The issue is a great start for the Dark Multiverse spin-offs and we're excited to see what else is in store for the Red Death! Read Full Review

Coming out the other side of the issue, I want more of this nightmarish Dark Multiverse. No matter what happens at the end of Metal, this issue alone has me wanting to see DC explore these worlds more and give us the dark twisted versions of our heroes I never knew I wanted. Read Full Review

Okay, it's not 100% essential, but Batman: The Red Death is an exceptional one-shot and a title you shouldn't be ignoring. Go buy it. Now. Read Full Review

Batman: The Red Death #1 is horrifically beautiful. I love Red Death's origin-- it's so dark and brutal that it plays out like a horror story. It's the epitome of being metal and I can't wait for more of these special one-shots. Read Full Review

So far, Metal has delivered big time and this makes for another exciting Metal tie-in. This has been some of the best DC reads since Rebirth started. Dont miss out on this one. Read Full Review

Batman: Red Death starts off the string of one-shots strong and sets a high bar for the rest of the artists and writers to follow, which is the best thing a reader can hope for. This book comes highly recommended. Read Full Review

On point writing by Josh Williamson and a beautifully drawn battlefield by Carmine Di Giandomenico has me eager to check out the other 6 tie-in issues for this Metal series. That ending?! This issue finally gave us some concrete answers to Barbatos' grand plans for the multiverse, so I'm deservedly going high on this score. Read Full Review

This story features a twisted origin story and some great art. Batman The Red Death succeeds in feeling more like a elseworld graphic novel than a ordinary and unnecessary tie-in, which is what most feel like unfortunately. You can keep up with the main series without it, but it's good enough that you'll regret not reading it. Read Full Review

If youve been reading the Metal event so far, Id definitely check out this tie-in. It probably wouldnt make much sense if you havent read whats been going on in the main story line as of Metal #1 or #2, but Id say that if youve been liking the event, youd like this brief backstory into one of the many batmen in Metal. Read Full Review

Everything related to Metal has been absolutely stellar, and this book is the very best next thing to the main event itself. Read Full Review

Despite its status as a tie-in, it's hard not to recommend Batman: The Red Death #1 to anybody already following Metal. Its character work may be mostly inferred, but the large ideas that it touches on are grand enough that it's hard to leave the issue without thinking critically about the personalities of the DC heroes, or even of your own personality and how experiences are perhaps the only true contributing factor to a self. Read Full Review

If you are reading the Dark Nights: Metal books at all, get this now. The story and the art make this book worth owning by itself. Read Full Review

this book can basically be read cold and still be a fantastic read. Check out The Red Death! Read Full Review

Action packed and great to look at, this is the perfect superhero title for Halloween. Read Full Review

This Metal series tie in gives a glimpse how the Earth -52 Batman was seduced by Barbatos using Batman's promise to save Gotham City and the ones he loves. As for Bruce Wayne it show how really smart and intelligent this man in the DC Universe. Love the scenes of Batman new look as Red Death and his trail of hellish bats. Read Full Review

Snyder described Metal as not another crisis event but a sort of anti crisis Crisis. In the early stages it is living up to that description. It is a major event sure to rock, but not reboot the DC universe, and this chapter by Williamson is very worthy. Read Full Review

The fluidity and flourish of Carmine Di Giandomenico's art elevates Williamson's words to new heights. Together, the two can create a lively world from the darkest of pieces. The Dark Universe concocted by the mad science of Snyder gets defined further by the current keepers of The Flash. Together, they craft an engaging story that sends both Barry and Bat through hell…and back again. Read Full Review

This is a great one-shot that fits nicely into Dark Nights: Metal while setting the standard for the other upcoming one-shots. If you have not been reading Dark Nights: Metal, don't let that shy you away from this issue. I feel there is enough here that the reader would really enjoy the story and not feel lost. The fast pace of the story is driven by the energetic art style. If this is what we can expect from the tie-ins, then I look forward to the rest of them" especially Batman: The Dawnbreaker. Read Full Review

Joshua Williamson hooked me from the first panel, and the story and action kept me breathlessthrough right to the end of the book. The artwork from Carmine Di Giandomenico, on the other hand, was an uneven mess. In some panels it was fantastic, in others it was purely sketchy, and in yet others it was completely derivative of other books (you can even detect the stylistic changes carried across in the swipes). That's whatkeeps me from rating this book a full 5 out of 5.And yet, with all that, I loved reading this book, which owes almost entirely to Williamson's storytelling process and the overarching idea of the series. I'm definitely going to be checking out the rest of METAL from here on in. Read Full Review

Those looking for new insights into Metal will only really get anything from the lead-in explanation I recited above. Beyond that, this is just a fun little diversion about Bat-Flash from Metal #2. I can still recommend it though. Its a cruel yet fun read, and you should give it a look if that sounds appealing to you. Read Full Review

Aside from a few pacing issues, this origin tale impressed me and has me even more excited for the upcoming one-shots. Based on the strength of this issue, I hope DC markets these one-shots more aggressively. The story was fresh and creepy, and the art was stellar. Read Full Review

This one-shot does a good job of establishing the Red Death as a pretty credible villain, and that's an accomplishment in of itself. Read Full Review

Batman: The Red Death #1 is an excellent companion to the Dark Nights: Metal event. Joshua Williams and Carmine Di Giandomenico set the tone for all the rest of these Dark Nights: Metal one shots. They did a great job developing The Red Death's origin through the battle between Batman and Flash from another Earth. That battle made The Red Death version of Batman a character I look forward to following in Dark Nights: Metal. Read Full Review

While this book doesn't really add much to the narrative of Metal, it was still a welcoming distraction to the fact that Scott Snyder's next issue won't be out till October 11th. Read Full Review

DC are definitely ramping up the stakes across their books, with various heroes dealing with Rebirth repercussions, a darkness encroaching that may not be just about the Dark Night falling and of course there is a certain Doomsday Clock on the horizon. With so many big ideas there comes the risk of a drop in quality, over saturation of the market (have you seen how many tie-ins books accompany the main book?). Still, this is the course we are on and we are have to put out trust and faith in those that have entertained us, fortnight in fortnight out since the start of Rebirth. Read Full Review

"Batman: The Red Death" #1 is a fun Elseworld's style story presenting an interesting solution when everything in Batman's world goes horribly wrong. Read Full Review

This issue suffers from pacing issues"which is no fault to anybody on the creative team. I needed to see Batman's motivation for wanting to go on a murder spree explained more. I was expecting him to go back in time to prevent something terrible from happening based on his motivation. Pacing issues aside, this felt like a Metal story from beginning to end, especially with the art. I would love to see this story revisited with a second issue, or perhaps as a longer graphic novel. Giving Williamson more pages to work with would have fixed most of the problems with this issue. I'm calling it now though, The Red Death Batman will be a factor in saving the day"Barry Allen is part of him and that means something. Read Full Review

Batman: The Red Death is an interesting concept that introduces us a new idea of Batman that fights crime with Speed Force. The idea might be grant, but the character here seems too one-noted for me to care about. Hopefully the next Metal tie-ins will be better. Read Full Review

After looking forward to the start of the Dark Knights one-shots, this issue has me down a bit.  The Red Death looked cool and the dialogue throughout the issue was good, but the motivations and the confusing nature of the Dark Multiverse worked against what should have been a better start.   Read Full Review

The tone is dark. The plot takes a little while to get where it is going. Still, a pretty fun read. Read Full Review

An interesting world, and one I wanted more time to develop. Without that time, it leaves you a bit more shocked, which makes things difficult for you to process. Read Full Review

Williamson struggles with landing any of his plot points here, and unfortunately focuses most of his time and attention on the most uninteresting aspect of the entire issue. The narrative takes way too long to introduce Red Death, and when we do see him, we barely get any time to understand how terrifying he actually is. If the point of these one-shots is meant to establish these characters and instill fear, then this issue fails to do so. If anything, I walked away from this chapter extremely cautious of what's left for us. Read Full Review

The Metal event is switching gears in the past weaks fast and going full speed as this first evil Dark Knight gets his origin story. Now, Earth-1 is in real trouble and destruction is spreading fast and we meet every architects of this wicked design. The ast on this one is especially stellar. Colors are vibrants and the panels are well laid out and easy to read. It's a breeze that leaves you wanting for more metal! Can't wait to see more of this, as this is the most fun I had reading comics for a while.

...a, surprisingly, well done issue. BATMAN: THE RED DEATH #1 is, certainly, more entertaining (and more deserving of your $4) than the usual cash-grab one-shots produced in conjunction with an event like METAL. Plus, it's done by the regular creative team behind THE FLASH and features some of Carmine Di Giandomenico's best work to date (his DARK KNIGHT RETURNS inspired Batman is a real pleasure to behold).
SCORE: 9.2

Story and art all around awesome!

Batman the Red Death is bad ass looking. His armor and the mix of the red and black mix really well. Cant forget to mention the bats from the speed force. I'm interested in the fact that Barry is still conscious within Bruce after being merged together through the speed force.

Although advertised as a Dark Nights: Metal tie-in, Red Death does a great job of establishing who these Dark Universe Batmen are, and what their motives may be. Great art by Carmine Di Giandomenico and story by Flash Rebirth regular, Joshua Williamson. I'm not sure how well the remaining tie-ins will be, but Red Death is definitely one that I can recommend as a must read for Metal readers.

Nice issue. It's dark, it's an interesting origin. The art is good. Nice tie-in.

A really good oneshot and an introduction to the character. Love how the whole origin is portrayed in the first half and how in touch with continuity this is in the latter half. Hoping the rest of the oneshots will be as good.

Pretty awesome. Di Giandomenico has been one of the standout artists to come out from rebirth so I'm happy to see him on this. This is the perfect example on how to do a tie-in; it is a one-shot and is directly related to the event without being necessary for those who just want to read Metal. It was awesome to see how the Red Death was created and I'm definitely intrigued to see how the others came to be.

Pretty good, but I hope all the one shots aren't exactly like this.

Interesting comic, the origin of this Flash-Batman and a little advance for Metal story. I'm happy with this one, much better than Snyder story

The Metal cover is nice ... They make some progress since the 90's.
I'm not convinced by this alternative story. To easy, to dark.
At first I believed the Central city where he attack Iris was in their home.
The chaos univers where all earth is doom is a very bad idea in my opinion.
The art have some flaw in the construction of the story. Some panel are hard to read.
For now I'm not convinced for now by Metal.

It looked good when I flipped through this in my LCBS, but when I sat down to read it I didn't find anything of substance. I get why this dark universe Batman wants the speed force, but his transition to crossing over into the Rebirth universe is glossed over and sloppy, thus making his nefarious motivations feel one step too far out of character. This setup also shares a very strong resemblance to that of the New Avengers run that led up to Secret Wars. I can't imagine you'll miss out on anything in the main Dark Nights story by skipping this, so feel free to.