Worst mainline Batman story I've ever read, I'm frankly shocked that such a big event with status quo breaking stakes was written so poorly. I can truly feel the hate for him and the batfam here, it's like the writers wanted to bring everything great about Batman into one place and ruin them all in one go. Honestly Batman stories have been more or less decent for more than a decade, it's never really been outright trash, but this was mindbogglingly awful to the point that I feel like it's a case of sabotage.

Lol, this was so bullshit. What a disappointment. DC built this up to be such a huge event only for them to backtrack because Batman NEEDS to be F%@CKING SAD!!!! Hell yeah, sure!!! Not like 80 years of history and more than 20 issues of this run didn't hype this up to be the holy grail of events. What a letdown, I hope the Batfamily hunts down Cat because of her poorly thought out reason. And what's up with that last panel? Gotham girl? Flashpoint Batman? When did they care about wanting to make Batman suffer? Tom King is high and I actually loved this run upto this total betrayal.

Worst characterization of Bruce I've read in a while, imagine blaming Damian for Alfred's death while you were on a honeymoon. Garbage.

Sorry, this story does nothing for me. Bruce and Selina’s interactions don’t work at all and this poorly thought out version of Gotham is a symptom of Zdarsky’s growing disinterest in writing Batman. I don’t think he likes the character very much, at least not as much as past writers and I doubt there are interesting things on the horizon. Unless Zdarsky finds a way to connect these stories in a meaningful way I’m going to have to be harsh with my rating, until all of this means anything… if that is even the intention. Bruce being even slightly “conflicted” about Selina in this world is a joke. He’s smart, he’s done this before, he survived post Final Crisis with half a brain i.e. the very storyline Zdarsky is using for free nostalgia points…

I don't see the hype about this. It's okay, it's well made and well paced but it completely lacks any sort of emotional core/depth for me to be invested in this story. The characters lack so much oomph here, I don't see myself rooting or caring for any of them. And I get it, it's supposed to be "the return of the Justice Society/ Incarnate" but I need a bigger reason than that for me to be interested in this event and its surrounding characters. This event needs more than "oooh all the old characters that diehard comic fans loved are coming back!!!" I mean okay? Why should I care about them? They barely mattered for decades before only showing here and there in prior crises. The secret files weren't enough either, I need context, I need characterization, emotional moments. But this event has none of it, it's basically all the characters saying the same thing different ways. We get it, you were forgotten when DC rebooted and you don't know shit and Multiverse was a mistake blah blah. Infinite Crisis did that better because it focused on Superboy Prime and his "family", they already did the "multiverse fucked with our lives" story better. Get some new material, in fact stop this multiverse/cosmic business for at least a year, it's not even been 8 months since Death Metal. Also unless Darkseid gets some much needed depth or a series surrounding him I will never care about him as a villain. If there's one thing the highly flawed Metal series did right, it was fleshing out villains. I liked the BWL series, I enjoyed the Justice League leadup talking about Perpetua and her sons and Lex Luthor's inner conflict. It was well thought out, there was plenty of characterization, plenty of emotional investment, twists and a story that felt like it moved along. This series could be 2 issues long and we wouldn't miss a thing. I didn't even care about that heel turn the robot guy did, it's all just middling. Unless Thomas Wayne does something I don't care. He's the only thing I sort of care about in this, the rest are basically background fodder to me. We all know Clark, Bruce and Diana will clean up house next year anyway aka the characters that actually matter.

Lol fuck Talia, she was the worst here and she somehow comes out of this event completely unscathed. Destroyed a whole city to appease her greed and insecurity but somehow Geoforce is wrong to avenge the million deaths at her hands. Geoforce did nothing wrong, what he was doing was justice.

While I do miss the more grounded and "depressing" Batman stories, I don't really mind how fun, well paced and action packed this storyline has been. Is it the best thing ever? No, not even close but it's fun and sort of cheesy in all the right ways. That being said, this does somewhat cheapen the Fear State event and I probably won't be taking it as seriously as I should be. The art is fantastic and does wonders to elevate this middling story. The Future State continuity never strongly resonated with me and I definitely do not want it to be rehashed in canon. Here's hoping to a better next arc because this feels way less serious than I wish it would be. I miss the drama and the gravity that I'm used to from Batman, I need more of that.

Only 1 good story and 1 okay story. The Pariah and Dick and Jon stories are the only things worth reading from this book. Quite a disappointing issue, I'm concerned for how Dark Crisis is going to pan out.

Probably the best reimagining of Ra’s Al Ghul I’ve read in years. Unfortunately climate change is not a problem that can be overcome by a few clean kills.

This series has been great so far, it's given the spotlight to many lesser known/ basically obsolete characters and has been an amazing palate cleanser after the insanely bombastic and tiring Metal series. What annoys me is that it's obvious this story is just setting up for an event next year. There's no way this story will be resolved in 2 issues and I know I will be mad about the inevitable cliffhanger ending.

Great start, love the art. I was initially put off by Oswald's petty and poorly thought out scheme but it all made sense in the end.

Bit high on the teen angst side but the art and the story more than make up for it. I love how King wasn't subtle about hating Jon's age up which to this day remains to be one of the worst decisions DC has ever made.

I take back what I said. Once you reread/binge this series everything hits harder. There's really not a bad thing about this event, it has a fantastic cast of characters with interesting dynamics, incredible art, great villains and it treats DC's history with a sincerity and seriousness that I feel hasn't been done well in the Metal series at all. In fact, I'd argue that Metal joked around too much with it and I hated it. Overall, I really enjoyed this. The multiverse truly feels like a serious subject again filled with people who have some justifiable yet completely bonkers motivations. I do agree that Earth 0 has had it way too good even if they save the multiverse but it also seems like they sacrifice the least to save the multiverse compared to the others. Good stuff.

Incredible arc, had me on the edge of my seat. A thrilling experience, it was shocking, scary and somehow stuck its landing too. Wish this would be animated someday but I can see it being too much for even an R rated animation.

Beautiful art aside, taking Batman away from Gotham is a fantastic decision. The story needed something fresh and this is looking to be exactly what it needs, new locale(s), the underused Batman inc and some good old mystery/ detective work. Batman has outgrown Gotham and this was well illustrated by how he made short work of his A list villains during the first few pages. Good on Williamson to realize that Batman saving Gotham from peril from the same old villains is getting old. I'm really looking forward to this story.

Fantastic stuff, I love how this story isn't beholden to the legacies of these characters. It truly feels like a reimagining and an inspired take on the DC universe. I cannot wait to read more of this.

Another top notch issue with great drama and a great introduction of characters. Love how alpha Clark and Zala are. I hope this story isn't going to be as predictable as it's shaping up to be, looks like Bruce is going to be the banished bastard son when the Els find out who he is and he'll end the war with a mega climactic fight against Clark.