Bruce is convinced that Madeleine is key to taking down the Nightwalkers, but is he playing her, or is she playing him? Or maybe they’re not playing each other at all and are just making everything really complicated and messy by falling in love. Madeleine runs with the Nightwalkers, a newly emerged terrorist organization that’s targeting Gotham’s wealthy and elite.

In the process, he meets Madeleine, a mysterious young woman accused-possibly wrongly-of murder. When the teenage hero-to-be runs afoul of the GCPD, he’s assigned to Arkham Asylum for his public service where he sweeps and mops the floors while trying to avoid the stares of Gotham’s criminally insane. It’s the perfect finishing touch for this moody, intriguing cover illustration.īruce really has a thing for bad girls, doesn’t he? And let’s not overlook the colony of bats taking flight against the full moon. Considering all the similarities they share, it’s an appropriate contrast. Character-wise, the cover features Bruce and new character Madeleine Wallace, positioned opposite each other. Instead, Wildgoose and colorist Laura Trinder rely on Gotham’s familiar shadows, night sky and color pallet to make it instantly clear which DC hero we’re dealing with-and that’s without the aid of the iconic Batman logo in the center of it all. But does that mean this firmly out-of-continuity tale is for you? Let’s break it down and find out, shall we?ĭespite the title, this is a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne tale, meaning the iconic cape and cowl are nowhere to been seen within the book or on its cover. So, it’s a Batman book, and you’re a Batman fan. Adapted from Lu’s book by comic writer Stuart Moore and illustrated by artist Chris Wildgoose, Batman: Nightwalker is the latest original graphic novel to be released in DC’s YA line. Based on the bestselling Young Adult novel by Marie Lu, Batman: Nightwalker is set firmly in Bruce’s teenage years, when the rawness and unbridled anger over his parents’ death has subsided but his nights fighting Gotham City criminals are still years away.

By now, everyone knows about the boy whose parents were murdered one tragic night that grew up to become a dark-cowled crimefighter.īut far fewer people know what happened in between those two crucial moments, and as books like Batman: Nightwalkerremind us, quite a lot took place during those formative years as young Bruce Wayne grew into the man-the Batman-he would become. He’s one of the most widely known fictional characters across the globe. He’s had TV shows, books, videogames and hundreds of thousands of comics. The guy’s been the focus of ten live action movies and over two dozen animated ones. Let’s be honest with each other, shall we? Batman isn’t exactly an unexplored character.

Batman nightwalker