First Scott Snyder helped rescue vampires from the clutches of teen-age girls in his American Vampire series, and now he's saving Batman from the muddled mess that Grant Morrison and DC had put him in. Snyder may be the biggest super-hero of them all. 
 Bruce Wayne is back from the dead or time travel or whatever the hell was going on, but he's off recruiting people for his new version of an international army of crime fighters so Dick Grayson is still acting as Gotham's Caped Crusader. Dick has to deal with things like a bunch of the weapons used by Batman's enemies have been stolen from a police evidence locker and are now being sold on the black market. There's a bizarre incident in which a whale is found dead in a bank with a human corpse in it's belly and the woman in charge is the daughter of the man that killed Dick's parents. There's also the small matter of Jim Gordon's son who may be a sadistic serial killer coming home. Oh, and The Joker breaks out of Arkham again. 
 Snyder's stories and the artwork are remarkably good, and got me revved up about Batman for the first time since Morrison started mucking around with the character. Dick Grayson as Batman puts a fresh spin on the whole Dark Knight thing. Gotham is still a hellish sinkhole of deranged criminals, but Dick's version of Batman is more hopeful and less severe than Bruce's as he tries to work with his allies rather than just barking orders and expecting everyone to obey. One of the funnier parts occurs between Gordon and Batman. Gordon is saying something and turns away. When he turns back, he's shocked that Dick is still there instead of disappearing in the middle of the conversation like Bruce does. 
 In addition to that, Snyder also works in nice references to past Batman stories like The Killing Joke, Year One, and A Death in the Family while still making this feel like a whole new era. Some of the best and creepiest stuff revolves around Gordon's messed up son who may not wear a crazy outfit but definitely belongs in the ranks of Gotham's criminally insane. The only disappointing thing was that the Joker story seemed kind of weak and short, but that's a small complaint. 
 Must reading for Bat-fans.