Vertigo readers have known for some time that Bill Willingham is a strong comics writer, even before his award-winning Fables series got under way. Now he's reaching a more mainstream audience by venturing into the world of the Batman. Willingham's falri for snappy dialogue serves him well here. I almost hate to say it, but this first issue in his run strikes me as though it could be Gotham's Creek. There's an appropriately light tone at play in the character-driven subplots and something of an edge in the super-hero/crime scenes. Actually, Willingham's take on the Teen Wonder reminds me a great deal of that of Chuck Dixon, and I think that's where this new direction goes astray. It really doesn't seem that new at all.
Life in the Batcave is rather familiar these days... Robin assists the Batman on a number of cases, but the Dark Knight continues to limit his crime-fighting activity and to pour on the rigorous training regimens. Life for Tim Drake, on the other hand, is changing quite a bit. He's starting at a new school, and that means making new friends. Meanwhile, a small-time crook who got away with a powerful artifact from S.T.A.R. Labs meets up with a much more accomplished -- and bloodthirsty -- criminal.
Mays fluid and energetic style suits the agile and youthful nature of the title character quite well. Mays has carved out a nice reputation for his skill when it comes to the depiction of martial arts, and it's not much of a leap to see Robin as a martial-arts hero. Unfortunately, while Mays does a great job of capturing the youth of Tim Drake and his fellow high school students, the adult characters seem to boast some of that tender-age quality as well. His take on the Batman isn't nearly as intense or formidable as one might expect.
Willingham's script brings a certain degree of credibility to the incredible title character. The narration makes the notion of a teen super-hero seem far more plausible. The writer takes us inside the hero's head, and it paints him in an adventurous light while never casting aside the need for him to observe a structured life when it comes to his costumed activities. Tim's interaction with his new high-school chums isn't all that plausible, but the idealized vision of his banter with a new friend is an entertaining one. I was reminded of the far too articulate dialogue that characterized Dawson's Creek. Hard to accept, yes, but the notion of intelligent and introspective teens is a heartening one, to be honest.
The book's not without its flaws, though. Willingham introduces a stone-cold killer as a villain in this issue, and the cruelty and ruthlessness he exhibits here makes for an interesting and costume-free antagonist. The problem is that Willingham censors himself here. This isn't the mature-readers-only world of the Vertigo imprint, and one can tell that Willingham has some plot points in mind that don't lend themselves to sugar-coating. Furthermore, the all-too-familiar plot development of the hero befriending a family member of an eventual opponent pushes the reader's ability to suspend disbeflief beyond its limit.
