Review: Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1

With Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 Christos Gage and artist Reilly Brown create a welcome opening act for new comic readers and classic fans. Reading a crossover like Zeropoint should serve two roles: Create an interesting self-contained story and introduce new readers to characters or concepts they might not know. The readers are drawn in by at least one aspect of the crossover and inspired to come back for stories of the other.

This is a unique form of crossover as it seeks to bridge fans of the Fortnite game with comic books. It’s a great chance to bring new fans to the medium the same way G.I.Joe and Transformers comics brought in new readers in the ‘80s.

With that in mind the comic needs to be simple and welcoming to new readers while still blowing new and old readers away with the action, character interactions and visuals they came for. This book serves these purposes well. We see Batman sucked into the Zero Point, which is basically a transdemensional nexus between realities, and battles a massive cast of Fortnite characters. After a quick chat with Gordon and a quick battle with Harley, Batman is pushed into the mysterious barrier by a shadowing figure that looks likely to be Deathstroke. He then enters the Fortnite world and faces a battle on two fronts. One is the outward battle against a host of colorful warriors attacking him. The next is the internal confusion of forgetting his identity, his surroundings, his allies and his motivations.

The story is entirely from Batman’s perspective and none of the Fortnite characters are given a voice or perspective, which is a bit disappointing as half the fun of crossovers is seeing how they perceive each other. This issue flies by, but what we do see is interesting and enjoyable. Christos Gage has a solid handle on how to write a fun comic and great characters and his Batman feels genuine in the midst of very unusual circumstances.

The art by Reilly Brown and inks by Nelson Faro DeCastro absolutely shine with beautiful, chaotic battles which still manage to feel real and draw the reader in. The star of this issue has to be the bombastic colors by John Kalisz, with each page filled with bright colors and backgrounds rarely seen in a superhero comic.

This issue is a bite of fun rather than a full dessert, but it is a smart way to draw in new readers to the fold. It is not quite as effective a way to draw in classic readers to the Fortnite universe. As enjoyable as it is as a Batman story, it does not take even one panel to introduce us to a Fortnite character or their perspective. Hopefully future issues allow a bit more balance between the characters, and at least a little bit of dialogue.

Writing: 3.4 of 5 stars
Art: 4.2 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.5 of 5 stars

Overall: 4.0 of 5 stars

Concept: Donald Mustard
Writer: Christos Gage
Pencils: Reilly Brown
Inks: Nelson Faro DeCastro
Colors: John Kalisz
Publisher: DC Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.