The Riddler is an excellent addition, as well. You can forget how dangerous he is for a moment, because he’s just so entertaining-because he actually seems to be enjoying his mission of mayhem in a way that the fully realized Joker in the previous arc did not. The Red Hood is similarly a much more balanced Joker than the one we encountered in Death of the Family. Bruce isn’t dropping quips or doing the Batusi, but there’s an irreverant sass to him that you won’t find in the rest of the Snyder/Capullo run.

Perhaps more striking than the visual distinction, however, is the feel of Snyder’s characters. Snyder intended this from the start, having a strong desire to set Zero Year apart from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s widely-revered Year One. Instead of dark, drab tones inhabiting a dirty, broken city, we are greeted with bright colors, sunshine, and streets that we might actually walk down without fear. If you’re reading Snyder and Capullo’s Batman in order, you’ll likely be struck by how different this book looks at the start. Presumed dead, Bruce works in secret to take down the brutal Red Hood gang, but can one of the city’s most well-known sons stay hidden for long? As an intricate, sinister plot unfolds, Bruce is drawn out of hiding, and a legend is born. Home at last from traveling the world, Bruce Wayne has returned with a mission: to prevent others from facing the pain he did in losing his parents to the madness of Gotham City. We reviewed the single issues of “Secret City” on Batman News as they were released, so if you’d like more detailed analysis of individual installments, check out those original write-ups at the links below:

With the exception of #24, the backups are not grouped with their main story counterparts in the trade, but rather come at the end after the main story is completed.

It also includes the backups from each issue, which featured scripting by James Tynion IV, artwork by Rafael Albuquerque, colors by Dave McCaig and letters by Taylor Esposito. This edition collects Batman #21-24, written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Nick Napolitano, and covers by Capullo and Plascencia. Zero Year was to be an ambitious reimagining of the Dark Knight’s origin and greatest early tests, and beginning in June of 2013, they began telling their tale with the first act: Secret City. After two smashingly successful arcs on Batman, the team of writer Scott Snyder, artist Greg Capullo, and colorist FCO Plascencia turned its gaze backward. Certain events and character histories were preserved, but other elements were changed as editorial and creators saw fit. DC’s New 52 initiative was a quasi-reboot of the publisher’s fictional universe.

Batman vol 4 zero year secret city