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xraex21's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars, this was alright, a bunch of what ifs for our favorite characters. Aside from the power outage and storm it missed some overarching plot and conclusion.
heartpages's review against another edition
5.0
One of the reasons I love book collections is that you don't have to read 13 different comics to get the whole story - and that's how many are included here. It all revolves around a storm in Gotham 6 years ago, and 13 heroes are followed. Some of them are admittedly hokey. But prequels are a lot of fun. And for each, heroism is innate in them, even before they were heroes.
I especially liked the Gordon and Red Hood (but I have a special soft spot for Red Hood). And the John Stewart story was especially poignant in today's world.
I especially liked the Gordon and Red Hood (but I have a special soft spot for Red Hood). And the John Stewart story was especially poignant in today's world.
iffer's review against another edition
3.0
Response to this collection is likely dependent on one's expectations and preconceived notions about the volume. For me, it's difficult to rate this book, because I knew little about it before reading it, and it's a collection of New 52 issues from several series. There are both gains and losses to compiling the stories in this format. On one hand, I enjoyed having the New 52 origin stories of many of DC's best known heroes all in one place, as well as a volume that establishes the way in which the characters relate to each other in the rebooted universe. On the other hand, while I enjoy variety as well as (or more, generally) than the next person, this "tasting menu"of DC heroes left me wanting more of certain stories, and slogging through others just to finish. Due to the fact that this is a collection of issues by many creative teams, the quality of storytelling and art were uneven, with some issues shining, while others' drabness was accentuated by proximity to much stronger issues. Although the stories are connected narratively and thematically (chaos and darkness bring out both the best and the worst of humanity, symbolism of Gotham City for the individual as well as government, greater society, etc) via the Gotham power outage and impending storm, the connection sometimes feels tenuous or contrived. It also frequently left me wanting a longer study arc rather than merely vignettes. This goes back to expectations and purpose for reading a collection like this one.
P.S. This definitely drummed up my interest in some New 52 characters that I hadn't been following.
P.S. This definitely drummed up my interest in some New 52 characters that I hadn't been following.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
2.0
During The Nu 52, Scott Snyder started a flashback story about the early days of Batman called Year Zero. It takes place six years before the Nu-52's current timeline, and involves The Riddler taking advantage of a superstorm to take over Gotham. It's an ok story, and some of the early issues are collected here.
Also collected are a bunch of mostly Batman-adjacent DC titles that take place during this Zero Year superstorm.
Usually, I love a collection that puts a whole crossover in roughly chronological order but there isn't really a through narrative to these books they just all take place during the super storm and they all serve as rebooted origins of DC characters for this Nu 52 timeline. Their qualities vary but none of them are So Good that you simply must read them if you're reading Batman. I'm guessing that they all read better at the beginning of their respective titles. And they've all been collected in their respective titles, so my advice is to skip this and track those down. This is a perfectly mediocre library read to see if you want to pick up any of the other books but I don't recommend paying for this.
Also collected are a bunch of mostly Batman-adjacent DC titles that take place during this Zero Year superstorm.
Usually, I love a collection that puts a whole crossover in roughly chronological order but there isn't really a through narrative to these books they just all take place during the super storm and they all serve as rebooted origins of DC characters for this Nu 52 timeline. Their qualities vary but none of them are So Good that you simply must read them if you're reading Batman. I'm guessing that they all read better at the beginning of their respective titles. And they've all been collected in their respective titles, so my advice is to skip this and track those down. This is a perfectly mediocre library read to see if you want to pick up any of the other books but I don't recommend paying for this.
vanessakm's review against another edition
I heard Scott Snyder on the Imaginary Worlds podcast discussing this series, and I came away thinking he sounded charming and the series sounded interesting.
Unfortunately, I could not hack my way through this omnibus edition. The art in places is so distracting. Why does Bruce Wayne look like he has a head injury in some panels? What happened to Barbara Gordon's lips? Why does she look like a blow-up doll who ate a fudgesicle? Seriously, she has gigantic brown lips.
Why was I getting so fixated on the art, I finally asked myself. Because the stories weren't holding my attention. It's supposed to be the New 52 take on [b:Batman: Year One|59980|Batman Year One|Frank Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327940389s/59980.jpg|2501570]. It has crossovers with Batwoman, Batgirl, Black Canary, The Flash, and Superman, to name a few. It sounds awesome. But it was boring. Even when I liked the story (Barbara Gordon's for example), there were those giant, brown lips. Then other stories, like Superman's, didn't sound at all like Superman.
Some reads aren't meant to be.
Unfortunately, I could not hack my way through this omnibus edition. The art in places is so distracting. Why does Bruce Wayne look like he has a head injury in some panels? What happened to Barbara Gordon's lips? Why does she look like a blow-up doll who ate a fudgesicle? Seriously, she has gigantic brown lips.
Why was I getting so fixated on the art, I finally asked myself. Because the stories weren't holding my attention. It's supposed to be the New 52 take on [b:Batman: Year One|59980|Batman Year One|Frank Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327940389s/59980.jpg|2501570]. It has crossovers with Batwoman, Batgirl, Black Canary, The Flash, and Superman, to name a few. It sounds awesome. But it was boring. Even when I liked the story (Barbara Gordon's for example), there were those giant, brown lips. Then other stories, like Superman's, didn't sound at all like Superman.
Some reads aren't meant to be.
reasonandpassion1115's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very enjoyable comic overview that starts the new 52 series. I really liked how many different characters that were shown and the information given about them with where they were at the beginning of the new 52. It was orientating and helped start out the series. Though as seen with later graphic novels in the new 52 universe there was some repeating information with other graphic novels in the series.
crzyarrow's review against another edition
4.0
This this is a compilation of the introductory comics for a bunch of the main characters in the New 52. So if you have any of those these will probably be repeats. I already have the first few Batman collections for New 52, and some of those are in here, but I didn't have any of the others so I got it anyway and just enjoyed the couple Batman rereads.
Some of these intros I liked a lot, and some were meh. Wasn't a huge fan of Superman's (and I love Superman lol), but Batgirl, Red Hood, Batwoman, and a bunch of others were good. From a storytelling standpoint, these all do a lot of flashbacks (basically like they do in their CW show Arrow). I am not a huge fan of flashbacks just because I think they can be a little jarring and they take you out of the present, however, these do provide necessary information sooo... Just don't be surprised lol
All that being said, I enjoyed these. If you want a new take on old heroes maybe give this a whirl.
Some of these intros I liked a lot, and some were meh. Wasn't a huge fan of Superman's (and I love Superman lol), but Batgirl, Red Hood, Batwoman, and a bunch of others were good. From a storytelling standpoint, these all do a lot of flashbacks (basically like they do in their CW show Arrow). I am not a huge fan of flashbacks just because I think they can be a little jarring and they take you out of the present, however, these do provide necessary information sooo... Just don't be surprised lol
All that being said, I enjoyed these. If you want a new take on old heroes maybe give this a whirl.
clarks_dad's review against another edition
2.0
A collection of tie-ins to the Zero Year event collected in [b:Batman, Vol. 4: Zero Year - Secret City|18339834|Batman, Vol. 4 Zero Year - Secret City|Scott Snyder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395626522s/18339834.jpg|25893199] and [b:Batman, Vol. 5: Zero Year - Dark City|21524934|Batman, Vol. 5 Zero Year - Dark City|Scott Snyder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414127774s/21524934.jpg|40850537]. Utterly forgettable and with minimal addition to the storyline. Most of the issues I found to be distractions. The basic set-up for each was that each of the main DC titles (and especially the Bat-related ones) took a break from their continuing arc to show what was happening in their lives six years ago when the Batman first emerged on the rooftops of Gotham. Most of the tales are really lame and feel like filler. They don't add to the complexity of Wayne's character growth or the growth of their titular characters in any meaningful way. I read these mixed into the main Batman arc in release order to try and see how the event unfolded and I felt at the conclusion of each individual issue that it was a waste of my time.
What's odd to me is the newly compressed timeline of the New 52 universe. Batman has been around for six years by the time of Death of the Family, which means that in that time he trained four Robins, witnessed Barbara Gordon's crippling and then return as Batgirl, started Batman Inc., DIED, was gone for a year, came back from the dead and has been fighting crime on the streets of Gotham for one more year. The bit with the Robins makes no sense unless all of their ages are retconned and some spent mere months with Bruce before moving out on their own. Possible, but stretching things to be sure.
Skip.
What's odd to me is the newly compressed timeline of the New 52 universe. Batman has been around for six years by the time of Death of the Family, which means that in that time he trained four Robins, witnessed Barbara Gordon's crippling and then return as Batgirl, started Batman Inc., DIED, was gone for a year, came back from the dead and has been fighting crime on the streets of Gotham for one more year. The bit with the Robins makes no sense unless all of their ages are retconned and some spent mere months with Bruce before moving out on their own. Possible, but stretching things to be sure.
Skip.
marklpotter's review
2.0
I guess I needed more back story to jump in to this GN. I read this as a recommendation and found it rather disjointed and hard to keep up with. I'm not a huge fan of DC, or Marvel for that matter, outside of a couple of titles so it's possible that the multiple perspectives presented here had something to do with my enjoyment.
Zero Year is also a perfect representation of one of the major problems I have with the big two in comic books: tie-ins. Far too many story arcs require you to purchase multiple books in order to get the whole story. While I understand this one a small and infrequent scale, it seems to have become the norm. It smacks of nothing more than a cheap way to get people to pick up other books and I feel it lessens the overall impact of single titles. Sure a world event every now and then is great but how many have there been lately? Way too many involving way too many titles. I am burned out on it and I know other comic book readers I speak to are as well.
Zero Year is also a perfect representation of one of the major problems I have with the big two in comic books: tie-ins. Far too many story arcs require you to purchase multiple books in order to get the whole story. While I understand this one a small and infrequent scale, it seems to have become the norm. It smacks of nothing more than a cheap way to get people to pick up other books and I feel it lessens the overall impact of single titles. Sure a world event every now and then is great but how many have there been lately? Way too many involving way too many titles. I am burned out on it and I know other comic book readers I speak to are as well.