Batman: The Knight #1 offers a fresh take on Batman’s Origin Story
It seems like trying to put a new spin on Batman’s origin story is something that the Dark Knight’s war against crime was. While admirable, it ultimately fails. DC has been telling Batman’s story for close to 83 decades in movies, comics, TV shows and video games. How much more can we say? It’s quite a lot of Batman: The Knight #1 can be believed.
The Batman: The Knight #1 is the first chapter of a miniseries that will run for ten issues. It was written by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine di Giandomenico and featured Bruce Wayne as the main focus. There’s some foreshadowing about Bruce’s future crime-fighting career throughout, including a supporting role for Bat-villain Hugo Strange. But, this issue doesn’t even feature a bat.
Batman: The Knight #1 instead dives into an area of Batman’s origin rarely seen in detail: Bruce’s school years. This bold decision by the creative team is a great one. Bruce is like never before: A wiry young man still honing his legendary intellect, formidable fighting skills, and, equally important, trying to figure out how to use them all responsibly.
Bruce must confront his unique privilege of being Gotham City’s richest man. His wealth and influence allow him to do almost anything. Another big swing by Zdarsky and di Giandomenico is Plascencia. It seems almost crafted to address the “Batman is an rich jerk” trend that is popping up on Twitter all the time. It proves to be another win for the creative team.
Batman: The Knight #1: Alfred, the faithful butler, calls Bruce on his insatiable quest to find justice for those less fortunate than he is. Alfred criticizes Bruce for not taking up bare-knuckle fighting as a form to combat training. Alfred points out that his opponents share the same financial situation as Bruce’s parents. Bruce views his back-alley brawling as a DIY superhero boot camp. In reality, however, he uses a self-serving outlet to vent his anger and perpetuates the same class inequality that made him orphaned. Bruce’s shocked expression reveals that he will never forget this harsh lesson.
This moment is just as important to Bruce’s success as his bat-crashing through his window or his mother’s pearls scattering in a blood-spattered street. Yet, it’s something that we have never seen done quite as directly. It’s simple and direct, but not too complicated. This further illustrates the new storytelling veins Zdarsky and di Giandomenico have tapped in this ostensibly untapped origin story.
There are certain aspects to Batman: The Knight #1 that may feel familiar to comics fans who have been reading it for a while. The dark tone and quasi-realistic approach to the miniseries are standard for Batman: The Knight #1. Zdarsky’s meditation on violence’s repercussions is something Zdarsky has explored to great effect in Marvel’s Daredevil. Di Giandomenico’s dark pencils and inks are beautiful, but they don’t break with the Bat-mould. Plascencia’s vivid colour palette reminds me of the unique hues used by FCO Plascencia on Batman: Zero Year.
This familiarity, however, is not a weakness. Batman: The Knight #1 doesn’t have a reboot or retelling. It’s a new chapter that fits in between the stories we know. In that sense, some familiarity is not only expected but welcome. We are looking for a fresh perspective on Batman’s origins, not a completely new Batman. Even if Batman: The Knight #1 has some thematic content with Zdarsky’s Daredevil run (which it does), that’s okay. The modern versions of the Caped Crusader and the Man Without Fear were largely defined by the same creator, Frank Miller, back in the 1980s. There’s a degree of overlap baked into their shared, operatically-tortured DNA that’s virtually impossible to avoid.
The winning combination of the familiar and the new looks continues in Batman: The Knight 2. Batman: The Knight #1 concludes by hinting at a shift in the narrative from Bruce’s education to his years of travelling the globe, acquiring the skills his crime-fighting profession requires. This is another aspect of Batman’s origin story that has been largely ignored. Interviews and pre-release ads hint at familiar faces like Ghostmaker and Henri Ducard, as well as new characters such as master thief The Gray Shadow.
It’s safe to assume that Batman: The Knight’s remaining nine issues will follow the impressive lead of the first chapter and continue to find surprising and new things to say about one superhero’s most beloved stories.
