After his first big screen adventure, Little Batman is back in action in his first real month of crimefighting. Left to his own devices, a young Damian Wayne seeks to rescue his father from kidnappers all by himself. Incidentally, his father is perfectly fine, because he's Batman. In this issue, Scarecrow's plan begins to develop, while Damian experiments with several new identities. It's not going to get any less silly from here, but let's talk about it!

Timothy Business Begins

Morgan Evans painstakingly retains the same family tone of Merry Little Batman. Due to the eight year old perspective, the peril is there, but comes off spooky rather than scary. Primarily, this is because Batman cleaned up Gotham to the point that a child could protect it. For example, Arkham Asylum is now just a daycare. Still, the thugs haven't gone anywhere and the police are worryingly corrupt underneath the seemingly pacified surface. Yet, this version of Gotham is comfortable with locking up toddlers, shamefully relying on Batman to resolve any real problems that may turn up. Nonetheless, none of this worries Batman, who comfortably ignoring and eye rolling the situation until it directly involves Damian.

At the same time, Damian takes his father's disappearance fairly seriously. While Bruce contacts Alfred to warn his son not to come for him, Damian is back on the streets testing the usefulness of his secret identity. Embracing his father's advice in issue one, Damian reasons that moving around as a little boy is less conspicuous than his superhero persona. However, the hero mistakenly chooses a recon mission as the best place for him to be a kid. Not to mention, Damian comes up with a third persona, like Matches Malone or Alvin Draper, by the name of "Timothy Business." Which is an over the top character day trader character that Damian uses to get out of sticky situations. It's so ridiculous that not even the characters in the universe buy the cartoon logic of yelling "Buy, sell" as an efficient disguise, but clearly foreshadows future pay off.

A Serious House On Silly Earth

Generally, it is hard to know what is silly in a world that's already silly. One important comedic principle is mining the juxtaposition of serious people in a silly world, or a silly person in a serious world. Case in point, everybody and everything feels like pretend play. Alternatively, even Batman can escape his prison at any time, and finds the whole situation annoying. When Alfred and the Babysitter look for Damian, they unironically look in the cabinets and the oven. Despite this, Alfred knowingly searches for Damian in the streets, while the babysitter checks the playgrounds. Furthermore, adult villains like Scarecrow and the Penguin are oblivious and childish, while Joker seems actually sinister.

Jon Mikel finds a way to populate the book with neat artistic homages to darker tales in the mythos. For one, this issue heavily features a child friendly tribute to Alan Moore's The Killing Joke by reintroducing the film's version of the Joker in deep shadow. It may be wishful thinking, but I'd like to believe Joker's "Never heard of it" line is a callback to Mark Hamill's iconic delivery in Batman: Arkham City. Anyway, Mikel also dedicates a memorial bridge in honor of Bob Kane and Bill Finger in an Easter egg. In one kooky panel, Little Batman's silhouette looks like a toothy hair comb! Arguably, this also harkens back to the imagery of Batman's transformation in the opening sequence of Batman (1966). To say nothing of the playful, but overt reference to Loeb's The Long Halloween on the cover.

Recommended If...

• You're a kid between the ages of 6 and 11.
• Looking for a low stakes Batman story.
• You get a kick out of comic book silliness.

Overall

In a nutshell, it is a children's book based on a children's film. While the film had subtle bits for the adults and kids alike, Month One is all silly for mostly children. While there is nothing wrong with that, I think the lack of depth and complexity makes it a harder sell for anyone over twelve or thirteen. At the same time, Alfred's subplot of trying to get rid of the babysitter is humorous, and Joker's portion really brings life to the book. Otherwise, indulging Damian's delusion makes the story feel like a hugely irresponsible game of pretend that none of the adults are taking seriously. As a result, the plot never feels like it is progressing meaningfully, rather than waiting for something to happen. Likely, because no one really believes Little Batman is necessary, especially if Batman could've stopped this at any time.

Score: 7/10. 

DC Comics have provided advance copies of books for review.