Gotham City: Year One (2022-) #1

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There’s a lot of explaining to do, but Phil Hester and Tom King lay it all out under a very tense scene. I had zero knowledge of this until I started reading some of my friends' reviews after I'd finished the comic. Constance reaches out to Slam to try and get him to help raise the boy so that he doesn’t do something stupid like “march down some alley at night”.

The Batman bat symbol doesn't have a clear-cut role in the story, but it is significant as a marker of the Wayne family. Slam makes a point of explaining how idyllic Gotham is to many people, but even then there are hints of something amiss that don’t become clear until later. It’s slightly reminiscent of the comic art from the 60s when this is set while still maintaining a modern flair. If you’ve been reading this book expecting some huge revelation about Batman and Slam, you might feel slightly disappointed.Year One stories in DC are always important origin stories and it’s pretty cool to now present one for the most popular fictional city in pop culture. I really enjoyed the first 5 issues of the book, with King crafting a great noir set in Gotham with everything you would want: hard boiled crime, damsels, smoking guns, and double and triple crossings. The comic fell onto my desk like a sledge hammer coming down on a boulder – no one could tell you how exactly it would end up, but it was definitely going to leave a mark. It was always a story without Batman, and his inclusion is more there to remind us an entire city can crumble and fall because of a few poor choices and ill intentions.

Richard's overt racism and disinterest in the effect his building would have gives South Gotham reason to force his hand. If saving her fortune meant sacrificing her daughter on the altar of wealth and privilege, so be it. It's great that the author includes a warning textbox to prepare everyone for the horrendous things going on in this comic. My only complaint with the art of this issue is the opening fight scene, which is confusingly juxtaposed with the chaos of rioters in the streets of Gotham. It could be that after reading later issues of this series, I will retroactively be more positive on the first chapter.

Hester feels like an elevated Gabriel Ba in many panels, and although there are a few panels where the parts I don't like of Ba show, it's mostly some pretty darn good stuff. King and Hester, along with Eric Gapstur, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles, launch Gotham City: Year One on October 4. I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't just read King's noirish treatment of the Human Target recently, but my biggest problem is the stupidity of pairing a trigger warning with grawlix. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.