Batman - Gates of Gotham [Paperback]

Someone in Gotham is blowing up the bridges of the city and enacting some strange vengeance against the descendants of the families who built Gotham - the Elliotts, the Kanes, the Cobblepots, and the Waynes. But who, and why?

The adventure collects the three Robins - Dick Grayson as Batman, Tim Drake as Red Robin, and Damian Wayne as Robin - along with the Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl currently stationed by Bruce Wayne in Hong Kong, to stop this terrorist before more of Gotham's historic buildings are destroyed.

The story jumps from the 19th century when Gotham was being built to the present day to explain the actions and it was great to see a young Gotham and see how the city came into its gothic look. The new villain in this book, "the Architect", has a steampunk look, something a lot of comics are doing these days, and looks very cool. I'm enjoying these stories of the young heroes of Gotham more and more and think that Bruce Wayne can safely retire with these guys taking care of things. That said, the book shows the difference between Wayne's Batman and Grayson's in the lack of knowledge Grayson currently has about the city he's supposed to be protecting. Its touches like that that makes for a more engrossing read.

Also included is a story about the Night Runner of Paris and how he comes across Bruce Wayne/Batman and is recruited into Batman Inc., to become the Batman of Paris. The story contained political elements that I thought DC could've avoided as they showed a contemporary France with its racial and cultural issues in full view, but they included it and I thought that was a very ballsy move. The Batman of Paris is very cool too and Batman Inc is shaping up to be a tremendous concept.

One side-note though - the book lists Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins under "story" and Higgins under "dialogue" so I don't know whether Higgins wrote the script and Snyder wrote the outline with Higgins but it seems like an odd distinction. Anyway, Snyder is quickly becoming one of the best Batman writers working today and for anyone who hasn't read "The Black Mirror" I highly recommend it.

"The Gates of Gotham" is a fine Batman story with plenty of action and mystery, as well as continuing to build the new Batman world strongly, subtly and in new inventive ways.

Scott Snyder shows why he is becoming a current day comics legend. Great story and great art to back it up/

Gates of Gotham is an exciting new concept that paints a fitting picture of the history of Gotham. The idea in itself instantly attracted me and the fact Snyder's name was on the cover made this a definite purchase.

However, the story isn't really what you'd expect from Snyder- it isn't dark enough, gritty enough and the characters just don't really have enough depth. I realised that this book was co- written and it seems Snyder didn't have a great deal of input with the dialogue in this book. Perhaps maybe just an idea for the story. That's not to say it's a bad read, as I say the story is fairly good and is a must Batman fans as it populates another period on the Gotham timline. I think the main problem is, I read this book around the same time as The Black Mirror- which represents everything about Scott Snyder and Batman I instantly fell in love with in with that novel

The new villain it introduces, is again an interesting concept- just doesn't seem to have a great deal of reason to be acting how he's acting. Seems like more of an over the top tantrum he is acting upon through out, as pose to a deep rooted psychological problem or traumatising past. I understand the whole premise of Gotham dragging people down and bringing out the worst in them, but this character seemed too naive and friendly in the first place to ever realistically transform into the 'Architect'. I'll say no more as this may spoil the story a little.

The story reads well, it just doesn't excite as much you would expect. The artwork is fairly great for the most part- though some characters (Penguin) look a tiny bit like something that Jim Benson created. I'd still advise Batman fans to buy it none the less, even if just to fill in gaps from Gothams past.