After Death of the Family, we've all been wondering what happens next. What could Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have coming up? When looking at this coming year, Snyder did tell us the following:

Our big story in 2013 will be the most daring and ambitious one we've done. Hands down.
S

What could that mean? It appears it means they're going back to Bruce's roots. In a story with the Associated Press, it was revealed that BATMAN: ZERO YEAR would begin in issue #21.

It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.' It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52.

Due to the nature of the New 52 in bringing new origins to many in the comics, a question has remained what has and hasn't happened with Batman? Snyder's plan is to show us how Batman found his calling and what challenges he first encountered. The story will be an 11-issue story beginning with June's issue #21 with art by Greg Capullo.

We tried to preserve as much of Batman’s history as we could and keep what we could of this history intact. It’s ‘The Zero Year,’ the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain.

It's pretty amazing in all these years, this story has never been fully told. Snyder also notes they do not plan to 'take apart' Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's YEAR ONE.

It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52.

I say, it's about time. Many of us have been wondering how it all began in this New 52 Universe. And as Snyder put it, we never really saw how he actually became Batman in terms of building the Batcave and all. This should satisfy those that want these details plus deliver a new story to those that don't get hung up on the little details. It also sounds as if this will be pulling the comic away from the other Bat-titles. We'll have to find out more.

Source: Associated Press

Awesome.

good no harper row

I'm sure this will be good, but I kind of wish they'd just keep pushing forward with the timeline instead of trying to go back and set everything. They already dug themselves into a pretty deep hole with some of the new continuity, and I feel like no matter what they do, they're just digging themselves in deeper trying to go into the past.

Besides that, if this ends up being that Riddler story that Scott and Greg have been talking about, I don't know that I'm thrilled with Edward Nigma of all characters being tied that closely with Bruce's start as Batman.

I'm interested to see how the cave was constructed. Been excited for a Riddler story for some time now. Hope this answers more questions than it asks continuity wise.

Ah, then this means their will be no crossovers that'll mess up the other bat titles storylines for a while.

I'm sure Snyder will deliver but I can't help but have that little tick in the back of my brain that says "Go back to when it all began, for the 100th time. Now remixed. With dubstep and lasers and cool sh*t"

I trust Scott Snyder to make this new and interesting

11 issues? Isn't that little too much for a story like this.

i love snyders stuff but this is making me a little nervous, i guess well just see what happens.

@Impala said:

11 issues? Isn't that little too much for a story like this.

owls was pretty long too. could be too long but i want to read it first before i judge it

Because we really need to know the origin of Batman, again.

Sounds great!

I'm sure this will be a fun ride with Snyder in the driving seat, I do get the feeling that we see the origins of characters a lot these days though

Am I the only one thinking that Harper Row will be the next Robin?

Well, if this new one don't mess with Year One, I'm okay. I really don't care with the ''continuity'' of the New 52.

Can't wait for this!!! Of course the writing will be top notch. You can bank on that. OMG what will that mean for the look of the book. Capullo is a master. I can't help but get excited wondering what he has in store for us. The suit. The batmobile. Will we get to see Capullo draw Dick Grayson as Robin? SO MUCH TO BE EXCITED ABOUT!!!!

Why does Snyder always feel the need to say his new run will be "the biggest, most ambitious, that will shake the character and his world to the very core". Honestly its getting irritating.

@Jacobin_Wisdom said:

Ah, then this means their will be no crossovers that'll mess up the other bat titles storylines for a while.

I'm pretty excited by this proposition. Let the other titles breathe on their own for a while.

Well let me guess this will be a long ass 11 issue run. That starts slow builds nicely then has an ending that feels like it was thrown together in about 5 minutes. DC just loves to give us the same crap we have already seen 1000 times before and this is no different.

I was wondering how Snyder was going to follow up on the cliffhanger from #0, this makes sense. And if #0 counts as the first issue, technically, this will end up being a full 12 issue arc.

Who is willing to bet that Bruce will fight crime motivated by the death of his parents.

"It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.' It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52."

Yeah, how many times have I heard that before. Seriously DC just stop.

A whole year dedicated to an origin arc. Too much I say.

Batman Zero Year : because Year One is, you know, old and as a result, by DC's definition, bad.

I love Batman and his clan but Year Zero on his self titled book and history lessons in Batman/Superman? I hope Detective and The Dark Knight will stay "current" in DCU.

I don't get it. How is this NOT redoing the origin yet again?

@Jacobin_Wisdom said:

Ah, then this means their will be no crossovers that'll mess up the other bat titles storylines for a while.

Unless they give all of the family an issue each, showing what they were all doing during Bruces' Early Batman days.

A bit like #0 month part 2.

I thought the next drawn-out Batman story was going to be about the Riddler?

And really, a year dedicated to telling a story everyone with even rudimentary knowledge of Batman already knows...that's not what I would call ambitious.

**Spoiler**

Bruce's parents die.

Actually this sounds really interesting. Looking forward to this.

Too long story and we already have year one its from 1987 and it was a perfect origin story

Now we get to experience the magic of Bruce getting nearly beating to death all over again. Not much different from every other Snyder arc so far. I'm really fascinated to see if Scott can write Bruce as the crazy person that he is. Because he IS a crazy person. Call me excited.

Does not matter if it is The New 52 origin it is not necessary to spend a year telling a story that is already being retold somewhere else. It seems Snyder never liked progressing the character now he doesn't have to.

I trust Scott Snyder to make this new and interesting

Does anyone else get the feeling that Batman the character is in dire straits? Retell the origin, yet AGAIN. Kill a major supporting character, yet AGAIN. They simply cannot come up with enough new, original stories to keep the character going, certainly not enough to fill, what is it now, 5 books?

I know the solution, but none of you are going to want to hear it...Kill Bruce Wayne. Not a comic book death, when he comes back again and everything goes right back to the status quo--they've already done that this decade. He needs to die for good. His death would actually mean something in the DC Universe (instead of just offering up another sidekick to the "comic sales gods") with REAL repercussions, not just relaunching books. And Wayne could have a little dignity.

"It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.' It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52."

This sentence is actually hilarious.

We are not redoing the origin, we are telling a new origin story. ^^

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I love DC. They're the best.

Yet another origin story for the B-Man. Snyder, you better make this good.

Who is willing to bet that Bruce will fight crime motivated by the death of his parents.

Bleh.

@DarthShap said:

"It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.' It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52."

This sentence is actually hilarious.

We are not redoing the origin, we are telling a new origin story. ^^

I laughed at that one,not cause of the statement itself but because of the idiots who are eventually gonna hail it as the best Batman origin story ever.

Oh and Zero year? Death of the Family? I like how these are supposed to evoke classic stories like Death in the Family and Year:One,nice way to market them,they're already classics and I couldn't care less for these mediocre,repetitive stories.

Hm... I'm skeptical. But, Snyder and Cap have earned some patience and some indulgence. I don't like the title - and that won't change. But, we'll see.

I wanna see how he built the Batcave! Thats always bugged me, like it would have required a lot of heavy construction.

@shackle said:

Does anyone else get the feeling that Batman the character is in dire straits? Retell the origin, yet AGAIN. Kill a major supporting character, yet AGAIN. They simply cannot come up with enough new, original stories to keep the character going, certainly not enough to fill, what is it now, 5 books?

I know the solution, but none of you are going to want to hear it...Kill Bruce Wayne. Not a comic book death, when he comes back again and everything goes right back to the status quo--they've already done that this decade. He needs to die for good. His death would actually mean something in the DC Universe (instead of just offering up another sidekick to the "comic sales gods") with REAL repercussions, not just relaunching books. And Wayne could have a little dignity.

Do this PLEASE DC

@ObsideonDarman said:

Am I the only one thinking that Harper Row will be the next Robin?

Well, since Batman has only like, 3 fans, chances are good you are "the only one" who thinks this. Consider yourself a genius! However, since these stories are going backward in time rather than forward, your genius is misplaced. Sorry!

@iaconpoint: No need to be a dick about it.

I like the idea of this, but it also has me extremely pissed off at them. So the entire family gets broken apart by Death of the Family, and then Damian gets killed in Batman Inc, so instead of showing the repercussions of these things they're just going to gloss it all over...just great... I'm sorry but TOO much has happened recently in Batman to just 'forget about it' and go back to do this in this title. It also means Harper Row won't be showing up for like another year, and that's got me rather upset as well. I hardly ever get angry or pissed off at anything, let alone DC (which is surprising with how messed up their editorial staff is, and all the continuity issues) but this just feels like they're brushing so much under the rug, and I am NOT okay with it.

That being said, I do like the idea and I have some faith in Snyder for this, I just think they shouldn't be doing this right now.

@shackle said:

Does anyone else get the feeling that Batman the character is in dire straits? Retell the origin, yet AGAIN. Kill a major supporting character, yet AGAIN. They simply cannot come up with enough new, original stories to keep the character going, certainly not enough to fill, what is it now, 5 books?

I know the solution, but none of you are going to want to hear it...Kill Bruce Wayne. Not a comic book death, when he comes back again and everything goes right back to the status quo--they've already done that this decade. He needs to die for good. His death would actually mean something in the DC Universe (instead of just offering up another sidekick to the "comic sales gods") with REAL repercussions, not just relaunching books. And Wayne could have a little dignity.

My question is: what's wrong with maintaining the status quo? There seems to be a desire shared by many comic fans for big, game changing events to occur rather frequently. Batman is an awesome character because he a) has no superpowers in a world full of Supermen and b) is the world's greatest detective. Batman books don't need earth shattering events and revelations to be good - they need to simply keep creating new stories of Batman defying overwhelming odds and solving the problems no one else can figure out.

That being said, I agree that these half-assed attempts to create game changers need to stop. Damian shouldn't have died, Batman shouldn't have had a "comic book death" to begin with, etc. At the end of the day, these are imaginary stories and characters, so desiring big repercussions is kind of silly. Bruce/Batman is a character that most already know and love - no need to keep throwing "major" changes at him, they simply need to bring him back to his detective roots (which this story may be doing...)

AWESOME.

@microwave25 said:

Why does Snyder always feel the need to say his new run will be "the biggest, most ambitious, that will shake the character and his world to the very core". Honestly its getting irritating.

Because It's true.

Man i wish BATMAN was bi-weekly. I can't wait a month for each issue!

@Krissyjump said:

I like the idea of this, but it also has me extremely pissed off at them. So the entire family gets broken apart by Death of the Family, and then Damian gets killed in Batman Inc, so instead of showing the repercussions of these things they're just going to gloss it all over...just great... I'm sorry but TOO much has happened recently in Batman to just 'forget about it' and go back to do this in this title. It also means Harper Row won't be showing up for like another year, and that's got me rather upset as well. I hardly ever get angry or pissed off at anything, let alone DC (which is surprising with how messed up their editorial staff is, and all the continuity issues) but this just feels like they're brushing so much under the rug, and I am NOT okay with it.

That being said, I do like the idea and I have some faith in Snyder for this, I just think they shouldn't be doing this right now.

Keep in mind that there are four other Batman books that will be covering the mainline continuity, where you can see plenty of fallout from the events of DotF and that other thing (are we still treating that like a spoiler? Really?) outside the main book proper.