Demoted to Extra: Alfred Pennyworth and James Gordon only receive a few mentions, compared to the central members of the supporting cast they are elsewhere. Keeping Batman on his heels for The Imposter also meant projecting a lot of strength onto the Leslie Thompkins character. A pillar of various Batman stories and a frequent ally of the Wayne family, Thompkins is a Gotham City hero in her own right, and it was important to Tomlin to place her front and center in this tale as someone who wouldn't be a Bruce Wayne enabler, but a Bruce Wayne interrogator. He's a character that there's just some dialogue that will never come out of his mouth, and anybody that goes to therapy, they know, suddenly they're saying things they've never said before," he continued. "So it just felt like a good place to put him because it was new, and kind of puts him on his heels."

How Bruce is characterized in this isn't my favorite way of doing it. I'm of the type that prefers him to be a bit softer something more in line with the animated series or the Snyder Capullo run. Like the Matt Reeves movie, this story shines a light on just how fragile Batman’s operation is. The Dark Knight’s mission faces three critical threats—an imposter destroying his image, an officer closing in and a psychotherapist threatening to expose his secret. As you read the story, you really get the sense that Batman is one wrong step away from getting himself unmasked, killed or both. At some point in the book, I think an issue 2, Bruce says she's categorically the best detective the force has ever had. That to me was just: "Let's have other people be smart too. Let's have other people be smart, but not scheming villains." It's just somebody else who's out there, and it's her job to find him, so let's just make her a real obstacle. Batman: The Imposter by Mattson Tomlin, Andrea Sorrentino and Jordie Bellaire is now available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and as a digital graphic novel. Look for it on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE this spring. Certainly doing something that was very grounded, and something that was a detective story, that is something I'm very interested in," he said. "But honestly, I think that it might have come from a tweet. You know, the internet goes wild, and one of the memes that was going around is something like 'Bruce Wayne would rather dress up as a bat and beat people up than go to therapy.' And I just thought, that's kind of awesome. Let's send him to therapy! And I hadn't quite seen that in a really head on kind of way before.Meanwhile, a man named Mr. Wesker is not happy about Batman being in Gotham City and wants Detective Wong to arrest him. Detective Wong learns that someone dressed as Batman has been killing innocent people and Gotham City Police Department decides to arrest the Batman killer. Bruce Wayne meets up with Leslie Thompkins and tells her that he isn't the killer, and confronted The Loman Family and Penguin about it, but they also denied hiring someone to be the killer. Bruce Wayne and Detective Wong deduce that the imposter is targeting criminals in the upper class and may have a personal vendetta against the victims. Detective Wong meets up with Bruce Wayne to talk about the Batman. [1] There are lots of ways to explore Bruce Wayne's early years as Gotham's Caped Crusader, as evidenced by everything from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman: Zero Year, but Tomlin wasn't interested in telling another origin story. What he was interested in was an in-depth exploration of Bruce Wayne's motives and drive, something he achieved by immediately putting the character in conflict with a new version of Gotham City staple Dr. Leslie Thompkins. In the spirit of Batman: Year One, the series finds Bruce Wayne occupying a very different Gotham City. Jim Gordon a memory, stripped from the police force for working with this new vigilante. The wealthy and powerful organizing against Batman, instead of small-time crooks and supervillains. Not to mention a new killer on the loose, using the cape and cowl to destroy Batman's legacy before it can even begin. With Tomlin's work on The Batman making a gritty, darker, and grounded Gotham seem a no-brainer, Screen Rant is pleased to offer an exclusive preview of the first issue--and a tease from the writer of just how different his team-up with all-star artists Andrea Sorrentino and Jordie Bellaire is going to be. Far from being the impeccable and dignified manor-house it's usually depicted as being, Wayne Manor here is a mess since Bruce lives alone without a staff or butler—Alfred having quit during Bruce's troubled childhood years.

The story is an Elseworld of a kind with a younger Batman so there are a few discrepancies with the regular series. It is very dark indeed, with a lonely Bruce Wayne consumed with the inner rage he fights to control and who chases after the imposter threatening to ruin what he’s built as Batman. It’s tough to talk about because of the the Writers Guild of it all. I had a wonderful time working with my friend and then found myself in this place where I was like, “man, I love Batman and I’m still thinking about it and I have all this brain energy that I’ve put into it, and nowhere to put any of this stuff.” So it was a while later, months after any of the time that I had with Matt Reeves. It then became, “actually, I think that there’s something that I could do here that could kind of be its own thing” and give me my time in Gotham where I really can go “this is what I have to say about this character.” And in a way that was really rewarding and lovely for me to get to go into it on my own terms like that. But it was definitely disconnected from from any of [the movie stuff]. What’s more, I really enjoy all the character designs: they all look entirely unique, and I appreciate that most of the characters look realistic, in the sense that these could be people that you might see in the streets. It makes the book feel more alive, like Gotham is a place that actually exists. Mirroring seems to be a theme in this story: the Imposter is Batman without his moral code, and Wong is Bruce without his money/desire to mete out vigilante justice, although neither seem to be presented as options we should be favouring. Because what Bruce and Batman are in this book instead is kind of a boring alternative to both: humourless, dull, and quite one-dimensional overall - effective though, apparently. Bryan, Carl (2021-12-15). "Review: Batman: The Imposter #3". DC Comics News . Retrieved 2022-11-24.Leslie Thompkins, far from being another surrogate parent to Bruce who is largely supportive of his crusade, is depicted here instead as someone who refuses to blindly enable his violent vigilantism and forces him into therapy by threatening to expose his true identity once she discovers it. (Although this is very Depending on the Writer even in mainstream continuity; Leslie's attitude to Batman has ranged from "largely supportive" to " will murder a child to make him stop", and is generally somewhere in the middle.) SR: The biggest surprise of the issue is obviously Detective Wong, but also the police side of the story. Batman: The Imposter is really good Batman. If you've seen The Batman, this graphic novel follows a similar vein: a gritty exploration of early-stage Batman as he struggles to define his role in Gotham City. Deconstruction : In taking a punishingly realistic approach to Batman and his world, this mini ends up deconstructing several conventions of the Batman mythos, including Bruce's relationships with his close friends and allies, his equation with the GCPD, his skills as a fighter and the logistics of his one-man war on crime.

The writing is amazing. People talk like actual people, the plot is interesting and complex while remaining airtight.

Otis Flannegan commits suicide in the police department, but not before revealing the Batman imposter had a hideout in the sewers. Batman confronts the imposter but the Gotham Police arrive and start shooting at Batman. Batman is wounded heavily and caught by Detective Wong. Batman reveals his identity to convince Detective Wong he isn't the killer, and she lets him go. Bruce Wayne meets up with Leslie Thompkins to tell her he won't be attending her therapy sessions. Leslie tries convincing Bruce that Batman isn't the solution to the crime problem, Bruce Wayne could donate to charity to make Gotham City a better place but Bruce ignores her. Bruce Wayne realizes the imposter is using guns from Lawrence Loman who wants to be the Kingpin of Gotham City. Batman meets up with Detective Wong to ask her for help and asks her to meet alone. They meet up, but Blair is shot by the Batman Imposter. As Batman fights the imposter, the Imposter reveals himself to be Blair's partner Hatcher who tells Batman the reason why he's killing the criminals is because of Batman and Gordon's mistake. Batman and Blair manage to defeat the imposter, and allows himself to be arrested by Blair. Batman asks Blair if she arrests him, would Gotham City be safe, and Blair decides to let him escape. Batman meets up with Arnold Wesker, but instead of turning Arnold in Batman leads him to Leslie Thompkins and visits his parents grave before vowing to help Gotham City as Bruce Wayne. [3] Publication [ edit ]