So far Zero Year has been a story with many ups and downs. For everything that Snyder and Capullo do right with this origin story, they misfire with the execution of certain plot points. The one part of Zero Year that I have continuously enjoyed has been the portrayal of the Red Hood Gang’s leader. He’s done everything right to push Bruce Wayne into who we know he will become. At the same time, we are seeing a lot of elements to the character that hint that he is who we think he is. Now that Bruce has nothing left after the Red Hood Gang destroyed his base of operation what Bruce does next should be exciting to see, at least I hope. Let’s find out how things turn out with Batman #24.
Creative Team
Writers: Scott Snyder and James Tynion
Artists: Greg Capullo and Rafael Albuquerque
Inker: Danny Miki
Colorists: FCO Plascencia and Dave McCaig
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: In the cave located under Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne has Alfred give him a buzzcut after setting up a large energy source in the cave. Bruce thinks that what they built is crazy but Alfred thinks that it will deliver it is the kind that the city will reward. (And all of a sudden Bruce Wayne became Tony Stark with the set-up of the Batcave.)
Sometime later the Red Hood Gang break into a lab in order to steal some pressurized gas canisters. While stealing the canisters Hood 67 reveals that he is a science teacher and is told to stop talking about his personal life. Hood 67 then mentions how “he” recently took down seven members of the Red Hood Gang. The Red Hood Gang member getting the canisters says that “he” is probably just a rumor started by the GCPD or the Falcone’s. When the Red Hood Gang member gets the last canister he notices that his crew has gone missing. When he gets back up to the roof he finds all of the Red Hood Gang members hung up on a billboard in the shape of the Bat symbol. Batman then appears from the shadows and takes down the last Red Hood Gang member in the crew. (Queue up the classic Batman swing.)
The next day Red Hood One (The Leader) is reading the reports about the appearance of Batman. Red Hood One then talks about a new kind of concrete that he has obtained that is supposed to be stronger than what construction workers are currently using. He asks some of the Red Hood Gang members how the new concrete taste and it is shown that the guys Batman caught the previous day have been killed and dumped into the Gotham River. Red Hood One then moves his focus to Batman.
Inside the cave, Batman has been able to breakdown all of the Red Hood Gang robberies. Through the information, he has on all the robberies that the leader is masking the robberies focused on stealing various chemicals with an equal amount of petty robberies. Batman then thinks that he may have caused the Red Hood Gang’s leader to speed up his plans. (It’s always the superheroes fault.) Alfred suggests that Batman go to the top of all these robberies.
Later that night Bruce meets his Uncle Philip in his office. Bruce asks his uncle if he knows anything about what the Red Hood Gang are planning. Philip says that he doesn’t know anything and that the leader of the Red Hood Gang has dismantled the tracers Wayne Enterprise was using to track the stolen products two days ago. Philip then reveals that Red Hood One forced him to become a member of the Red Hood Gang, Red Hood 347. Bruce asks his uncle for access to the tracking system the company was using. Philip not only gives him access to the equipment but to the whole company.
Philip then shows Bruce a chunk of the bedrock of Gotham that he had cut and moved to his office. Philip thought that it would symbolize how unforgiving the city is. Philip then asks Bruce why he decided to not stay “dead” and come back to the city. Bruce says he could’ve but that he didn’t really want that. Philip attributes that answer to Alfred’s influence. (The butler did it! Sorry I couldn’t resist.)
Back in the cave, Bruce has set up various laptops to help him with the Red Hood Gang investigation. Alfred comes down the only entrance to the cave. Bruce mentions that he is thinking of building a quicker entrance through the study in Wayne Manor. Bruce then shows Alfred what he found out. He reveals that the Red Hood Gang have hit ever Wayne Depot except for one and that he knows what they are planning. Alfred wonders if this is a job Batman can accomplish. Bruce says that Batman can’t handle it but someone else can.
At the GCPD headquarters, Commissioner Loeb is looking at pictures of what the cops think Batman looks like. Officer Kiviat enters Commissioner Loeb’s office to inform him about a news conference that Bruce Wayne is holding. Commissioner Loeb tells Officer Kiviat to send Gordon to the scene.
Outside a facility, Bruce has gathered various media outlets together to give a speech. Bruce begins to talk about the reason that he, and maybe others, stay in Gotham City is because it makes them want to be more than they are. He then goes on to talk about the Red Hood Gang and their recent attempt to kill him. The attempt to kill him made Bruce want to stop Red Hood Gang’s plan to create a special ‘cocktail’ involves the facility they are standing in front of: A.C.E. Chemical. He goes on to say that the Red Hood Gang is planning to execute their plans tomorrow.
Before Bruce can say anything more some Red Hood Gang members launch rockets at Bruce and the media. While everyone is trying to recover Bruce decides to go inside A.C.E. Chemicals with Gordon and other GCPD cops following close behind.
Inside A.C.E. Chemicals Bruce tells Alfred over their communicator that things are worse than they thought. Just then Red Hood One appears with a gun pointed at Bruce’s head. Red Hood One has his lackeys lock the doors so that the GCPD can’t get in.
With the doors locked Red Hood One reveals that their ‘cocktail,’ as Bruce termed it, is not ready yet. He goes on to say that it’s not a problem and once they finish loading up the trucks they’ll blow up the building with the GCPD still inside. He then says that tomorrow, on the anniversary of Bruce’s parents’ death, a New Gotham will be born. Bruce says that Red Hood One is full of crap because he does not stand for anything like he says he does. Bruce goes on to say that Red Hood One is just pretending to have a cause in order to mask the evil man he is. Hearing this Red Hood One decides to end Bruce’s life at that moment but before he can pull the trigger the power in the building goes out, leaving them all in complete darkness.
Gordon gets in contact with one of the GCPD helicopters who inform him that there has been a massive power outage. It’s then shown that when you look at all of the buildings that lost power from the sky it forms the Bat symbol. (If there is one thing that Batman doesn’t lack it is ego.)
Red Hood One tells his men to get him some night-vision goggles. When Red Hood One puts them on he sees Batman saving Bruce Wayne. Batman then turns the power back on which cause Red Hood One to get blinded by the intensity of the light and force him to take off the goggles and his helmet. As Red Hood One recovers Batman takes out various members of the Red Hood Gang with ease. While Batman fights the Red Hood Gang members Red Hood One is able to run away. Before Red Hood One can leave the building Red Hood 347 turns on him and shoots his helmet. Red Hood One is not amused and he shoots Red Hood 347.
Batman hears this and instantly goes to Red Hood 347, knowing that it is his Uncle Philip. Due to the various gunshots hitting the chemicals in the facility a huge fire breaks out in A.C.E Chemicals. Batman is unable to get to his uncle in time and before he can react Gordon and the GCPD have made it into the facility. Batman tells Gordon to step back but he doesn’t listen which forces Batman to shot Gordon with his grapple gun just in time to save him from a falling beam.
Batman rushes out into the roof in order to catch up with the escaping Red Hood One. Batman is able to grab Red Hood One with his grapple gun just as the roof collapses and causes both men to fall back into the burning building.
They both land on a catwalk and while Batman tries to recover from the fall Red Hood One hits him with a steel pipe. Batman is able to counter Red Hood One’s attempt to stomp him and headbutts him to the other side of the catwalk. The fire becomes even more intense and one of the chemical vats blows up, splitting the catwalk Batman and Red Hood One are on in half in the process. Batman tries to save Red Hood One but Red Hood One just laughs off Batman’s attempt to save him and let’s go of the bar he was holding on to for support. Batman can only watch as Red Hood One falls into one of the open chemical vats.
Sometime later Alfred enters the still in construction Batcave through the Wayne Manor’s study. He finds Bruce in front of the finished computer he built. Bruce tells Alfred that he has been looking over who was behind the Red Hood Gang. While he originally suspected Liam Distal to be Red Hood One the GCPD recently found the remains of Distal’s body in a garbage can outside of Amusement Mile. Bruce then says that it’s still a mystery as to who Red Hood One really is, even going over a few possible scenarios about Red Hood One’s mysterious identity.
Alfred moves the discussion to what Bruce wants Batman to be. Alfred mentions that when he was an actor that he was so scared people would see him as Alfred and not the character that it hurt his career. He uses this example to show Bruce that he has to go all-in with this life as Batman since people already believe Batman and Bruce are two separate people. Alfred goes on to say that now Batman can be someone that defies all the rules of logic through the legend he creates and in turn, people won’t care who is under the mask. (The Legend of the Dark Knight is born.)
Taking what Alfred said to heart Bruce finally apologizes for how he has been acting. Before the two can hug it out Edward Nigma appears on all of the TV screens across Gotham City. He tells everyone watching who he is and that they can all call him The Riddler to make things easy. The Riddler then gives people a riddle which ends with the Riddler causing a massive blackout across the city. The Riddler then declares the beginning of his game. End of issue.
Commentary
The Good: While I was initially against the idea of an oversized issue in the middle of the Zero Year arc Scott Snyder proved exactly why the extra pages were necessary. Not only does Batman #24 prove itself to be worthy of being oversized but it also moves Bruce Wayne forward in his journey to establish the Batman legend within Gotham City.
What’s impressive about this is that Snyder is able to hit classic Batman moments, such as when Batman does his iconic pose when grabbing the last Red Hood member, in a way that does not distract from what is going on in the story. These iconic moments aren’t here to just get our geek hearts pounding either; they are executed in a way that clearly defines Bruce’s beginning as Batman.
Batman #24 also featured something that has been missing from Zero Year and that is actual emotional weight to what is going on in the story. Snyder finally allowed Bruce to have a broader emotional spectrum in this story than just either acting like an unemotional robot or angry that things don’t go as planned. In Bruce’s talk with his uncle and the speech he gave in front of A.C.E. Chemicals showed us the passion that Bruce has been missing since returning to Gotham City. It shows us and the citizens of Gotham that Bruce returned not just because of his mission but also because the city is a part of him.
His speech in front of A.C.E. Chemicals perfectly complemented worked Alfred speech to Bruce at the end of the issue. This speech by Alfred also clears up why people in Gotham don’t care about who is behind the cowl. What matters is that the legend of the Batman is so strong that they feel some semblance of safety because he is out there as their protector. The speech also helped to push the relationship between Bruce and Alfred into what we know it is with Bruce finally taking what Alfred said to heart instead of just ignoring it like in previous issues.
I also like the use of symbolism with the evolution of Bruce and Red Hood One in this issue. Snyder perfectly used the fact that this is the first time Bruce became Batman to give us our first glimpse of Red Hood One without his trademark helmet. This showed us the change in the dynamic between the two characters as Bruce is now the one that wears a mask while Red Hood One becomes the Joker, a man who does not wear a mask and whose real identity is never fully revealed just like when Bruce was working as ‘The Vigilante.’ The battle between the two was also an example of how no matter what happens Batman wants Red Hood One/Joker to face the consequences of his crimes instead of getting the easy way out by simply dying.
The rise of the Riddler at the end of the issue worked well to continue the trouble Bruce faces with regaining Wayne Enterprise and as Batman. The Riddler is a completely different challenge for Bruce to face because unlike the Red Hood Gang he is someone that is all about testing Bruce’s psychology.
When it comes to the artwork Greg Capullo does a great job with all of the action sequences. There is a great flow to the action on the page that makes it pop. He also does a great job with giving Red Hood One a creepy smile that foreshadows who he becomes once he falls into the chemical vat.
The Bad: While Capullo’s artwork has grown on me over the course of his run on Batman this issue highlighted one of the things that I dislike about his style: the scenes that don’t involve people wearing masks. Capullo sucks some of the energy out of long dialogue sequences by not properly matching character expressions to what the character is saying in that specific panel. There are many times in this issue, specifically in Bruce’s speech in front of A.C.E. Chemicals, where the characters have dead expressions on their faces. A lot of this has to do with how Capullo draws the eyes of the characters which show very little expression and in turn affects the perception of the dialogue Snyder wrote.
And while I am usually a big fan of Rafael Albuquerque’s artwork his work in this issue was not up to par with what I expect from him. The way he poses the characters in each panel make the characters look awkward on each page. There is also no transition between Capullo and Albuquerque’s portion of this issue which is jarring since Snyder doesn’t give us some sort of break between the changing art styles.
Overall: Batman #24 is by far the strongest issue we have had during this Zero Year arc. Even though the seven dollar price is jarring at first once you dig into the meat of what Batman #24 is you’ll find an engrossing reading experience that you will want to find out how it all ends. The oversized nature of this issue actually helped Scott Snyder execute the best ending to this first chapter in the career of the Batman. Snyder was able to move every character involved in Zero Year so far into the role readers are familiar with them being in. At the same time, he is able to present everything in a way that will appeal to new and older fans. So rest assured Batman #24 delivers on everything that is expected from a Batman comic with moments that will have you grinning when you see it inside the comic.