Blackest Night: Batman #1
Written By: Peter J. Tomasi
Illustrated By: Ardian Syaf'
Dick Grayson picked the wrong time to become Batman. Following the battle between Green Lantern, Flash, and the undead Martian Manhunter, the new Batman and Robin arrive in a ravaged Gotham Cemetery, discovering the desecrated remains of Bruce Wayne and his parents among the wreckage. Investigations lead to no conclusive finds, and all the duo can do is reclaim the bodies of their mentor's parents and return it safely to the Bat Cave.
Meanwhile, the spirit of Boston Brand, aka Deadman, is helpless to stop his own corpse from being resurrected as a Black Lantern. Channeling his ability to possess bodies, he desperately tries to reclaim control over his corpse, only to find the process too overwhelming for him to endure, witnessing his past, present, and the bleak future mankind faces with hordes of the dead rising from their graves. Gaining crucial knowledge about the horrors to come, Deadman sets off to find one person he trusts the most, but it's not who he thinks it is. With time running short and Black Rings invading the Earth, can the heroes find a way to work together before everyone they once knew in life returns as a Black Lantern?
I'm sure a lot of readers were pulled back from the comic gutter to follow Blackest Night, but some people who haven't been following the Bat books lately will probably be confused with the status quo change to The Dark Knight as of late. If you haven't learned this yet (SPOILER ALERT), Dick Grayson, the first Robin and former Nightwing, is the new Bats in town, and he's doing what he can to honor his mentor's memory by cleaning the streets with his cape and cowl. Also, a new Robin accompanies him in the form of Damian Wayne, son to Bruce and Talia Al Ghul. It's a lot of back story to take in, and if you're feeling lost at this point, I'd highly recommend reading Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin. However, this issue is a pretty accessible feature with the dialogue alone, so the backlog is not all necessary unless you want the dirt on the new Dynamic Duo.
The other highlight of this issue is Boston Brand, aka Deadman. He's a character I haven't been too acquainted with really in the books, but I do know him from an episode I once saw in Justice League Unlimited that references his origin and close ties to Batman. Obviously, he's surprised to find a new man in the Batman costume, yet he does his voodoo thing anyway and possesses Dick Grayson to bring his up to speed with the Blackest Night craze, with somewhat humorous results in the process. Granted, this part of the story felt like a convenient plot device thrown in to have a spiritual force helping out Batman during a time of crisis, but similar things have been done before, so it can be easily overlooked this time. With a dark supernatural event causing widespread chaos in the DCU, anything's bound to happen at this point, and the heroes need all the kind of help they can get to stop the invasion... somehow.
This may be supplementary material to the main series, but BN: Batman #1 is a good story on its own right. I have to hand it to writer Peter J. Tomasi; He's pretty good at what he does. As the scribe of the GL sister book series, Green Lantern Corps, he's done an impressive job of following up the adventures of other known personalities in the GL Universe, and now he's doing the same brand of magic for the world of The Dark Knight. While Geoff Johns is busy crafting mayhem in Green Lantern and Blackest Night, leave it to Tomasi to handle the rest. It's a known fact that these two are the "Dynamic Duo" writing force behind the GL mythos, so even if they don't mince meat and butter together, they work on the same page and the results come out tasting the same in the end. Penciller Ardian Syaf's work here is downright impressive too. He's good at drawing Batman, I'll say, and his stuff here kind of reminds me of Tony Daniels' work on recent issues of Batman. He could very well make for a good sub in the future if DC needs an artist to fill in for the regular ongoing title.
Without a doubt, Blackest Night: Batman #1 is a key title that readers, especially bat fans, wouldn't want to miss if they're planning to complete the entire saga of the Black Lantern invasion. It certainly can't act alone as a stand alone book, but it does a mean job of complimenting the events happening in this week's Blackest Night #2. Both are good to read side by side, and it's an effective way to get a full grasp of all the multiple events happening one after the other. This is just the first of three tie-in books to make their debut this month, and next week involves a certain Man Of Steel. Looking forward to more undead hero action, so let's hope the fire burns more before the heroes find a way to retaliate back.
Score - 8/10
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