finally got'n'read it the other day.
i quite liked it.
i read this book shortly after finishing up the two previous issues of the initial 'one year later' story 'detective' and 'batman' shared. that was garbage. piles and piles of garbage. other than some cool notable batfan moments, like the return of gordon and bullock and some cool "we're back" panels of batman and cool newsuited robin... the story was annoying. and the wrap up / conclusion issue was some of the shittiest shitty shit i've ever experienced. shit.
all of which helped build up some of my anticipation for the dini book. that, and the fact that i've been looking forward to the issue, fan wise, for a little over a decade. sure, realistically, i only knew he was gonna write the title for like the past 5 months, or whenever i first read about it happening. but having the BTAS man write an ongoing bat-title has been a long running dream. every bit as cool as it would be to have morrison and miller write, ...before miller asploded, of course.
but all that aside... getting to the actual story...
i quite liked it. it wasn't the most amazing thing i've ever read. it wasn't blockbuster surprises or fantastic swerves. it was 'simply' good, solid story-telling. great dialog and fantastic internal dialog. a trait missing from the batbooks for quite at least 3-4 years.
i loved the smarts batman displayed. i loved his detective-like critiques of individuals around him, and their actions. i loved the way the book illustrated his strengths, and how he was constantly in control of the situation, 10 steps ahead of the game.
minor detail, but i also liked how the dialog boxes featured the 'playbill' art deco font that the animated series made famous, as opposed to the typical comic sans capital script. it was a nice lil touch.
artwork wise, i wasn't all that impressed. in fact, in many panels/pages, i was flat-out disappointed that a more prominant choice was not made. ed benes, or adam kubert, or damion scott, or mike deodato, or some one else would have been much more welcome.
at times, williams has a little david mazzucchelli / year one flare to his style, but otherwise it wasn't my favorite. could have been worse, tho, so i should be happy with what i got.
but the story is, clearly, what was most appealing. it was amazingly strong, yet simple. it didn't rely on the joker or catwoman or some other big name -- it was just the creation of a pulpish batman story that dini made famous during his cartoon run.
more than anything else, it really made me feel like it was just a set up for the future. like how 'batman begins' sorta washed all the horrifying retardation from your brain that 'batman & robin' did their best to infuse.
i really look forward to what comes next.
