Batman 1: Their Dark Designs

In my book, Scott Snyder's run has the award for best run ever. It felt fresh, started off really good and ended off on a high note. Writers after him have had a difficult time to match that and surpass it. There were a lot of missed opportunities in the Rebirth run and had so much potential to offer more w/ Flashpoint, Bane, Alfred and Catwoman. In the end, it felt like a bad depiction of The Dark Knight Rises and I didn't even care for that movie, change my mind! I've only read Tynion's run on Detective Comics and Justice League Dark and had enjoyed both. Was curious and excited to where Tynion was going to take Batman. After reading Their Dark Designs as a whole, I thought it was decent, nothing game changing, nothing special and was underwhelming w/ the introduction of new characters (e.g. Punchline, The Designer) and a poor plot device w/ Harley Quinn (felt unnecessary). Their Dark Designs was a decent start, only meant to kickstart The Joker War and am hoping the next arc is an improvement.

Batman is grieving the death of Alfred but that's interrupted by a major shake-up. Gotham is under siege as are many of its supervillains, as the plans of the Designer begin to come to fruition.

In the interest of full disclosure, I picked up this after having dropped Tom King's run on Batman after the volume after the "wedding," so was aware of the events of City of Bane mainly through coverage.

As a jumping on point, this book does fairly well. There are still some gaps unexplained. But if you accept that Bruce and Selena are back together and Alfred's gone, you can enjoy this book with minimal knowledge of what's come before.

Tynion uncorks an epic story to open his run. He doesn't waste time, but gives us Batman's Big 4 of Rogues (Catwoman, Joker, the Riddler, and Penguin), Harley Quinn, plus add in Deathstorke and a Squad of Assassins on a mission, and this whole idea of the Designer and you've got a story that works.

Ever since DC Rebirth, writers have been obsessed with introducing randos we've never seen before as massive menaces to Batman. However, Tynion's take works because the concept is interesting and this isn't some lone rando, but someone who is tied into Batman intimately in a way that's believable. Add on that, a massive mystery that actually allows Batman to be a detective.

The stories from Batman Secret Files are pretty good and showcase a variety of styles, but the main attraction is Their Dark Designs, which manages to be a thoroughly engaging, must-read Batman epic.

Decent batman story, though pretty forgettable. Too many unnecessary characters forced in, and the new characters were bland. Reused motifs from the Nolan movies felt cheap. The reveal was fairly predictable. Art ranges from great to just OK.

Some of the best I have seen in this weird era of comics. Great art and great story by James Tynion.

Loved it. Hope DC goes far with this run

I am very Satisfied! It was a book that I wanted