Review by Ian Keogh

This is another of those graphic novels DC have packaged to fool people into thinking it stars Batman, when in fact his appearances are minimal. Unlike some others, though, this is a story worth telling no matter how little Batman appears.

The lead character’s name is never provided, and he’s first seen at the moment just before his life changes forever. He’s just an infant playing with his toy dinosaur when his father arrives home and announces the family has to leave at once. It’s not soon enough, and the child sees his parents murdered by the Joker, whom he conflates with Batman after the latter’s arrival and the former’s disappearance. He’s taken into care, supposedly to be looked after, but in reality moved from one distressing experience to another.

It’s usually the case that everyone else is just a bit player in Batman’s story, but here he’s just one of several people who drift in and out of the boy’s life. While the terrors of Gotham exceed reality, Matthew Rosenberg shows how the social care system so often fails those it’s meant to protect. They’re raised in brutality and often just fall out of the system, and Rosenberg underlines innocence being an early casualty.

If drawn in the usual exaggerated manner of Gotham’s tales House of Gotham wouldn’t have nearly the same sympathetic appeal, so Fernando Blanco keeps the illustrations darkly realistic, the only exaggeration accompanying the appearance of those already established as grotesque. Clayface on the sample art is an example, but he’s only one of several Gotham villains who appear. That also showcases the extremely effective colouring of Jordie Bellaire, whose sense of the dramatic enlivens Blanco’s already provided mood.

There’s something to be learned from all the villains, some inclined to underline deliberate lessons while on other occasions the boy distils his own meaning from his experiences, and Rosenberg seems to have no deliberate plan as life drifts along. A timescale is provided by referencing pivotal events in Batman’s career, and those unfamiliar with these details will be puzzled by some of what happens, especially the extreme replacement Batman. However, it’s all cleverly plotted to ensure the worst, and the question Rosenberg constantly hangs is how it will all play out in the end.

This is a taut and different crime story, making good use of Gotham as a background, and of the brief intersections of Batman with the boy whose parents he failed to save years previously. Rosenberg doesn’t even bother noting the obvious parallel, and the contacts speak of a form of caring not often shown in Batman stories, and that’s welcome. Does it all work out in the end? We’ll not disclose the answer here, but the conclusion is very true to what happens in Gotham.