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. This is such an intense book, but do you think there’s ever a point in this character’s career where Batman becomes well adjusted? Where he’s able to make peace with some of these more troublesome elements of himself, but is still able to continue his career? Because all through The Imposter, Leslie Tompkins is making appeals to Bruce Wayne as a “force of nature.” I don’t know that I’ve seen that before. Is there a point where these two elements can resolve but Batman can continue to be Batman? Or does Batman only exist if those two things are in conflict? 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.

Not everyone is going to like this. It's a Batman that swears and hurts people so Dan Slott and his fans are going to say it's garbage. The story is intriguing, an interesting take on Bruce and how he dealt with his trauma and some possible underlying mental problems. I definitely enjoyed the exploration in that as it honestly makes sense if someone like him were in a more realistic world. The art is phenomenal. I didn't used to be a fan of Sorrentino but I have grown to appreciate all of his works that I have read. He is a master panelist and creates tension even between two panels that are connected. The pacing is fantastic. I am excited to see where the series goes. Bryan, Carl (2021-11-25). "Review: Batman: The Imposter #2". Dark Knight News . Retrieved 2022-11-24. Yeah, this was good but it's really not that good as most people make it up to be. I get that it's not a good time for Batman with Tynion, Tamaki and depressed King these last years but just because the quality was low in recent history doesn't mean we should pretend decent stories are groundbreaking. There are some very blatant flaws that people tend to overlook. For example, we get a big dose of bullshit of "Bruce Wayne doesn't help". This is a theme lately at DC Comics, it's like these writers haven't actually read any Batman comics. Bruce Wayne is a philanthropist, he has poured tons of money into Gotham, but like in real life, just throwing money at problems without actually having a good plan doesn't help. I get that marxist rhetoric is very trendy for these guys but some of us see through this crap. All the "therapy" with Leslie was super boring and didn't do shit during these 3 issues, it was filler and totally uninteresting. And I swear there are panels when Batman legit looks like a woman, those are not the lips of a man, Sorrentino did an awesome job with the fights, those looked great, but some panels looked really, really weird. On the plus side, I actually liked the ending, it was a very sound resolution for this story and I enjoyed Wong's character. The mystery was a decent one, too and like I said, the fights looked great. Bryan, Carl (2021-12-15). "Review: Batman: The Imposter #3". DC Comics News . Retrieved 2022-11-24.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."

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. Overall: This comic features great art, solid writing, and interesting characters! The pacing is good and the mystery element is strong. If you enjoy alternate takes on Batman and Gotham, then I definitely recommend this issue to you!Mattson Tomlin: Blair Wong is an original character, and I wanted to introduce her as someone who could be Batman. I think that the further you get into the story, you realize how complimentary Bruce Wayne and Blair Wong really are to each other. They are both going to end up going head to head, and who is really going to be the world's greatest detective here?

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. 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]. A couple of months go by, and I'm still taking notes on my phone and writing down different things. I'm thinking, "I have no why am I doing this. I have nowhere to put these things." So, I just called the executives at DC Films and just flat out said to them, "I really want to do a comic. I love the books; I grew up reading them and still read them today. I really keep up with it, and this would be an absolute dream. Could you see your way into maybe sending me to somebody?"The story provides an engaging mystery as Wong and Bruce Wayne, as well as Wong and Batman, try to find the imposter committing murders and disgracing the reputation of Batman. The story begins with Batman being seriously injured and on the verge of death following an encounter with armed store robbers—the kind of low-level criminals whom, in more mainstream adaptations, he would be able to take down almost effortlessly. Here we see all too well the very real physical risks involved in even the smallest acts of vigilantism. 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.