The Batman titles of the Dawn of DC era were surely a study in contrasts. At the same time Batman has been shunted to an alternate Earth by his psychic doppleganger in Chip Zdarsky’s Batman, Ram V has what’s in many ways a very ground-level Batman story in his Detective Comics.

Though Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 2: Gotham Nocturne: Act 1 involves a werewolf and a sentient music tune and a “reality engine” that can control the fates of cities, at its base we have a somewhat regular, low-key Batman story — a would-be conquerer and his minions come to Gotham and only Batman stands in their way. If there’s similarities to Bane, Bird, Trogg, and Zombie or to the rise of the Court of Owls, it’s because these stories follow somewhat similar tropes.