Batman #61 Review

Writer: Tom King / Artist: Travis Moore / DC Comics Issue #61 of Batman is going to be the first of six one-shots that are a follow-up on the huge cliffhanger that ended the last issue. At least, that’s according to King’s Twitter feed. To address the elephant sitting on my living room couch as I write this, this decision will likely get some mixed reviews. On one side of the argument, it requires quite a lot of patience from readers to drop the bomb of Thomas Wayne (maybe?) showing up and putting Alfred and Batman to sleep then not provide any clarification for a couple of months. On the other end, the individual stories will likely still add context to the larger 100-issue run that will be greatly appreciated in hindsight. Only problem here is that, again, this requires quite a lot of patience from the reader. Now that we’ve crossed that bridge. Let’s dive into issue #61. After accepting the letdown of not finding out WTF—short for “what the frick”, for our family-friendly readers—happened last issue, King takes us into a story that’s overall a bit ambitious, but still interesting. If you’ll recall issue #38 of Batman, the story centered on a boy who’s life was perceived to be a reflection of a young Bruce. He was the child of a wealthy Gotham family who was suddenly an orphan after they were murdered. Seeing his own life repeating itself before his eyes, Bruce steps in to help the boy, Matthew, only to learn that he killed his parents himself to follow in Bruce Wayne’s foo…