Once lost, soon to be found.
I knew this was coming as ive seen the list of tie ins from inspecting Scott Synders Instagram and I’ve been curious to see what its about. The three main stories that aren’t either Dark Night evil batman side stories, or justice league battles are Batman Lost, Batman Found and Hawkman Found (the last one intriguing me more than most). Not to say I wasn’t interested by this concept, because I was, and boy did it not let me down.
The issue itself is an interesting combo but to explain how its done, ill first have to explain what its about. After Batman becomes… lost (I can’t say anymore, in fear of spoilers but its more complicated than simply getting lost), he hasn’t really been heard from for many issues and this comic tried to explain why. Were trapped with Bruce inside his own consciousness as he traverses his own memories in an effort to escape his current fate. It sounds like it’s been done and maybe in some way it has but not with this much skill or perhaps even elegance.
The reason why its complicated in the way that its done is that there are 3 artists, 3 writers, 3 inkers and 3 colourists all contributing to the one comic. It is a single narrative, but interwoven with stories from the past, present, and alternate future. It would normally seem jarring but the mystery and plight that is presented to Batman makes it an engaging story. This then mixed with the overall mystery of the evil parallel batmen and their leader made this a must read.
Every contributor to this comic did their job fantastically and although the story ends in the same way that a few of the others have left, I still have faith in the pay off. I don’t enjoy the feeling of the heroes not seeing any hope (as I’ve stated before) but I guess ill have to keep reading to see what happens.
Batman Lost is an interesting experiment with the realm of tie ins and I do hope they do the same for Batman Found and the others. It’s a great read with some interesting and beautiful art. It seems like Scott Snyder and Co haven’t Lost their touch.