I really disliked Batman: Earth One (vol.1)

I thought they tried too hard to make Bruce look like an upstart. And I thought the choice to show his eyes was a poor one cause it didn't have that desired effect on me. Batman's enemies are so well known and liked their popularity eclipeses his own all the time. So those problems combined with a piss poor villain for the introduction to the new Earth One Bat-world sunk it as a huge miss for me.

I absolutely love Volume 2. I'm dumbstruck by how great this setup to the future of Batman's Earth One is. But it doesn't try too hard for anything. The issue with Bruce's eyes through the mask are improved, if not 100% gone.

As a kid/fan raised on Burton's Batman movies, I ate up all the nods to his flicks.

The baddies went through a vast improvement in this volume. The first volumes big bad was a cookie cutter, uninspired, psychopath. All the people we see here in volume 2 that we recognize as bad guys are presented with a ocean of depth.

My biggest praise goes to Alfred though. Alfred is much more fleshed out and adds a lot more to Batman's world on Earth One than the original butler. Good job John's. He made an original Bat character better. Villains are hard to redefine. But a character like Alfred without going all "Jarvis" is a huge feat.

Get your hands on this bad boy asap.

Earth One is supposed to be "Realistic''. And realistically, a man can't master 127 martial arts, be physically perfect, have tons of gadgets and be the world's best detective. I liked Earth One, both volumes.

Still need to read 2, but the rest stands.

That wasn't my problem with volume 1. I never said anything like that.

@roboshark: I just think Stegman and I like the more realistic take.

Also Penguin is one of my better liked villains so I'm cool with his inclusion.