I don’t know a whole lot about Fortnite. I tried playing the game one evening but quickly gave up for a combination of reasons. I know the basics about the game but nothing of the characters and little about the world. So, I was intrigued to check out Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 and see how the two properties would crossover and how it’d read to someone who’s generally a blank slate to about half of the comic.

Written by Christos Gage with concepts by Donald Mustard, Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 has Batman dealing with a mysterious energy and being sucked into the world of Fortnite (I think). Where he winds up isn’t really explained and that’s part of the point of the comic. Batman is lost. He doesn’t remember his past and can’t speak. But, he’s able to think in words (weird if he can’t speak) and remembers his fighting abilities. This is good, since he’s soon attacked drawing him into battle against unknown foes.

Like Batman, the reader doesn’t get much of an explanation as to where he is or who’s battling. It favors those into Fortnite. But, the reader know little like Batman is a rather interesting direction to take the comic. Some readers will have more information than others and in this case it’s pretty clear which those are. It’s not a bad direction for the comic but there isn’t much I found to suck me in to where it’s going.

Batman fights mysterious people in crazy costumes. The actual fight doesn’t stand out a lot and Batman being in a weird location also doesn’t feel like anything that really pops. The world of Fortnite is presented as a chaotic mess of a thing and for someone on the outside, not in a way that I want to find out more about the game. So, I’m left with a ho-hum Batman story in a world that’s not all that interesting.

But, if you’re Fortnite player, the results are likely very different. The comic is packed with characters (I assume characters) from the game. It’s a chaotic battle which I assume is pretty accurate. It all comes together for a rather wacky battle royale.

The visuals are decent. With art by Reilly Brown the characters and world do pop. Nelson Faro DeCastro provides inks, John Kalisz handles the color, and Andworld Design does the lettering. The group come together for a world that’s a bright almost cartoonish contrast to Batman’s Gotham. The impressive part of the art is how many characters are unique. There’s a lot packed in when the action gets rolling and all of it stands out. There’s little that’s shorted with characters in the background and it’s impressive so much is worked in. While that’s impressive, the art doesn’t quite excite. There’s room for more dynamic choreography in the battle and while there’s some interesting moments, there’s a kinetic flow that doesn’t quite click. The battle is stiff in a way.

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 is for fans of Fortnite. With downloadable content included and how the story is presented, it’s clear this is to get the video game players to check out comics and not comic readers to check out the game. There’s a good chance that the story comes together but as presented, there’s not enough for comic readers to really get sucked into the story. For Fortnite players, they might be more into it.

Story: Donald Mustard, Christos Gage Art: Reilly Brown
Ink: Nelson Faro DeCastro Color: John Kalisz Letterer: Andworld Design
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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