Batman: The Knight #1 brings us a fresh new take on Bruce Wayne’s journey into becoming the Dark Knight.

Written by: Chip Zdarsky. Art by: Carmine Di Giandomenico.

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

In a recent interview, while promoting his 2020 film Tenet, director Christopher Nolan was asked why he believes people continuously come back to the character of Batman and why they find him so interesting. The Dark Knight Trilogy director responded by saying that he believes the character thrives on reinterpretation which is how these reimagining’s keep the Caped Crusader fresh for every generation. D.C. Comics has never shied away from doing just that: stories like Frank Miller’s hit Batman: Year One (1987) or Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s masterpiece Batman: The Long Halloween (1996-1997) are a few examples of reinterpretations that eventually earned themselves the crown of gold standard Batman stories. The mind of Bruce Wayne has always been a complicated cave of emotion and fans never turn down the chance to walk into the darkness and experience something new. Fresh off his brilliant Daredevil run at Marvel, writer Chip Zdarsky teams up with artist Carmine Di Giandomenico to bring us another fascinating take on Bruce’s origins in Batman: The Knight #1. 

The story of Batman: The Knight begins with the question “What will you do with your sadness if it is truly inescapable?”. In Bruce’s case, this sadness eventually hardens into pure anger. Bruce is currently seeing (future villain) Doctor Huge Strange to help rid himself of nightmares he experiences every night. In flashbacks, we’re taken back to Bruce’s younger years, beginning with when he was sent to the Gotham City Police Department after stopping a bully from picking on a defenseless classmate. As Alfred chauffeurs Bruce back to Wayne Manor, he insists that these types of situations cannot go on much longer and reminds him of who his parents were. Referring to Thomas and Martha Wayne’s appetite for knowledge, he challenges Bruce to refill the old Manor library with books that will lead him to solutions other than using his fists. Bruce takes Alfred’s advice and flips it on its head, filling the library with books on subjects he can use to intimidate his enemies. As the years go on, Bruce finds comfort in his childhood friend Dana and one snowy night talks about how he’d like to become a Gotham City Police Officer to help bring justice to the people who are helpless against the rotten and evil. Dana tells Bruce to think bigger. The young man takes this advice to heart as he starts putting himself through intense training and missing college courses to study his own curriculum. This training leads Bruce to an underground fight club which is eventually broken up by corrupt cops who ask the organizer why they weren’t cut in on this club. Alfred again picks up Bruce from the Police Department but stops midway through their ride home to admit that he believes he has failed the young Wayne and that Bruce is nothing more than a spoiled brat. Alfred again presents a challenge to Bruce to prove that he deserves everything he has been left by the murder of his parents. As these flashbacks continue to provide us a backdrop as to why Bruce is meeting with Strange, the doctor insists that he undergo sketchy hypnotherapy that could help cure him of his night troubles. Bruce reveals to Strange that he only came to these sessions because Dana had recommended them and that he had been investigating why she had been unlike herself after sessions. He also informs Strange that he knows he’s been taking Dana’s money and keeping it in offshore accounts for invisibility. As the police arrive at the office of Hugo Strange, Bruce tells him that he needs to get away from Gotham to think bigger. Both Hugo and Bruce use methods in their respective practices that would be deemed unethical by most people. 

Zdarsky is a master at grounded, gritty, comic book stories. His character-driven approach provides great insight into what makes these people do what they do. Like Frank Miller before him, tackling a Batman story after such critical acclaim on a Daredevil run seemed like the only next logical step for a storyteller like himself. By keeping Bruce Wayne grounded, he emphasizes the fact that Wayne is just a regular man (albeit an extremely rich one) trying to do good for the people around him while at the same time trying to fulfill a void. Di Giandomenico’s art is a perfect companion to Zdarsky’s story with its great use of shadows and dull and dimmed colors. The level of detail in the backdrops of these panels is wonderful: every piece of brick or floor tile is given just as much attention as the characters themselves. It’s work like this that makes the reader feel like they themselves are standing at the doors of Wayne Manor or waiting at the steps of the Gotham City Police Department. While it’s too early to tell if The Knight will end up being a must-read in terms of Batman’s 80+ years of back catalog, with these two creators at the helm, it’s bound to evolve into something truly special.