Writer/artist David Finch (Ultimatum, Moon Knight, Cyberforce) brings his considerable talent to bear on Batman’s (that’s the Bruce Wayne Batman’s) newest ongoing title. There have been plenty of darker themed Batman titles over the years, perhaps the best of which being Batman Legends of The Dark Knight, but a down and dirty, gritty, and streetwise themed Bat-book starring Bruce Wayne as Batman might be what DC Comics needs most right now in order to hold onto older Batman readers and fans. With Bruce Wayne gallivanting all over the world and fighting crime with his Batman Inc. group, Dick Grayson, also operating under the moniker of Batman, is supposed to be Gotham’s protector now. Weird, since Dick Grayson had way more global and galaxy spanning adventures as Nightwing while he was with The Titans, you’d think that he’d be out running around the world playing global hero. Wayne, the old Gotham homebody is filling this role though, and ever since he came back from the dead (don’t get me started) he’s decided that an aggressive expansion of his crime fighting reach was necessary. Bruce just can’t seem to completely cut his ties with his past though, and his years as Gotham City’s street level hero and protector are just too hard to let go of. Especially, when the streets of Gotham and its regular goons like The Penguin and Killer Croc become involved with the disappearance of one of Bruce’s old childhood flames and college years’ loves. Bruce knows Gotham like the back of his hand, so why shouldn’t he bust a few heads around the neighborhood for old times’ sake?

That is the premise of Batman The Dark Knight. DC Comics is doing its absolute best to reach out to every age, interest, and commitment level Batman fan. There’s a book out there for everybody. Wished Wayne just stayed dead? Go follow Dick Grayson as Batman in the pages of Batman, want to see what Bruce is up to with his new global mindset? Check out Batman Inc. Still clamor for the days when Bruce prowled the streets of Gotham and thought globally but acted locally? Then Batman The Dark Knight is the book for you, and as it seems, it’s the book for me too. I haven’t read a Bat-book since the end of Batman RIP, pretty much like I haven’t read Captain America much since Steve Rogers came back. Marvel Comics did a similar thing with Steve that DC Comics is doing with Bruce. Steve got kicked upstairs to be the supreme commander of The Avengers. He’s got much more of a global outlook and worry list to deal with now. Bucky is holding the fort as Cap for the time being. Bruce is getting ready to fight crime the world over, but he’s a fundamentally different type of hero than Cap is, so taking Bruce completely out of the streets of Gotham would really be dumping a major part of the character’s identity. Cap always did battle foes on a global scale, and while it might be argued that Batman did in a way too, Batman is much more a street fighter/crusader type character. Again, hence the need for Batman The Dark Knight.

We Batman fans of old still like to see our hero grind it out in the mean streets. While character development and well written changes to a character that alter them in a fundamental way for the better is a great thing, Bruce Wayne never really needed such a change. Characters like Tony Stark/Iron Man had to change, and for the better, since the Godless Commies he waged war against for so many years ended up not being much of a threat and as ideas on the military industrial complex of America became less sacred, the character who represented this complex had to change. Bruce Wayne/Batman though represents a much deeper and more fundamental idea: that of the pain of a child orphaned by violence. You’d think that Bruce Wayne would have gotten over his loss eventually and grown into a sane contributor to society by now (you really can’t call a man who dresses up as a giant bat sane…can you?), but the character represents repressed rage and desire to turn the tables on the criminals through fear and just retribution. A basic character like that really doesn’t need to revamp his mission like an Iron Man does. Bruce’s expansion of his crime fighting goals from the local to global level can be argued to be simply an expansion of the dark avenger metaphor, but do we really need a global Batman? Perhaps, and perhaps not…I leave the final judgment to the reader on that one.

Something we all can agree on is the fact that a well written and drawn Batman book is something that comic book fans simply can never get enough of. Finch has laid the groundwork for a really engaging and illuminating Batman tale. Yes, we’ve seen the damsel in distress tale before as far as Bruce is concerned, but “Golden Dawn” hints at taking this old formula and twisting it into a new narrative. Finch’s pencil work is, as always, as appealing as it is firmly entrenched in the “Jim Lee School” of art, as I like to refer to it. His take on the new, hyper detailed and realistically based Batman costume is excellent. Ever since seeing the Bat-suit visually upgraded so powerfully in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I’ve clamored for a chance to see this type of hyper detailed and realistic looking outfit come to life in the Bat-comics as well. While, Batman The Dark Knight isn’t the only place it’s visible (a great rendition of it was seen recently in the superbly drawn Batwoman #0), Finch’s representation of it is every bit as powerful.

With all the changes afoot in the Batman’s story, myth, and scope of activity, sometimes a trip through old themes and familiar ground, albeit with a twist, is a great thing. Batman The Dark Knight definitely is the title for the causal as well as long term Bat-fan who only has a passing interest in all things Bat or has followed Bruce for years and years. For this disappointed Bat-fan, Batman The Dark Knight was just what the Bat-doctor ordered.