I really enjoyed Snyder/King's run on Batman. I feel they gave two very different Bruce's but also a great look at their overall viewpoint. They even introduced some cool villains to the mix. But I feel what James is doing is actually building up GOTHAM. Giving us the city itself almost as a character and letting new/old characters grow from it.

This time we get Ghost Maker. Yes, don't worry, everyone makes fun of the name including Bruce. But this guy is not to be fucked around. While the similar beat you've seen before, an old friend of Bruce comes back, it could have easily been played into the whole "revenge" or "I hate you" shit they always do. But instead this character gives a truly interesting look into the "hero" gig. Almost a Punisher like character tossed into Bruce's world, which makes for an interesting change.

I think this is actually the first time I've liked Bruce as a character as much as I do. Maybe because he basically has to start from scratch and fix issues in his own family/city that make it interesting for me. There's no "big" villain this arc. Just people, broken people, who need to learn to deal with their past and go in a new direction. I appreciate we didn't get a huge villain reveal this arc and especially changed the storyline of what I'm so used to in these big superhero books.

So yeah, safe to say I am really digging this run. Besides one or two nitpicks here (Didn't we just say in the last arc he would use help from his Batfamily? And then first few pages he tells catwoman he's doing this alone? What?) I really enjoyed it. Also the art is fantastic as always.

A 4 out of 5.