up with Exiles, he also brought Jason Todd back to life and wrote Green Arrow and Black Canary. However, this first issue, a eulogy of sorts for Bruce Wayne, was quite good. The issue spends time going back and forth between the perspectives of the original Robin and the current Batman, Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, and Alfred Pennyworth. Dick handles a robbery by a bunch of guys in seriously tough armor, and in a flashback, Superman and Wonder Woman arrive at the Batcave and ask just what Bruce’s failsafe plan was for his own death. At Bruce’s funeral, Dick insists that no one know that Batman is dead. Then, in the present day, Damian Wayne goes off to fight Dr. Phosphorus, and Dick finally becomes comfortable enough to actually put on the cowl, just in tame to save Gotham City from Scarecrow.
In particular, I found that Winick’s work on Alfred in this issue was quite good. I liked his response to Superman, that he is not all right because his son has died. It’s a statement that goes straight to the core of his relationship with Bruce. I was a bit less happy with the Dick Grayson perspective, as I found his continued reluctance to actually be Batman a bit annoying. We already covered that extensively in Batman: Battle for the Cowl, and the fact that he was still not ready is a bit silly. Otherwise, this issue was absolutely superb. It was both a touching look at the two people whose lives Bruce Wayne touched the most and the beginning of Dick Grayson’s tenure as Batman. Ed Benes shifted his artistic style more than a bit in this issue, and as a result, you almost can’t tell that Tony Daniel wasn’t the artist at times. I’m looking forward to seeing someone else wear the cowl for now, even if Bruce Wayne will ultimately come back. It’s a fresh new perspective, and Judd Winick has proven that he will be able to portray it well.
Plot: 8.8 Art: 9.0 Dialogue: 8.7 Overall: 8.8
