Not a whole lot to this story, and it left me feeling sort of "meh". It does pave the way for the next story arc with Hugo Strange, Bane, and the Suicide Squad. Sounds like it has potential going forward.

Well, that was an unexpected disaster to walk into! Got this off Netgalley, which was super-exciting because I never succeed with the comics department. But, unfortunately, despite my initial excitement to get into another of Tom King's works, this was achingly bad.

Having recently completed King's superlative The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man, I couldn't wait to see what he would do now that he had his hands on a Batman title - what I didn't expect was the disparity between this volume and all of The Vision.

'I Am Gotham' is a frenetic, poorly paced, poorly judged series. Batman has no substance, and the newly introduced characters are nothing more than extras fighting for panel space. There's Duke Thomas, whose role is little more than that of an analyst - I didn't see the point of him cropping up from time to time, only when Batman needs him. He has no personality, no ambition, no plot.

The characters this series is based on, Gotham and Gotham Girl (yes, commence eye-rolling now), are haphazardly thrown into the mix. Suddenly they are of importance, yet they add no value to the series, or to Batman. Bats decides to team up with them, but his dealings with them are all backwards. Their entire story arc is cliched - it's painful how cliched it is. And Gotham Girl is there only for decoration. She's hardly ever on screen (or on page, as it were). She's badly drawn (what's new, she's a typical anime recreation with bobble-head and giant eyes) and has the most ridiculous outfit ever (seriously, how have her legs not frozen from all that flying?). I don't get why she's called Gotham Girl, but her brother is just Gotham. Why not Gotham boy? Just because he's male, he doesn't need a gender tag for his codename? Then why does she? I initially thought she was his daughter (she's drawn small enough to be a young girl, especially next to his oversized muscular frame), which would at least have made the discrepancy in their codenames understandable - but no, they're siblings, and that makes it worse.

Spoilers up ahead.

Not only is the dawning of their superhero cravings contrived (yet another young boy almost witnesses the death of his parents in front of him), but their story hinges on yet another emotion-manipulating villain who turns her - get this - scared, and him, angry. But, of course. Gotham Girl spends an entire issue shaking like a leaf, while her macho dudebro smashes Gotham to pieces. She then goes totally crazy, shaving off her head, talking to her dead brother and weeping all over Bats. My eyes have rolled so far back in my head it's not even funny.

End spoiler.

The writing and dialogue is atrocious. Dialogue is re-hashed over and over again, running around in circles and not making much sense. Alfred is the king of snark, which would work well were it not for the timing of it all. People are dying, Bats is headed to his death, this is hardly the appropriate time to be making jokes.

Oh, and Amanda Waller is thrown into the mix as well, but I still can't figure out what the deal is with that.

There's a Justice League moment in this series, which... honestly, it lasts like one page, I can't even remember what they were doing here.

I read DC comics sporadically, but more often than not I find myself regretting the decision. This series is truly appalling, and I can't get my head around the fact that Tom King wrote this one. I feel like his connection and love for The Vision far outweighs his interest in Batman, but Bats is a gig no one can refuse; the lacklustre result appears to prove this theory anyway. I'm guessing it's quite similar to how JJ Abrams pretty much took Star Trek through the mud, but successfully embodied the Star Wars universe in The Force Awakens because that's the one he's a real fan of.

This is all conjecture, but the worry is that this is but the first volume of 'I Am Gotham', I shudder to think where the rest of the story is going. I hope it gets better, but it's unlikely I'm going to be looking out for it.

The flair for smart action Tom King showed on Grayson is in full force in Batman Vol. 1: I Am Gotham, and this is a pulse-pounding Batman story well-drawn by David Finch. King's tongue-in-cheek use of a "fasten seatbelts" sign in the beginning is pretty accurate. In gripping, expertly choreographed action, King is bar none. King also uses the extra space of shipping twice monthly for some wry, amusing sequences, especially with Batman and Commissioner Gordon.

Ugly cover, great interior. A relaunch I can get behind....


When I reviewed the last volume of Scott Snyder's BATMAN, I had this to say about BATMAN: REBIRTH #1: "... it didn't have anything new or fresh enough to make me want to see what REBIRTH is all about." BATMAN, VOL. 1: I AM GOTHAM starts off with that same issue, but it's the remaining six issues, all written solely by new scribe Tom King, that really made me stand up and take notice. There's a new Batman in town, and I like him.


No, Bruce Wayne has not been replaced as Batman for the umpteenth time. Tom King, who has been winning acclaim for his writing on THE VISION and THE OMEGA MEN, does something wholly unexpected here- Make Batman a human being.


The plot here is nothing groundbreaking: A new pair of heroes takes up residence in Gotham City. Gotham and Gotham Girl are a pair of Superman/Supergirl power-level newcomers to crimefighting, and King distinguishes himself from the pack by having Batman welcome them both to Gotham. I have never seen Batman welcome ANY super-powered person to Gotham. Batman is grim-and-gritty, obsessed, borderline psychotic...Batman tells capes to get OUT of his city, not invite them to stay!


Anyone who has ever read a comic can tell you that, no matter how good their intentions are, Gotham and Gotham Girl will eventually cross some kind of line, and find themselves going up against Batman. The fun is in watching how King gets everyone to that point, because Gotham and Gotham Girl really do have selfless, good intentions...and Batman really does welcome them and help to get them up to speed. King's Batman is human, caring, compassionate...These are qualities that I'm not used to Batman possessing. He jokes with Alfred. He offers encouragement to victims of crime. He, in a scene towards the end that nearly brought me to tears, exposes his own weaknesses and psychological scars in order to help someone who is suffering in a way that he is all too familiar with. King's Batman isn't a complete douchebag. I will be sticking around for the rest of his run, and encouraging others to check it out. Highly recommended.


DC Comics provided a review copy.

Batman was ready to sacrifice himself to save a plane full of innocent passengers when they are saved, not by Superman, but by Gotham and Gotham Girl, two brand new superheroes. But, after that good start, relations between the Bat and the Gs go downhill. And it does not help that Hugo Strange and Psycho-Pirate are in town. As usual in Gotham, things go bad before any hope can appear. Will anyone survive Gotham whole and sane?