Batman #22 Review

Writer: Joshua Williamson, Tom King / Artist: Jason Fabok / DC Comics There’s no telling where Rebirth will go moving forward. In issue #22 of Batman, we find that the world from Flashpoint didn’t actually disappear as expected when Barry Allen set things right. Instead, the separate timeline continued to exist, which took a major toll on Thomas Wayne who believed he was sacrificing himself in exchange for his son. The issue starts with a quick summary of what happened after Flash left, with Aquaman and Wonder Woman joining forces specifically to kill him. While a group of Atlantean and Themysciran soldiers are kicking in the door to Wayne Manor, Thomas is on the verge of setting the whole estate ablaze when Flash and Batman suddenly appear and we get a long-awaited reunion between father and son.

Bruce and Thomas are both at a clear loss for words seeing each other much older than they remember. Before they can break the ice and say everything they’ve wanted to for years, they have to turn and fight while Flash repairs the cosmic treadmill. Fortunately, the two don’t get much time to talk and are forced to fight, which leads to more natural communication for the two anyway. There were only a few moments to speak, so they made their actions and words count. [Side note: Batman knocking a gun out of his dad’s hand before a fight perfectly sums up all of the Second Amendment debates you’ve ever had with a family member.] The Wayne reunion was handled really well by the Will…