Once upon a time, a friend of mine and I were discussing Batman: Beyond. She argued that it was an awful show because it had someone portraying Batman that wasn't Bruce Wayne. She argued that Batman is a title that can and should only belong to that one man. While I disagree with her and think Terry McGinnis is a very awesome Batman, this leads to a good point. What about the other men that have donned the cowl?
Notable Batmen aside Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis are Jean-Paul Valley (who sort of went nuts. So let's ignore that dude) and Dick Grayson. In The Gates Of Gotham, Dick Grayson is standing in and acting as Batman since Bruce Wayne had been killed at the hands of Darkseid. Dick's time as Batman was brief and this is the first I've read of it. To be honest? I was impressed with both the story and Dick's performance as the caped crusader.
Gates is told in two time periods. It is told both in 1881 and the present. The 1881 story follows two brothers (The Gates. Get it?) that are both architects. The two began from nothing and slowly began helping establish the Gotham skyline. Before long, the Gates brothers have gotten in tight with the first four families of Gotham(The Waynes, The Elliots, The Copplepots, and the Kanes). As the Gates become more and more established in the community, alliances begin to form as a conspiracy rises against the brothers that will have ramifications that will last hundreds of years.
In modern times, the Batfamily is investigating the destruction of "The gates of Gotham", different bridges (built by the Gates brothers) that are each named for a prominent Gotham family. The perpetrator of these explosions is an odd and mysterious figure in a steampunk suit. Batman has called for help on this: Red Robin (Tim Drake), Robin (Damian Wayne), and Black Bat (Cassandra Cain) all lend a hand in the investigation.
Dick says it best when he says, "This time Bruce won't be showing up to save the day." The kids that grew up in the Batfamily are truly on their own in this and it's left up to them. That's what makes this story so unique, so it's own. Narrated by Dick, it shows how he doubts himself as Batman and thinks he's not intelligent enough for the job. Despite this possible lacking, he is a very different Batman. He isn't nearly as stoic as Bruce and even cracks a few Spidermanesque jokes that are absolutely uncharacteristic of the typical dark knight. But Dick's just that; he is not your typical dark knight.
The rest of the characters are a joy. It's always fun to see the hate/hate relationship between Damian and Tim. My personal favorite part of this was the inclusion of Cassandra Cain, the former Batgirl that had rarely been seen since giving up her mantle to Stephanie Brown(Evidently Cass is guarding Hong Kong. Would love to see that series, DC.). Cass fit into the story easily, quickly showing he abilities and developing an interesting relationship with Damian. Towards the end of the book, she and Tim seem to have a bit of a romantic moment. Sadly, this moment was likely forgotten during the company wide reboot last year. I plan on questioning Batman writer Scott Snyder about it at some point on twitter.
All in all, this is a solid detective story, the kind that we don't often get to see in Bat comics anymore. And it's even more interesting because the mystery is being headed by someone that ISN'T the world's greatest detective. Dick is just doing his best and proves in this comic that he is definitely worth to wear the cowl of Batman and be the guardian of Gotham. This comic definitely made me respect Dick as Batman
Scott Snyder penned another Dick Grayson era Batman story called The Black Mirror. I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Also included in this trade was a single issue about one of the members of Batman, Inc. This one shot focuses on Nightrunner, the Batman of Paris. I sort of hate the idea of Batman, Inc so I almost didn't read it. But I gave it a shot. And what I found was a very different Batman. Instead of living in the city of lights, Bilal Asselah lives on the outskirts of Paris in a heavily unstable and violent Islamic community filled with riots. A free runner, he is approached by Bruce(BACK FROM THE DEAD. BIG SURPRISE) and Dick to become the symbol of justice in this unstable city. Nightrunner takes up the cowl and begins working but soon becomes hated by the people and doubting what he is doing. But he is urged to fight on and does so.
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