Detective Comics #0

Oh! Oh! I think I know this origin! A small boy watches his parents gunned down in an alley and then sees a bat fly through a window and then fights crime and then becomes the best Super Hero ever invented!

The comic begins somewhere in the Himalayas ten years previous. That's good! Perhaps the best part about some of these Zero Issue Origin Stories will be how they contextualize everything in time since most of the origins are still very much the same as the character's Preboot Origins. I hope one of the Batman titles explains the time line for the Robins.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about art by Daniel and Friend but if the entire comic looks like this, I'll be very happy. This reminds me a bit of Matt Wagner's stuff.

Bruce Wayne has arrived at the mountain fortress monastery home of the Zen-Buddhist Monk Warrior Shihan Matsuda. By waiting outside on the doorstep like a lost dog, he wins the secret prize of a free year long training program under the mysterious master.

A few pages in and I have to check the credit page at the end of the story to see who did what art. Pere Perez is credited with "Additional Art" which makes me suspect that the single page of art I scanned and like was done by him! Because the rest looks sketchy and half-done.

In the first nine months of training, Bruce learns to cut coconuts with a katana, to breathe in the darkness, and to rid himself of his love and compassion. Those lessons don't seem at all helpful! But then the master's wife gives him some good advice.

Although I've seen Karate Kid! So maybe the lessons he's learning actually will be helpful but in a mystic Asian way that is mysterious and just seems like bullshit.

Later, Bruce learns more lessons from the Zen master. He learns to sit on ice and to stay warm. He learns to leave grief and love behind. How are these lessons going to teach him to block punches?! After melting some ice with only the power of his bare ass, Bruce learns some more actual lessons that will help him later.

I like this take on his training. That Batman needs to find a balance between being a cold-hearted warrior and a feeling human being. Even if loving could be a weakness to his warrior persona, is it worth the sacrifice? Or is it even a weakness at all?

Oh, well apparently I forgot the title of the story which was something about one final lesson. Convinced by the Master's wife that the Master was teaching Bruce to be too hard, Bruce seeks the attention of a woman in town that he has been flirting with for months. He leaves a window open for her to come bang him later that night. She uses it but not as his booty call.

Whoops!

The woman Bruce fell for was paid by the Master's wife to murder her husband. She wanted to be free from the stone monastery and she wanted his money as well. Everybody but Bruce ends up dead and Bruce learns a hard lesson about what happens when you get close to someone.

Okay. I'm almost there with this story. I almost like it. There's a lot to be said about needing another person and involving yourself in a long-term monogamous relationship with another human being. Sacrifices are surely made. Honesty to oneself can often be lost and eroded when you're constantly thinking about the other person's feelings. But this story doesn't do what it should have done! It should have warned Bruce about the dangers and problems that come with allowing yourself to love without the big murder betrayal plot at the end! All this story says is that the Master let the wrong person into his life. And the wife also! If she wanted something different, leave! If he wanted what he had while she didn't, he didn't need to pull her into it. And that's the lesson that should have been learned without the murder and death and betrayal and manipulation!

All this story does show that the Master married a jerk. Or that Bruce should beware treacherous women. Perhaps it would have been better if the Master's wife committed suicide and the woman Bruce was trying date's father found out and beat or killed her. That lesson would have shown Bruce the selfishness of pulling someone else into the life of Batman simply because he wanted the other person for himself. The lesson would have been about disregarding the cost TO THE OTHER PERSON! Because that's the main story here. The Master took and took and took from his wife while she let her dreams die.

Anyway, there's a backup story here too. It takes place seven years prior to the New 52 at Wayne Manor. Alfred has been waiting many years to hear again from Bruce who has disappeared on his quest to become the ultimate living weapon. While Bruce is gone, his mother Martha's family have been harassing Alfred trying to get him to sell them the manor. But Alfred refuses to believe Bruce is dead. Alfred shows his teeth to a man coming about to threaten him, throws him out, and then immediately finds Bruce at the door.

"Training, touring, getting Master Zen-Buddhist Warriors killed. The usual shit."

Bruce Wayne tells Alfred he has a plan that will change everything and they need to get started. So seven years ago is when Batman first begins coming to life. I'm sure it took a couple of years to get the companies working toward technology and to get the Batcave outfitted and to do research on new weapons and vehicles. I wonder if having a Robin was already part of the plan? Where did he learn that lesson on his travels? "Always have young sidekick in bright clothing as distraction while you hide in dark shadow!"

DC Comics #0 Rating: Missed the mark a little bit on that first story. At least in my point of view. I think my ending is more appropriate.