"You have a heavy heart for someone with everything." (Madeleine Wallace to Bruce Wayne)
A Bruce who is scarred after witnessing the murder of his parents. A Bruce who is consumed by rage and a need for vengeance. A Bruce who struggles to trust and isolates himself from almost everyone except a chosen few. A Bruce who still believes in justice and humanity. This is the Bruce Wayne that I was expecting to read about in Batman: Nightwalker.
Bruce Wayne in Batman: Nightwalker is a well-balanced individual with a good head on his shoulders. He doesn't obsess over the death of his parents, but it is something that affects his life. He is also friendly, trusting, naive, happy and hopeful. Bruce Wayne is ordinary and is totally opposite compared to Batman, who is bleak, grim, suspicious and paranoid.
The biggest problem that I had with Batman: Nightwalker is a me problem. I couldn't believe that the Bruce Wayne in Batman: Nightwalker had the potential to become Batman and it bugged me when Bruce does something that Batman wouldn't do. However, when I separated the two characters and pretended that Bruce in Batman: Nightwalker had nothing to do with Batman, I started enjoying Batman: Nighwalker.
The events that lead Bruce to all the action is unrealistic. Bruce is driving from a benefit gala one night, stumbles across a crime scene and chases after the perpetrator. He now has to complete community service at Arkham Asylum, a prison that houses the most dangerous criminals of Gotham, because he obstructed a police investigation and defeated the ends of justice. There he meets a prisoner, Madeleine, a member of a criminal organisation - the Nightwalkers - and finds himself intrigued by her. I couldn't believe that Bruce would be forced to be near dangerous criminals as part of his community service (but it is Gotham, so I let that one slide), that Bruce would be allowed to interact with criminals and lastly, that a detective would allow a teenage boy help her investigate a case.
Madeleine is an intriguing character and I like her perceptive nature. However, I didn't appreciate the romance aspect and although brief, it's unnecessary and poorly executed. Alfred has always been one of those characters that you can't help but love. He's supportive, but he also puts people in their place, especially Bruce. And while Dianne and Harvey are good friends, they are flat, throw-away characters.
Also, Batman is arguably the World's Greatest Detective and I expected Batman: Nightwalker to have a mystery aspect to it. However, the mystery aspect is not strong. Bruce is trying to solve the mystery of the Nightwalkers, but it's like he's a kid playing in detective shoes that are too big for him. Bruce doesn't investigate and solve cases because all the clues and answers are handed to him on a silver platter and even then, he's too naive and gullible so he doesn't do much about it.
I love Gotham City because corruption, seediness and poverty exists alongside wealth, opulence and extravagance and Marie Lu describes Gotham City well. I love the advanced technology in Batman: Nightwalker because it alludes to the fact that technology is an important part of Batman. I also love the nods to the Batman canon: Harvey Dent (when he was rolling the coin and it showed heads, Two-Face hint!), Lucius Fox, Commissioner James Gordon and Metropolis (I know it's a place but... Superman!)
I would have liked Batman: Nightwalker a lot more if it wasn't a Batman origin story. I was expecting something much darker and grim from a book about the future Batman.
"My job is to keep you safe, Master Wayne. But if that means making sure you don't try something absurd behind my back, then so be it." (Alfred Pennyworth)