He already gave his answer - Batman. But the twist is the real Batman.
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1
| Writer | James Tynion IV |
| Artist | Steve Epting |
| Cover Price | $4.99 |
DC's "Year of the Villain" begins its sinister conclusion! Lex Luthor has brought Perpetua back from her cosmic grave and restored her power! Now the Multiverse lives in fear that she might wipe out all existence. The only thing that could stop her are the forces of the Dark Multiverse- which means it's Luthor's mission to defeat the Batman Who Laughs! But if Batman and Superman couldn't stop him, what chance does Luthor stand? Spinning out of the end of the "Justice/ Doom War" in Justice League #38 and the conclusion of the epic "Infected" arc from Batman/Superman #5, DC's two top villains face off in a battle royal-and the fate of all reali more
CRITIC REVIEWS Back to Top
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8.5
Geek Dad - Ray Goldfield
Dec 18, 2019For a four issue miniseries, I might have wanted the main story to move a little faster in the first issue. But Tynion writes the Batman who Laughs like few others, and it feels like this has been a showdown years in the making. My money's on the bad guy with the Bat-brain. Read Full Review
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8.3
Comic Watch - Matt Meyer
Dec 30, 2019I was more than prepared to groan and roll my eyes at this comic; after all, both the Year of the Villain and the BWL's general presence have kind of overstayed their welcome (seriously overstayed its welcome in the BWL's case). But this was a surprisingly fun and engaging comic. With no clear protagonist to root for, all readers can do is buckle in and enjoy the carnage! Read Full Review
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8.0
Lyles Movie Files - Jeffrey Lyles
Dec 18, 2019As Year of the Villain winds down this is a good entry point to the final act. Read Full Review
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8.0
ComicBook.com - Adam Barnhardt
Dec 18, 2019No gimmicks, no unreasonable cliffhangers"this book is exactly what it needs to be for a first issue. Read Full Review
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8.0
Multiversity Comics - Gregory Ellner
Dec 23, 2019These are two evil leagues of evil that you should be watching, so beware. Read Full Review
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8.0
Forces Of Geek - Lenny Schwartz
Dec 23, 2019I am not the biggest fan of Tynion. He just takes forever to tell a story. But I am a huge fan of Epting. He is great and does magnificent work here. It is not a bad book overall. I am glad they put some setup in the story. Now it is definitely time to give us some action. Read Full Review
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8.0
Dark Knight News - Bryant Lucas
Dec 24, 2019Final Verdict: If you've been followingMetalandJustice League,you are definitely going to want to pick this up. Read Full Review
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7.0
Weird Science - Jim Werner
Dec 18, 2019James Tynion sets up the big Year of the Villain finale and while I like where it is going, it is odd that so many pieces have to be forced in to get there. Some really big things just happen with little or no explanation and while that may come down the line, it's nowhere to be found here. Once you get past that, however, the interactions between Lex and the Batman Who Laughs are good enough to keep me coming back for more. Read Full Review
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7.0
But Why Tho? - Charles Hartford
Dec 18, 2019With a solid amount of story to pull together from a variety of places Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1 does its best to keep things running smoothly. Which, to this end, it mostly succeeds. If the story can get its momentum going from here and deliver the full showdown the premise promises, this could be a great series. Read Full Review
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7.0
Comics: The Gathering - Olivier Roth
Dec 18, 2019The art team of Epting and Filardi do a great job throughout the issue. Epting is a veteran of the comic book scene and continues to offer up some excellent pencil and ink work. I’ve always enjoyed his grittier takes on superhero comics, and he brings that flair to this issue. I enjoyed Filardi’s colors for the most part, but at times they do come off a little lifeless, especially in the Luthor scenes. I’m not sure if it’s because they don’t mesh as well with Epting’s heavier ink work, but it does seem a little off at points. Read Full Review
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7.0
You Don't Read Comics - Jason A. Fleece
Dec 21, 2019For its first issue, at least, Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen seems to be almost entirely unnecessary. Worse than that, its pretty dull as well. Unluckily for us, there are three more issues left. Read Full Review
USER REVIEWS Back to Top
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8.0
Prelude: DC is really doubling down with this Apex Lex vs Batman Who Laughs fight they've been setting up. Let's see how Tynion goes with it though. The Good: The conversations between the two main characters is interesting. It's cool seeing how people are reacting to these events that are outside of their scope. Hypertime being broken does explain the screwed up timeline DC has created in YotV. The Bad: Crime Syndicate's voices are a bit off from what I am used to from Forever Evil. Though it is nice that we finally get a reason why Earth 3 is back. Conclusion: It's an interesting start. DC has been riding quite a bit on the hope for this book's success which Tynion better fulfil in the next issue.
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8.0
"... Who is gonna win ? You... Or me ? " - BATMAN WHO LAUGHS
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8.0
No matter how much I am tired of this whole Year of the Villain nonsense, this was a damn good read. Too bad I don't really care what the outcome will be (though I'm guessing Luthor will definitely be at his current form and this somehow will lead into the new crisis or whatever the next event is supposed to be).
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7.5
I'm quickly reaching my limit for this Year of the Villain stuff, and I've been sick of Batman Who Laughs for what feels like ages now, but I liked this issue. I am a man of contradictions.
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7.5
By this point I don't really care who wins. At least this series is short and this particular issue built up a little bit more. Always good to see the Crime Syndicate anyway.
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7.5
"Batman wins" After the terrible "ending", that was in the Justice League, I wasn't expecting much. But for now, this thing turned out to be pretty solid.
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7.0
Just more teasing rather than doing anything noteworthy or showing anything for the upcoming event Snyder will write about the dark multiverse. I say Snyder even though he didn't write this book because tynion is Snyder's protegé and Snyder has already hinted how justice league and all the Batman who laughs stuff will be connected to an event coming up soon, probably the crisis hinted at in doomsday clock 12. But at this point I just feel tired with the idea of another dark multiverse event
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6.5
I am extremely fatigued by all of this.
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6.5
How much longer can this drag on? The whole Year of the Villain/Doom War/Batman Who Laughs/Infected thing stopped building stakes ages ago. It keeps trying to top itself and it just grows flatter and flatter.
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6.0
Perfect art and competently written issue, but I just wholeheartedly disagree with this convoluted Dark Multiverse/Perpetua/Apex Lex story. It's a cancer in DC comics right now. Instead of telling compelling stories, they're chasing awful stories just to force another Crisis do-over. I dropped JL because it was always one threat trumping the last threat, and now we're digging up Batman Who Laughs just so HE can be the biggest threat. So dumb. -1 point for being overpriced.
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6.0
I might have enjoyed this more if I wasn't so entirely bored with every single plot point and character thanks to previous comics.
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1.0
Ugh...Can we just be done with the whole "Who Laughs" crap characters? The whole concept was rotten from its conception only to be made worse as it's now been included in almost every title. I get it, "SOOOO edgy" I'm not impressed by it as it's something an 8th grader would come up with to tag their own name on to already established better work. Here is something the young writers can understand #WriteBetterStories
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