A review by clarks_dad
Batman: Earth One Vol. 1 by Geoff Johns

2.0

So the Earth One series is picking up the mantle of the old school What if... series in the DC universe. Here we have a re-imagined and updated origin story for Batman set in an entirely different continuity. Is it plausible? Yes. Is it good? Not really. I like Geoff Johns a lot and he definitely can write. It's just incredibly difficult when you mess with the staples of a beloved franchise and try to make them different. Example: In Earth One, Alfred is not the humble Wayne family butler. He's a veteran hired by Thomas Wayne as security for his mayoral campaign. When the Waynes are murdered, he stands in as foster parent for Bruce and gives him training to defend himself and avenge his parents while sporting a goatee and talking trash. No. Just, no. The fact that Bruce never meets Alfred until the night of his parents' murder removes the solitary "close" person the character could hope to have.

On top of that, the whole thing just has an overly militaristic feel. There's no depth of character here. Instead, it feels like a trial-and-error-ooooh-this-would-be-so-cool-if-it-happened montage. Skip it. Go read Scott Snyder's take on the Batman franchise instead.