I don’t really like it, which surprising to me because I’ve heard so many good things about it. Part if the issue is that it’s the 500th “yeah but like, obviously Batman is mentally ill and let’s do a grounded, gritty version of him” take on Batman and I’ve seen it done better. It's the] idea of [taking] away all of these friends that he has, because that's what it would be like, and then instead put him on a head-on collision with somebody who is legitimately as smart as he is," Tomlin said. "These two people who are both kind of vying for the mantle of World's Greatest Detective just kind of slam into each other. A big part of it was just making a kind of adversary for him that would create interesting complications for later in the story." Mattson Tomlin employs shifting narration to allow the central mystery ("Who is the second Batman?") to play out from multiple perspectives. This narrative element works superbly, keeping the reader on their toes as bits of knowledge are revealed. Batman himself isn't necessarily a bit player, but he's also not the lead - always welcome. I like a Gotham City that's populated with more than just superheroes and freaks. The theme is not unseen but the whole atmosphere- think the Joker movie with Joaquim Phoenix, even darker- kind of makes it stand out. And yes, I do like these depressing noir stories. Don’t ask.

Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Due to Bruce's somewhat different circumstances from most other interpretations, he has no close friends or support system, since Alfred quit when he was a child, and Gordon was fired from the GCPD for working with him. He was a highly disturbed child diagnosed with OCD and acute anxiety, who was prone to violent outbursts. As an adult, he remains an emotionally damaged individual, who falls in love with Blair Wong, but has no qualms about manipulating her to gather intel from the GCPD's investigation of Batman. His therapy sessions with Leslie do help him to an extent but by the end he hasn't changed that much, and his circumstances as Batman have gotten even worse since the authorities and the public still view him as a dangerous vigilante at best and a serial killer at worst.For me, it's staying away from Jim Gordon and from Alfred because those are characters that I feel narratively don't serve me and what I'm trying to do right now, but then introducing somebody like Leslie. I'm not having her be this slightly peripheral Alfred, but instead really letting her be her own thing and really bring Bruce Wayne to task. The story dismantles the idiotic claims that Bruce Wayne should just throw money at Gotham, and fix it that way as if that would work.

Not that that’s a bad thing in itself (there’s a detail over why he’s not got access to his family’s billions that’s a clever touch) but I think Tomlin’s fallen into a typical pitfall when writing Batman which is that he's gone much too dark and overly serious. Sure it’s more grounded but it’s also not fun. Sometimes a deathly serious tone works but it’s better if a writer has earned that right by building up to it in a series - which Tomlin hasn’t. my only critiques in regards to the art are Bruce Wayne's design, he looks much younger than what they are going for. He looks closer to a Robin than Bruce Wayne, and that the batsuit doesn't have blades on the gauntlets. 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. A surprisingly solid Batman story. Usually I absolutely hate stories about “realistic” superheroes, but this was well written and the author had a decent voice for Bruce Wayne. It was also helped immensely by the incredible art from Andrea Sorrentino, who continues to be one of my favorite artists in all of comics. Seriously, the action scenes in this book alone make it worth buying at cover price. Batman must clear his name after an Imposter begins murdering cops in the batsuit, but how does one prove their innocence from behind a mask? 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.Arrant, Chris (October 8, 2021). "Dr. Leslie Thompkins has words with Bruce in Batman: The Imposter #1 preview". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved February 17, 2022.