beyondthewheel 's review for:

Batman (2011) #1 by Richard Starkings, Scott Snyder, Jimmy Betancourt, Jonathan Glapion, Greg Capullo, Fco Plascenia, Grep Capullo

3.0

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Every Saturday the Gotham Gazette includes a small lifestyles piece called “Gotham Is.” In the column, random Gothamites are asked to complete the sentence “Gotham is …” using three words or less. The Gazette has been running the “Gotham Is” column for years, ever since I was a boy. Here are some of the words used to describe Gotham in the past few weeks: “Damned.” “Cursed.” “Bedlam.” “Murderous …”

Gotham is “villainous.” Gotham is “a losing game.” Gotham is “hopeless.”

Once in a while, someone names one of the city’s villains as the answer to the “Gotham is” question. Usually it’s some kid, a teenager going for shock value. But now and then someone actually tries to make the argument that the city is best reflected in its villains.

I seriously, for a moment, thought that batman was teaming up with The Joker and that shocked me, but oh wait, that was my precious Dick. He was so hilarious and serious about his characterization of the Joker, I loved it.

I loved the writing of this one so much.

Of course, one of the most common answers to the “Gotham is” question is “Batman.” Gotham is “Batman.” Gotham is “Batman’s city.” Gotham is “the Bat.” All answers I’m partial to, myself.