[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers. This book released on April 19, 2017.]

Writer: Tom King

Pencils: Jason Fabok

Summary

When Batman makes a connection to the mysterious button in the cave and Psycho Pirate’s mask, Reverse-Flash appears! Not knowing how or what brought him back to life, all that Reverse-Flash wants is revenge on Batman for Flashpoint! It was in Flashpoint that we saw that Earth’s Batman kill Reverse-Flash as the world was about to end. He remembers all of this and a fight for Bruce’s very life is at hand!

Positives

This story really delivers on what happens immediately after Wally’s appearance in the Batcave during rebirth. King immediately gives us a fight between Batman and Reverse-Flash and it doesn’t disappoint! Although I expected this fight to be one-sided, Batman continues to surprise me every time. Reverse-Flash is beating Bruce nearly to death and somehow Bruce still finds a way to get the upper hand, even if only temporarily.

Negatives

Negatives? Negatives? I just talked about a fight between Batman and Reverse-Flash and there’s a negative? Not here in this issue anyway. We really got a sense of Eobard Thawne’s lust for revenge. His hatred for Batman now seems to trump his hatred for even Flash. I guess being murdered will do that to you. Jason Fabok’s art complements this issue further as every punch, kick, and blood splatter is done with precision. At the end of the book we have two fighters basically lifeless on the ground after going round after round against each other in this book.

Verdict

Batman #21 is definitely a must read in my opinion, especially if you’re interested in seeing how Rebirth truly will play out. This book gave us action and raw emotion on from both Batman and Reverse-Flash. There’s a moment where Eobard takes something personal from Bruce and it makes him snap. This Flashpoint reference was very pivotal and even I forgot about the letter Thomas Wayne wrote to Bruce. I was excited to see that Tom King brought that up. With the Flash finally appearing at the end, I guess we’ll finally see Batman and the Flash working side by side!