A wonderful homage to classic Batman tales that show off the worlds greatest detective's skills. A one-off story that begs to be read multiple times. Read Full Review

Its crazy to say this considering the consistent quality of the title, but Batman is on an absolutely cant miss roll. King is delivering some of the best work in comics right now by devoting just as much time to the man behind the cowl as the crime fighting vigilante protecting Gotham. Read Full Review

Batman remains a smart choice for anyone looking to strike a balance between the Dark Knight of the old DCU and the more modern stuff. The book continues to justify Batmans very existence while showing us his struggle and allowing us to really see what makes him the most suitable hero for Gotham City. The series always comes with a high recommendation but this tale in particular is one of the best reasons to be reading the series to date. Read Full Review

King's reign seems to be both lovely and exhausting for Bruce. But it's nothing short of comic perfection for readers. Read Full Review

Batman already has one of, if not the best rogues galleries in comics. This issue adds another potential villain to the mix that is more chilling than most of the bad guys in that lineup. And yes, I understand that there's a guy in there literally called Mr. Freeze. You know I didn't mean chilling in that sense. Anyway, this is something that could give Batman pause, forcing him to rethink his actions both as a crime-fighting vigilante and as a billionaire playboy. Read Full Review

Batman (2016-) #38, ah, where to begin? All aspects of this standalone issue are impressive, and the book's ending is one that readers won't soon forget. King's script is dark and twisted and Travis Moore's artwork is powerful full of chilling detail. I've read through the book several times and still can't stop thinking about it. I want more. Read Full Review

As the first one-shot in King's run of the series, this would likely be a great jumping in point for anyone looking to get back into Batman or comics in general. Read Full Review

here's a question posed early on in Batman #38, the nature of which will take on a very different meaning by issue's end. "Who doesn't love Bruce Wayne?" A better question might be "Who doesn't love 'The Origin of Bruce Wayne,'?" the latest notch on Tom King's Bat-Scribe Utility Belt. Read Full Review

This is officially the best Batman story King has ever written. Or, at least from my perspective. Surmising everything that I loved about this issue in a few sentences is literally impossible. There's just so much to like. It's a serious murder mystery on a small scale showing a competent Batman utilizing mastery levels on multiple different skills to track down a killer. Aside from that, it's absolutely gorgeous, cinematic, and completely engrossing in the visual department. If you're the kind of person that doesn't want to invest in a gagillion comics in order to get a complete and fulfilling narrative, well, this is the Batman comic for you. Read Full Review

It's a great tale of horror with a personal touch, so I'm looking forward to the next issue and much more from Tom King and Batman this year! Read Full Review

Batman #38 is one of those comics that gets better each time you read it. Tom King created such a fascinating new Batman villain in the kid named Matthew that when you read the issue again you take the story in differently. The fact that Matthew ended up being more of a Bruce Wayne villain added to how terrifying the kid was during the final few pages of his issue. If you are a Batman fan and did not pick up Batman #38 yet do yourself a favor by purchasing this comic book. This is a must buy for Batman fans. Read Full Review

Though it would be nice if we got this kind of procedural, crime-busting story throughout a whole arc, I am more than happy taking what I can get if these one-offs continue to be as good as Batman #38 is. Read Full Review

King once again takes a break from his main narrative to do something completely different in Batman #38, and once again, this isn't an issue that will leave my mind anytime soon. Read Full Review

Despite some minor flaws, King and Moore's comic is everything one wants in a Batman detective story. Twists, shocks, interesting emotional arcs, and classic villains are all in the story. It is a testament to King's growing skills as a writer and a showcase for creepy and great comic art. Read Full Review

Although it trembles a bit while introducing a new villain in "Master Bruce", it overall is one of the strongest Batman issues yet from this run. The art compliments the overall tone and Sherlock Holmes-ish style the story goes for. The characterizations of Batman and co. are as great as ever as Tom King doesn't miss a beat. I'm very much looking forward to what type of impact this new story will end up being for the Caped Crusader. Read Full Review

Batman #38 is another fantastic entry into Tom King's run on this series. Batman #38 is a nice “one and done” story that has Batman doing a lot of detectivework. The trend of impressive art also continues with this issue as Travis Moore and Giulia Brusco shine. As someone who is not normally a Batman fan, I continue to find myself intrigued by this series. King continues to bring new things to the table and, for now, he has me reading Batman regularly. Read Full Review

Travis Moore and Giulia Brusco craft brooding, atmospheric artwork that conjures the simmering horror that underlays the comic. The colors and pencils are evocative of horror, giving the visuals a portending sense of dread. Brusco's lush dark colors do much of the heavy lifting through backgrounds painted in ominous tones. King's Batman run has had constantly good art since the beginning, and that doesn't change here. Read Full Review

Although the idea of a dark take on Bruce Wayne is not entirely unique, 'The Origin of Bruce Wayne' manages to put a warped, dark spin on the tale through a clever writer and well handled color palettes. Read Full Review

What Tom King does is just a work of art. He takes Bruce Wayne's origin and turns it around to face Bruce Wayne so that he never forgets what he fights for. But, the best part is how he makes a simple story we all know and tweaks it just a bit; making it feel fresh and new as we walk with Batman trying to find out the killer of a young boy's parents like he lost his own. What waits for Batman will only make Bruce Wayne question who he truly is. Read Full Review

Batman #38 is a perfectly solid and entertaining comic, just not one that meets the same high standard as the previous few chapters of the series. This issue struggles to establish its new villain as a worthy addition to Batman's rogues gallery, but at least it manages to offer a well-rendered, carefully constructed detective story. There are far worse ways to spend $3. Read Full Review

I'm pretty happy with the artwork in this issue, though I think my favorite piece would probably have to be the cover. Its macabre theme really hints to what's inside, and it fits the ending perfectly while not giving anything away. The artist did a fantastic job of making all the graphic scenes disturbing, and not by overdoing it on the blood (though there was a decent amount of that). Zsasz's arms were a horrible sight, for sure, but beyond that I find myself impressed by the effort put into them. They have years' worth of scars built up, one over the other, until it creates a whole new texture. It's surprisingly intricate. Read Full Review

Tom King creates and executes a very fun, done-in-one detective story, getting to the heart of Batman as the world's greatest detective. Read Full Review

This issue could easily have been a momentum killer, but Tom King has presented us with a simple, elegant story the likes of which we haven't seen since probably the 2016 Annual or May's Swamp Thing-centric tale. It was refreshing to have another self-contained story that focused more on existing traits than development and I hope King continues with these brief forays into classic story-telling. Read Full Review

Batman #38 is a standalone story, it is one and done and kind of a filler book issue it is interesting in its own light but it also does not move the story forward, other than the fact we do know it takes place after issue 33. So in that sense at least the time tframe is clear, but other than that it does not do anything to expand on Batmans lore. Read Full Review

This is a bit of a departure from the story as of late with Batman and Catwoman, but I am glad that we are getting a bit of Bruce Wayne written into the story. Tom King writes Batman as an actual human, and now he has Bruce blended in to show the multi-faceted nature of Batman's character.The story was a good bit of detective work with an unexpected outcome, but a predictable twist. I enjoyed the details most, the letter, the nod to Denny O'Neil and especially the cover by Tim Sale. Worth a read, but more of a palette cleanse in between stories. Read Full Review

If youre following this book monthly, you can pick back up next month and not miss anything. As a single, isolated story, BATMAN #38 doesnt stack up to Kings previous issues, or much else of the Batman stuff released recently. That isnt any reason to shy away from an otherwise solid run thus far, and if you arent following the series already, its easy to recommend everything before this month as something to binge-read before the kids go back to school. Read Full Review

Seeing what potentially Bruce could have become in Gotham City; it's a dark treat that keeps the pages turning. Read Full Review

While this issue starts out feeling like a really cool detective story, the pieces quickly fall apart as things start making less and less sense just to get us to the big reveal at the end.  The art in this issue was decent, but overall, this story is pretty damn thin. Read Full Review

Let's hope the next King script delivers something more than a bland detective story and forgettable villains. Read Full Review

Great detective story here, as Tom King continues his run of awesome one-shot issues. This is maybe a bit reminiscent of "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man" from "Amazing" #248, but in a much different way, to understate things. I wasn't sure at the outset of the issue how Travis Moore's pencils worked for me, but I was soon really enjoying them and think he did a great job laying out the issue (though a lot of that could be King, i.e., nine panel grids, etc.) And the final panel kills it... awesome.

"You're not Bruce Wayne, you're a sick kid with dead parents"
"Well, what else is Bruce Wayne?" It's freaking awesome! I like this arc. Thank you King!

Overall I really enjoyed this issue.

Great story overall, but I feel things were a bit rushed and how Batman figured things out felt forced. I guess that's why they call him the greatest Detective lol.

Bit of an odd one and weird placement as 39 is a continuation of the previous storyline (in name only tbh, otherwise it’s a new story), but still seems odd to place this issue in-between, overall a good story, really love Tom Kings one-shots on this book, they just tend to be easiet to read and don’t get bogged down with all the other storyline drama going on at the time, the art could have been better for me personally but it was still good

Interesting concept. A very well done oneshot, that will undoubtedly come in play later.

What I like about King's Batman run is that you never really know what you're going to get. It's a blessing and a curse to some extent as it gives some fresh and unexpected stories like this one, but also makes it hard to grasp the ongoing story arc that often feels left behind. I'm more on the "blessing" side of this though, but I can understand those who feel cursed! I'm also a sucker for one-shot Tom King stories so this issue pretty much falls within my preferred parameters. After two light hearted issues, this one is much more bleak and violent. The CSI approach reminisces the old school Batman stories where is actually does detective work to help the police and being a one-shot, sure there are logic leaps to get to the conclusion, but it's all just to make the story go forward and not stay still for too long. We all know he's the best detective in the world, so why should it be explained how he does things...he just does them 'cause he's the God*** Batman! Worth a read, or five! more

This is the one King story (albeit one issue) that didn't stick the landing for a satisfying ending. Travis Moore did good work filling in for this issue, and some of the pages were downright difficult to look at, let alone linger on to take in the detail. King has range - hooray for Batman being a detective!

While I don't generally like one issue fillers in between full sized arcs, this was entertaining, similarly to previous one, involving Swamp Thing. The story may share some resemblance to Hush, and certainly, the death of Waynes as a story telling element is used very (too?) often in different mediums, but it didn't prevent this issue from feeling tense and pretty mysterious (although the payoff can't' be compared to the best detective Batman stories out there).
Overall stong issue - definitely not worth skipping.

Maybe a little too much convoluted and implausible, but creepy as hell.

Pretty solid issue. I like the concept. Batman is finally doing some detecting again. One of the better Tom King issues.

Argh, internet dropped my comments as I tried to post. Basically, I feel that there were too many leaps in logic or convenient details in this issue, but I did like the overall approach, characters, and art in this issue. I consider myself a fairly smart person, but I couldn't figure out how the kid in this story did anything. Was he the killer? Was the butler the killer? Why did Zsasz cut himself, if he didn't kill the people? How did the kid know the M.O. of Zsasz and Two Face? How did the kid seemingly know Bruce Wayne was Batman? Why does the butler jump out the window? Was he paid to kill or paid to be quiet? How did the 73 and 37 cuts suddenly become 41 and 14 which became a clue to the next murder scene? Why would the killer leave a clue to the next murder? All this, and in the end we are left with the kid's question to Batman/Bruce Wayne if Batman is just a sick, crazy kid. As readers, we know Batman is more than a sick, crazy kid, but it still made me roll my eyes. I feel like if Tom King is going to do another detective issue, he needs to go lighter on the technical details of the detective work. Or he needs someone to help him connect the logical details. Or spread the story over 2 to 3 issues, so at least the reader is not force fed 30 inane details and thrown a solution 5 minutes later. We might forget and forgive the leaps in logic if the conclusion comes weeks later. more

It's Hush Reboot. Don't deny It. It's well drawn, but story Is just a rehash of Hush backstory.

+ Like • Comments (1)

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hesfkshgf - Jan 5, 2018

100% correct! It seems people don't know the Hush story or Tommy Elliot anymore or just want to put the blinders on.

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an "OK" issue, far from excellent.
felt like a retread of previous stories past, like this was a re-hash of Thomas Elliot.

some of the ideas didn't really feel like they were fully developed.
hints and clues were pretty weak and/or misleading.
motivations and actions felt a bit forced just for the plot.
to me it felt like Zsasz cutting himself was done for no other reason but to throw off the reader from the actual culprit.


Batman has some $#!††y reflexes!!!
he just lets a little kid bitch slap him across the face.
. . . . . . REALLY??? when did Batman become such a Goober?

can we just skip all this malarkey and get to the Batman/Catwoman wedding already?

No villains no action no suspense boring no ending