Mattson Tomlin, one of the screenwriters on the upcoming R-Batz movie, writes a grittier, more realistic version of the early days of Batman in Batman: The Imposter #1, and it’s pretty dull stuff! What’s more, I really enjoy all the character designs: they all look entirely unique, and I appreciate that most of the characters look realistic, in the sense that these could be people that you might see in the streets. It makes the book feel more alive, like Gotham is a place that actually exists. It's the] idea of [taking] away all of these friends that he has, because that's what it would be like, and then instead put him on a head-on collision with somebody who is legitimately as smart as he is," Tomlin said. "These two people who are both kind of vying for the mantle of World's Greatest Detective just kind of slam into each other. A big part of it was just making a kind of adversary for him that would create interesting complications for later in the story." The “GCPD at odds with Batman” angle has been done many times before, as has the mistaken identity thing, and there’s nothing that enthralling about new character Detective Blair Wong as she sets out to uncover the identity of Batman - she’s just a regular decent cop character going through an investigation.

I spent a lot of time in the Imposter universe thinking about what the hell Robin would look like. Just kind of thinking about this guy taking on a surrogate child and what that all means. We’ve seen so many different interpretations of it and …there’s a lot of darkness there, and also a lot of light. I haven’t sat down to actually write that story yet. But I certainly find myself daydreaming about what it might look like in this universe. This kind of take on the character is going to feel different from some of the other things that we’ve seen before. Certainly doing something that was very grounded, and something that was a detective story, that is something I'm very interested in," he said. "But honestly, I think that it might have come from a tweet. You know, the internet goes wild, and one of the memes that was going around is something like 'Bruce Wayne would rather dress up as a bat and beat people up than go to therapy.' And I just thought, that's kind of awesome. Let's send him to therapy! And I hadn't quite seen that in a really head on kind of way before. Like the Matt Reeves movie, this story shines a light on just how fragile Batman’s operation is. The Dark Knight’s mission faces three critical threats—an imposter destroying his image, an officer closing in and a psychotherapist threatening to expose his secret. As you read the story, you really get the sense that Batman is one wrong step away from getting himself unmasked, killed or both. So much of what [Reeves] was doing was already set," Tomlin told SYFY WIRE. "And I spent so much time thinking about Batman that year, that I kind of felt like, 'Man, I have all of these ideas, and kind of things I would have done, or ways to go that just never applied to the movie, because it was its own thing.' And I ended up calling the folks at DC Films and kind of sheepishly asking them, 'Hey, I'm really interested in comic books. I actually really, really loved the 'books. So is there anybody at DC that I could talk to?' And they were very, very generous, and they set me right up."A unique new vision of Gotham, built to be the logical next step for fans of the 2022 film THE BATMAN! Arrant, Chris (October 8, 2021). "Dr. Leslie Thompkins has words with Bruce in Batman: The Imposter #1 preview". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved February 17, 2022.

At some point in the book, I think an issue 2, Bruce says she's categorically the best detective the force has ever had. That to me was just: "Let's have other people be smart too. Let's have other people be smart, but not scheming villains." It's just somebody else who's out there, and it's her job to find him, so let's just make her a real obstacle. Bryan, Carl (2021-11-25). "Review: Batman: The Imposter #2". Dark Knight News . Retrieved 2022-11-24. Otis Flannegan commits suicide in the police department, but not before revealing the Batman imposter had a hideout in the sewers. Batman confronts the imposter but the Gotham Police arrive and start shooting at Batman. Batman is wounded heavily and caught by Detective Wong. Batman reveals his identity to convince Detective Wong he isn't the killer, and she lets him go. Bruce Wayne meets up with Leslie Thompkins to tell her he won't be attending her therapy sessions. Leslie tries convincing Bruce that Batman isn't the solution to the crime problem, Bruce Wayne could donate to charity to make Gotham City a better place but Bruce ignores her. Bruce Wayne realizes the imposter is using guns from Lawrence Loman who wants to be the Kingpin of Gotham City. Batman meets up with Detective Wong to ask her for help and asks her to meet alone. They meet up, but Blair is shot by the Batman Imposter. As Batman fights the imposter, the Imposter reveals himself to be Blair's partner Hatcher who tells Batman the reason why he's killing the criminals is because of Batman and Gordon's mistake. Batman and Blair manage to defeat the imposter, and allows himself to be arrested by Blair. Batman asks Blair if she arrests him, would Gotham City be safe, and Blair decides to let him escape. Batman meets up with Arnold Wesker, but instead of turning Arnold in Batman leads him to Leslie Thompkins and visits his parents grave before vowing to help Gotham City as Bruce Wayne. [3] Publication [ edit ] In the spirit of Batman: Year One, the series finds Bruce Wayne occupying a very different Gotham City. Jim Gordon a memory, stripped from the police force for working with this new vigilante. The wealthy and powerful organizing against Batman, instead of small-time crooks and supervillains. Not to mention a new killer on the loose, using the cape and cowl to destroy Batman's legacy before it can even begin. With Tomlin's work on The Batman making a gritty, darker, and grounded Gotham seem a no-brainer, Screen Rant is pleased to offer an exclusive preview of the first issue--and a tease from the writer of just how different his team-up with all-star artists Andrea Sorrentino and Jordie Bellaire is going to be.There are a lot of villains in this that aren’t really recognizable as villains. They’re not the antagonists of the piece. In particular, the stuff with Ratcatcher is heartbreaking, almost from the minute he appears on panel. How did you decide on including Ventriloquist, Ratcatcher, Squid… you mentioned Firebug…how did you come to populating this story with these particular characters?