This is the first comic I've read in quite a while that I put down and immediately wanted to read again. I finished the last few pages of this as slowly as possible, hoping to make it last a little longer. This may have become my favorite Batman story of all time, and I've read a LOT of Batman. 
 Scott Snyder has managed to lend a completely original voice to this, his run on Detective Comics. It floats somewhere between the serious, realistic Christopher Nolan films and the superheroics of stories like "Hush," but that's just on the surface. Underneath there is some harsh, sinister stuff going on in this story. I found myself genuinely shocked and revolted by parts of this story, and not just because of Jock's intense artwork. Snyder's character work is what did it. I was actually scared of something in Batman for the first time since childhood. He made crazy crazy again. 
 Having read Snyder's work on American Vampire, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I find that series pretty predictable and middle-of-the-road. However, this book had been heavily hyped to me, so I was going in with high expectations. But he knocked it out of the park. Expectations fulfilled and then some. It's amazing to me that a writer who's made his name on his own original series takes over a famous franchise like Batman and kills it harder than his own thing. It feels like Snyder was just born to write this. 
 The stories come in 3-issue arcs, alternating artwork by Jock and Francisco Francavilla. The styles and arcs complement each other perfectly, weaving in and out of each other, constantly surprising you with the elements that remain important and the ones that only stay within a given arc. I feel like I'm reaching a point where I'm gushing, so maybe I'll stop. But you have to read this. I require it.