Fans of Batman have seen Bruce Wayne grapple with threats both human and heroic since DC's Rebirth, as Tom King and a team of top-tier artists crafted an epic for the ages. It's a hard act to follow, but Batman #86 shows the new creative team is launching the next chapter the best way they can: condensing everything fans love about Batman into a single book.

Writer James Tynion IV has outlined his ambitions for Batman and Gotham already, standing, like the dark knight himself, poised to build something new, bold... and as yet, unknowable. Artists Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, and Tomeu Morey are the kind of back-up any writer would kill for, working to bring his (and Bruce's) new Gotham into reality. The result is as pitch-perfect a first issue as fans could hope for, making it perfectly clear their hero is in good hands, with his status quo exactly where they'll want it to be. The line between Batman and his city dissolved. Villains scrambling in fear, as others scheme from the shadows. Bruce's emotions causing him to stumble, then straighten. And of course, a new Bat-vehicle taking to the sky, lifted by the belief of the readers themselves.

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This starting point shouldn't be mistaken for a fresh start, since Bruce's reality is wholly shaped by the last years of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Alfred Pennyworth is dead, Selina Kyle is anchored at his side, and having survived his most brutal trial, Bruce's confidence has been restored. But Gotham City has not recovered as quickly, nor is its outlook as unfaltering as Batman's. This is the challenge which forms the first of three major storylines Tynion has alluded to as central to his run: the reconstruction of Gotham.

Batman New Comic Gotham City Rebuild

The goal is not to remake Gotham into the city Bruce promised to protect, but the one he dreamed of as a daydream; a total fantasy. A fantasy Alfred Pennyworth believed Bruce could make possible -- which Bruce seems to have adopted as a new calling as tribute for his fallen father. It's an inspired way of providing a role for Alfred in Bruce's next chapter, even if he can't physically appear to support him. That role has been taken by Lucius Fox, leading an initiative to spark new technologies, gadgets, and vehicles to reflect Bruce's shift to what is truly possible (as opposed to simply what's practical).

The reminder of what sheer satisfaction can come from seeing Batman two steps ahead of his enemies, gaining the upper hand through deception and terror, is more than welcome. And with Catwoman for a partner in and out of their costumes, and one of the world's most brilliant inventors making his dreams a reality, it's not an understatement to call Batman #86 a return to the hero's roots. And that also brings with it a terrible truth. That feeling of progress, invention -- and dare we say it, optimism -- is given just a few pages to breathe... before the darker side of any good Batman story shows its teeth.

Batman Fight Deathstroke New Comic

When the final page is turned fans may see the early teases of not one, but two mysteries being planted. Both horrifying, both intriguing, and both completely unknown to this emboldened, brightened Batman. And while it's bittersweet to realize that Bruce's renewed mission and purpose is about to be sucker punched by villains just as determined... well, that's also why one reads a Batman comic, isn't it? The first issue of the next Batman chapter may feel like exactly that -- largely unavoidable, considering King's consistently mounting epic. But there's no question it feels like Batman. And Batman feels good.

Batman #86 is available now in your local comic book shop. The full credits and plot synopsis can be found below:

  • BATMAN #86
  • Written by: James Tynion
  • Art by: Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey
  • Cover Art by: Tony S. Daniel, Tomeu Morey
  • It's a new day in Gotham City, but not the same old Batman. With Bane vanquished and one of his longtime allies gone, Batman has to start picking up the pieces and stepping up his game. Batman has a new plan for Gotham City, but he's not the only one. Deathstroke has returned as well, under a mysterious new contract that could change everything.Beginning a whole new chapter in the life of the Dark Knight, the epic art team of Tony S. Daniel and Danny Miki are joined by new series writer James Tynion IV!

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