I love Batman and the DC universe. This book was nostalgic for me bringing me back to my childhood. If you love Batman, you will love this. Run, and grab it. You will not be disappointed.

There's are 2 new Super-powered heroes in Gotham, and they're gonna solve the Batman problem once and for all, it ends poorly. Incredibly poorly. Batman shows his essential humanity towards them both and tries to save them from the inevitable madness that happens to all government-funded supermen in DC. It's actually a good arc that keeps tension even though a seasoned reader knows exactly how the climax has to play out. It also sets the stage for post-rebirth batman, showing which bits have carried over from the last continuity, without feeling like you must have read all of Batman and Robin Eternal to be in step.

Verdict: Get it. King has been a solid relief hitter for the bat books for the past few years, and though he doesn't have the full chops of Snyder and Capullo's run, it's still a very solid read.

I love Batman, and everything Batman related.
I really enjoyed this one too, the banter with Alfred is one of the examples that made Batman (or Bruce Wayne) more human to me.
It is also really cool that they used some villians I didn't know much about !
Curious how it will continue !

A solid trade that any fan of DC Comics can pick up and enjoy. Rebirth continues to be just that for DC and a breath of fresh air for the superhero genre.

This was good! I had a lot of fun with it! I really liked the characters, and the plot. I will be checking out the rest of the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this book.

I enjoyed this as rebirths stories go, but I wasn't floored by it. It was nice to see Bruce Wayne as the Batman again and I liked the new design for his costume. But something about the story felt rushed and flat. Hope this gets better as this progresses.

For the beginning of a new series, this still felt very 'inside baseball'. And instead of setting on the new Rebirth Batman, it chose to set-up some rather pointless new characters. I don't think I'll continue with this series.

**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

This was a okay title. The story itself was hard to follow at times. Gotham and Gotham Girl's story is a bit cheesy and is a bit vague in places. The villians I enjoyed to a certain extent. I would recommend it for those hardcore Batman fans, but more casual readers such as myself may find it confusing.

Another Batman title from the Rebirth cycle that is worth reading. If you are expecting a broody, lone Dark Knight, think again. He's still dark and broody, but he's working with an amazing team.

Overall, I thought this comic was just okay. Those people who are newer to Batman and who are newer to comics in general might like it more, but I saw issues with it. Firstly, I didn’t really enjoy how Batman was treating Alfred, and other people in this comic. To me, he was acting rather immature and his holier than thou attitude didn’t warm me up to him in the least.
Next, this comic was sooo melodramatic. I mean most comics are a bit, but boy was this author laying it down thick. It got to a point where it was getting cheesy and making me roll my eyes. AND THEN to make it worse, the author introduced these two new TOTALLY RANDOM characters, who we never really learned much about, and who kept trying to save Batman’s ass and Gotham…as if he didn’t already have it covered. I didn’t like the new characters. They were always THERE, and frankly, they were getting annoying. They were whiny and their brother/sister dynamic was weird to me. They acted more like Cersei and Jaime was more than they did like any normal healthy brother and sister. And then the characters (well they died and weren’t with us anymore). So we never got to see them develop properly. Who knows? Maybe they could have been cool.
And then the plot happened. I talked about how it was melodramatic, but most of it was disjointed and didn’t make much sense to me. First there was the shit about Calendar Man (REALLY???) and then these two newbies come on scene, and then some other random shit and saving Gotham happened, then it ends…. Abruptly. There wasn’t even a proper ending.
So despite me reading this rather quickly, I don’t recommend this one… not over other much better Batman comics you could read.

The good. The art. David Finch draws a fantastic Batman. There are elements of a good story here but they suffer from the missing plot.

The bad. King likes to end an issue on a cliffhanger and then next issue a shitload happened between issues that we don't get to see. <spoiler>Psycho Pirate and Hugo Strange do some major damage and they appear in all of one panel. Characters entire personality changes off-page. It's infuriating. One second they are good guys, the next they've killed 27 people. There's no emotional impact at the death of Gotham and Gotham Girl's parents because it all happens off panel. Batman just shows up and it has already happened, again, off-panel.</spoiler> Things that keep getting referred to like these normal citizens blowing stuff up and referencing Monster Men are completely forgotten about in the second half of the book. There's multiple instances where important things happen between panels or issues. It makes me want to scream! You no longer work for the CIA Tom King. It feels like you redacted parts of the story.

The ugly. That whole nonsense with Bruce guiding a plane down like he's Charlton Heston guiding a chariot. And then the sappy stuff with Alfred on if this is a good death and would his parents be proud of him. I can speak from experience about losing a parent as a child and time truly does heal all wounds. The last thing I'll be thinking of at my death is if my mother would have proud of me. Children are very adept at healing from major losses. Yes, Batman is driven by his parents' death. But at this point it would be at the injustice of their death and not that he still thinks about them everyday 20 years later.

I was a bit reluctant to request this comic. I’m from the 90s and I’ve read my fair share of comics both DC and Marvel but I have to admit that I really enjoyed the dark reality of I Am Gotham.

I don’t want to spoiler the story so I’ll try not to reveal too much. When a plane flying over Gotham is suddenly hit by a missile, Batman does everything in his power to save the lives of all its passengers. When hope seems lost, two mysterious heroes show up and save the day. Who are they? Two newbies called Gotham and Gotham girl with good intentions but with lack of experience in the crime-fighting business.

The first thing I noticed was the new persona of the Bat. Away with the secretive, cold and seemly detached character to a more openly caring man that has no problem in talking about his troubled past. His relationship with Alfred was always something I appreciated in the previous Batman comics, but on this one I could actually see and feel their unique relationship. It’s impossible not to like Alfred, without him, there would be no Batman for sure.
I would have enjoyed seeing more of Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate, to get a little more detail on them. I think they are characters that have potential to be something great in the future.

Like I mentioned before, I really enjoyed the dark Gotham feel in the comic. It’s just how it’s supposed to be: a city drowning in injustice and corruption where the rich and powerful enjoy breaking the rules and the poor live in fear of tomorrow.
The art is incredible: the details, the character’s expressions and the colours bring everything together very nicely. Definitely brought back memories to when I was younger.

I really enjoyed this Rebirth comic and I’ll definitely be on the look-out for future volumes, not just of Batman but other heroes as well!

'Batman, Volume 1: I Am Gotham' by Tom King, David Finch, and a host of other people has Batman facing an unusual challenge: a hero who thinks Gotham should be saved from Batman.

Batman thinks about his secession. He can't be Batman forever, but where does that leave the city? He takes on Duke Thomas, but now there are two new heroes in Gotham: Gotham and Gotham Girl. Their story seems familiar, but they seem to see Batman as an obstacle to saving the city. Batman sees them as potential allies to his fight, but they may be too powerful and too set in their own agenda.

It's a big sweeping story and I liked it quite a bit. The introduction of these two characters is done well, and there are a few villains that serve their purpose. I like how Alfred even has a role to play. There are some nice surprises in this story.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Review ARC from Netgalley. 3.5 Stars.
Batman bursts on the scene in his first Rebirth Volume! A few ups and downs... not as clean as Snyder's run, though it definitely has potential.
Duke Thomas ("We Are Robin" fame) has joined the BatFamily, and seems to be earning a yellow Batsuit, but we only see it once, and he isn't given a codename. Two new heroes, with Superman-like powers have showed up on the scene, Gotham and Gotham Girl (which does make talking about Gotham the man and Gotham the city a little confusing at times), and though the are impressive and helpful, Batman just accepts their help without any of the typical vetting or Bat-Paranoia. Gotham (the man) is turned to the dark side after being controlled by Psycho Pirate and Hugo Strange, who were working for Amanda Waller and Task Force X, but they have gone rogue from Suicide Squad.
The action scenes are amazing... Batman ready to sacrifice on a crashing plane...collapsing bridges... battle against Gotham (the man)... very good. Just can't quite cover for the different feel of the title.
AND... who are the Monster Men?
Recommend.

Um, so yeah. It's already been a week since I finished this one and I still have almost NOTHING to say about it in this "review." I honestly am not at all a fan of pretty much anything Batman from New 52 onwards (that I've read so far -- holding out hope still, haven't read it all yet either). I'm really hoping that I enjoy the Batfamily dynamics of Detective Comics a lot more, because I truly love the history of Batman and all his Robins/sidekicks. I just haven't found a Batman comic yet that makes me go, "WOW!" I liked the whole Gotham & Gotham Girl thing, but even that was pretty trite when the whole Rebirth thing is supposed to be about fresh concepts. Just NOT impressed.

Batman, Volume 1: I am Gotham by Tom King holds the dubious distinction of being the first Batman story since the end of the glorious Scott Snyder run. That alone would doom it in the eyes of most every Batman fan. Add to it this is a far more serious Caped Crusade with doubts and insecurities that are too often regulated to lesser vigilantes. No, this is a different Batman, a different Bruce Wayne. King is daring to make this own vision and it will only be time before we see if this gamble pays off or becomes another footnote in the long lexicon that is The Batman. Like Timothy Dalton's version of James Bond.

Batman has faced many enemies in Gotham, the Penguin, Clayface and the Joker. But now, in the aftermath of REBIRTH, Batman must face in Gotham something that completely new, a pair of Superheroes wanting to protect the city of Gotham from all, even from the Batman himself.

They are Gotham and Gotham Girl, Superheroes with powers that rival even Superman. What they can do far exceeds what Batman has to offer, at least on the surface. They fly, with super strength and a boy scout attitude that quickly gets under Batman's skin. But there is also the thought, maybe it is a change that Gotham needs, maybe it is a sign that there is no more need of the Batman.

Batman begins to investigate as he also takes the Gotham duo under his wing, teaching them as he had once taught the Robins. He finds the history of the duo disturbing and mirroring his own, a crime in the alley that ended not with death but with the actions of a much younger Batman saving the young Gothams' lives. Then humanitarian missions and a disappearance and then they returned to Gotham, with powers they had no right to have. But how? How did they gain these powers? Who gave them to them? And even more dangerous, will the people who created these superheroes be coming for them, wanting them back, and for what true purpose?

Tom King is the brilliant writer of Sheriff Of Babylon and Grayson, and with the artwork of David Finch, Batman: I Am Gotham is really a well done book. But the Snyder jet lag will hang heavy over this tale and this series and the comparison is terribly unfair. King's vision of the Batman is introspective in a manner we haven't seen in the caped crusader for some time. There is a mortality to this superhero. Almost a willingness and desire for death. A Batman whose burdens are now showing. This could be brilliant or more likely, fall short, its literary guns firing blanks to an audience who have been treated to brilliance just a short year before.

I can't tell you how excited I was to read this book. DC Comics and Netgalley were kind enough to allow me to read this for an honest review and I was crazy excited. I purposely waited till I had read my other comics so I could save the best for last.

One thing I will say about New 52 is that Scott Snyder wrote some amazing Batman stories and it is going to be hard to live up to that expectation. This story was really good. Batman has dealt with a lot in his life and faced even some of the most horrible villains. Yet Gotham and Gotham Girl are something Batman hasn't had to deal with. Super meta humans have decided to take up a mask and fight the crime in Gotham until something goes horribly wrong. Batman now has to fight Hugo Strange/Psycho Pirate and control a crazed meta human.

Batman has his work cut out for him in this opening chapter in Rebirth that only will peak your interest with every passing page. I loved this book and already can't wait for Volume two. I know that coming up in future Batman stories he looks into a smiley face button with blood on it. Now any comic book fan knows the button belongs to the comedian from Watchmen. I can't wait to see Where that story goes and every step of the way to get there.

This book is written very well and this is the first time I have read anything by Tom King and I loved it. I have my favorite comic authors and if Tom King keeps up this level of quality writing on Batman, he could easily slide in next to Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns as one of my favorite authors. I loved this book and give it 5 out of 5 stars. By the way the artwork is really good. This panel of Gotham is one of the best I have ever seen. Gotham is always portrayed as run down, dark, and decrepit. This one panel not only still portrays the dark, hard edge architecture that makes the city what it is, but this makes it beautiful. I'm really impressed with this one panel and had to share this. This is yet another reason I gave this book 5 stars.

Overall a good start to King's Batman run. Some of the characterizations were a bit off (or revisions not entirely to my liking) but King pulls it together.

This Batman story is not much of an origin story like Superman or even Green Arrow’s Rebirth. Instead, we get a creative retelling of Batman’s origin as it relates to two new superheroes in town: Gotham and Gotham Girl.

These meta humans are more like Superman than Batman. Batman takes an interest in them, not as potential adversities, but as potential allies. Batman recognizes that perhaps Gotham City needs more than just the Dark Knight protecting it. He watches, and then criticizes, the sibling duo’s approach to fighting Solomon Grundy. Batman takes them under his wing and teaches them technique.

What is surprising is that there isn’t a greater sense of urgency that Solomon Grundy is roaming around Gotham. Or that Psycho Pirate is too. In fact, there is a whole host of baddies roaming the pages of this graphic novel. One of which is Hugo Strange, appropriate for a Batman rebirth because many of the Dark Knight’s baddies are a result of Strange’s experiments. Yet, there is not enough of Strange in the story. He seems to be limited to the shadows.

Perhaps there is just not enough room. The story is cluttered with characters and side plots that just do not work in the limited space it has. There are a few random and unresolved additions. Bane seems to be lurking deep in the shadows and there is an acknowledgement of the potential rebirth of the Suicide Squad. The plot is cluttered to the point that a conclusion to the story is difficult to find.

Read more at http://jasoncstanley.com/comic-review-batman-vol-1-gotham-rebirth/