DC's January previews reviewed

I'm always all for new Batman villains, like this one appearing on the cover of Batman #119 called Abyss, but doesn't Batman already have enough grim reaper-esque bad guys armed with scythes, between The Reaper and The Phantasm...? 

Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico's Batman: The Knight #1 kicks off a 10-part series about Batman's origin, specifically, how he went from the murder of his parents to Batman: Year One, or, as the solicit puts it, " his training to become Batman in this definitive series."

I've long thought that one of DC's best untold stories has just been sitting there, waiting for someone to write, an ongoing series devoted to Bruce Wayne's travels around the world, collecting various masters to train him in various fields he would need to eventually become the Batman. There are so many intriguing shorter stories from that period littered throughout the canon that it could be exciting for someone to try to unify them all and fill in the blanks. 

This doesn't look like it's quite that—for one it's only ten issues long, and Bruce trained under well more than ten masters that have been revealed in comics past at this point—but I think there is some room for concern that maybe it's better not to completely detail that portion of the Batman story, as not doing so leaves room for new revelations and new stories (The last canonical Batman comic I read, for example, introduced Ghost-Maker, a character specifically from that undefined period of Batman's life). 

Plus, like Wolverine's true origins over at Marvel, I suppose there's always an argument to be made that the exact specifics of Bruce Wayne's training is something better left to the imagination rather than established on paper.

Anyway, Batman: The Knight is a terribly unimaginative-sounding title, and I hope the story itself justifies the use of the title. Still, there are worse potential titles for such a story. Like, say for example, Batman Begins. 

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I hate the way Lee Bermejo always draws Batman in dungarees so damn much. This is his cover for Detective Comics #1049.

Nice Riley Rossmo cover for Justice League Infinity #7.

Uh-oh. Justice League Vs. Legion of Super-Heroes #1 launches a six-issue miniseries by Brian Michale Bendis and artist Scott Godlweski that presumably ties-in to Bendis' Justice League run. But I never read Bendis' Legion of Super-Heroes comics. Or the second 2/3rds or so of his Superman comics. (I found Event Leviathan to be so dumb that it pretty instantaneously caused me to lose interest in Bendis' work in the DC Universe.)

I wonder if I'm going to be able to follow this, and/or follow Bendis' Justice League series, without having read the writer's earlier Superman and LOSH comics.

The Peacemaker: Disturbing The Peace #1 one-shot puts the insane superhero willing to commit almost any violent act in the name of peace into the hands of writer Garth Ennis, who seems fairly ideally suited to the character. Ennis will be collaborating with artist Garry Brown. This should be fun. I'm already disappointed it's only a one-shot.

I think this Superman: Son of Kal-El #7 cover would be funnier if the tentacles in the background were also holding up a sign. After all, anything living in the ocean is in just as great—if not greater—peril from climate change as those of us on the land. 

Speaking of comics I'm not sure I can follow, I think I'm at least one Super Sons miniseries behind (Challenge of the Super Sons, which isn't going to be available in trade until after this Superman and Robin Special #1  comes out), not have I read the Superman comics that explain how exactly Jon Kent got hyper-aged from Superboy to Superman...