“Batman, Vol. 1: I Am Gotham”

“I was looking forward to Tom King’s signature applied to Batman: The application of different framing devices or lenses to look at the same character. But this is more of a straight-up superhero comic.

It’s one of those, “It’s not bad, but I think it’ll slide out of my mind pretty quick.”

I sort of can’t figure out the tone here. Is it goofy? There’s Colonel Blimp wearing a pink getup and driving around in a zeppelin, which is monumentally stupid, right? I mean, I think I could probably stop a blimp by waiting for moderate wind. Pop it with a drone? Like, how much more dangerous is Colonel Blimp than the old guy from UP?

Of course, I’m fine with silliness, I just don’t get the vibe that this is a silly book. But then Alfred shows up somewhere and does his best Batman impression in a very baggy Batsuit, for no real reason, and it’s like, This has to be a joke, right?

What’s even weirder, though, is that I just can’t decide whether or not I like it. Maybe I don’t give a shit if the tone is consistent. I’m a fella who can be serious sometimes and also turns just about everything into a song to the tune of “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner. Everything works. Try it.”