The Good
Let's admit it, Batman has a pretty simple origin despite being such a great character. As a child, his parents were killed. He vowed vengeance and spent the next decade or so training to becoming ready to fight evil. Despite that simplicity, we can't help but wonder what happened in those years. There's also the question of what was the actual motive behind the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne?
We saw in the pages of BATMAN during 'Night of the Owls,' where Bruce described trying to track down the existence of the Court of Owls as a child. He was determined that there was some reason for the death of his parents beyond a simple mugging. In that telling, Bruce did not discover anything. He believed that experience proved the Court didn't exist. That doesn't necessarily prove that there was or wasn't more to his parents' death.
In Gregg Hurwitz's story, we see a young Bruce Wayne return to the alley in order to find any answers. Just as in the flashback in BATMAN, this is important as it shows Bruce on the road to becoming a great detective. Throughout the story, we continue to see Bruce try to uncover any possible clues or leads. He is determined. This goes along with his obsession that will turn him into Batman. The longer he fails to find anything, the stronger his resolve becomes. He has made it his mission to try to perfect himself to go beyond his current means to reach new levels in trying to find answers.
The Bad
It's great to finally get a firm answer but there is some credibility issues involved. We can assume that the Gotham City Police Department might not have given every resource available to try to catch the killer yet we are to believe that Bruce as a child was able to find the one eye witness that could possibly give him answers. To add to this, Bruce is able to easily locate this same eye witness many years later. The chances of the person still being in the same area or even still being alive is a stretch. There was also an item this person was believed to still have in their possession which just doesn't seem possible after so many years. They would have gotten rid of it at the first opportunity.
The art had a nice feel to it but there is that slight awkward feeling when you see a noticeable difference in art styles. It's not too jarring but still enough to momentarily pull me out of the story.
The Verdict
The Batman zero issues have been on a roll. Even though we've had an idea what has transpired during the years Bruce Wayne prepared himself for his mission in life, seeing how they played out along with tiny bits of new revelations has been a blast. It's not possible for us to believe that Bruce would easily accept defeat and give up on trying to get answers about the death of his parents. Seeing the lengths he goes to made for a compelling story. There were some moments where we're forced to stretch our sense of disbelief but that's all part of comic books. This issue shows that there are still fascinating stories that can be told about Bruce Wayne before he became Batman.