Review: Batman #21

Zero Year is here! But...it's not mind-blowing. A lot of people have been calling this issue "decent" and "not as good as expected" but I think they aren't giving it credit for what it was. It is really easy to start multiple story threads when you have a team or group of characters, but the Batman title doesn't have a lot of people featured in it so you can imagine why it would be considerably harder to start multiple threads at once. Nonetheless, master comic author Scott Snyder manages to deliver a very intriguing first chapter of this epic.
 I honestly would have put this issue down if once again I had to witness the death of Bruce's parents. EVERY SINGLE BATMAN ORIGIN STORY IS THE SAME. This issue instead starts in a Gotham of the past that was not at all as nice a place to live as it is in the present. Batman is not the man we are used to seeing, and his rogues gallery is not quite the same either. We are reintroduced to a villain we met briefly in the #0 issue. This would of course be Red-Hood and the Red-Hood Gang. Batman saves a truckload of hostages in the most creative and enjoyable getaway in comics. We then see Bruce talking to Alfred about some plans and whatnot and the Red-Hood Gang seem to come up more than once. What I found particularly interesting is that the gang is just a bunch of random people with guns. They could be your neighbors, spouses, or best friend. The last scene of the book was a universe building moment where Bruce and his Uncle talk about family matters. Bruce wants to "stay dead" for various reasons, but his Uncle is opposed to that. Just from that one conversation the Wayne family tree can be made just a little larger. The flashback and the backup story were also entertaining, fitting nicely as part of the Origin Story.