Batman: Year One
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| "Batman: Year One" | |
 Cover to Batman #407, the conclusion to Year One. Art by David Mazzucchelli. |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
|---|---|
| Publication date | March – June 1987 |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Title(s) | Batman #404-407 |
| Main character(s) | Batman Jim Gordon Carmine Falcone |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Frank Miller |
| Artist(s) | David Mazzucchelli |
| Letterer(s) | Todd Klein |
| Colorist(s) | Richmond Lewis |
| Editor(s) | Dennis O'Neil |
| Collected editions | |
| Batman: Year One | ISBN 0930289331 |
| Deluxe Edition (softcover) | ISBN 1401207529 |
| Deluxe Edition (hardcover) | ISBN 1401206905 |
"Batman: Year One" is the title of an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein. It originally appeared in issues #404 to #407 of DC Comics' Batman comic title in 1987. It is one of the first examples of the "limited series within a series" format that is now prevalent in American comic books.[citation needed]
There have been several reprints of the story: a hardcover, multiple trade paperback editions (one in standard comics paper with simpler coloring and one deluxe version with rich detailing in the colors — both colored by Richmond Lewis) and it has been included in The Complete Frank Miller Batman hardcover.
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[edit] Synopsis
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The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (September 2008) |
The story recounts the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman and Jim Gordon's with the Gotham City Police Department.
Bruce Wayne returns home from training abroad in martial arts, manhunting and science for the past 12 years, and James Gordon moves to Gotham with his wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corruption and violence of Gotham City, with Gordon witnessing his partner Detective Flass assaulting a teen for fun.
On a surveillance mission to the seedy East End, a disguised Bruce is propositioned by teenaged prostitute Holly Robinson. He is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with her violent pimp and is attacked by several prostitutes, including dominatrix Selina Kyle. Two police officers shot and arrest him, but a dazed and bleeding Bruce breaks his handcuffs and crashes their car, dragging the police to a safe distance before fleeing. He reaches the Manor barely alive and sits before his father’s bust, requesting guidance in his war on crime. A bat crashes through a window and settles on the bust, giving him the inspiration become a bat.
Gordon soon works to rid corruption from the force, but, on orders form Commissioner Leob, several officers attack him, including Flass, who personally threatens Gordon’s pregnant wife. In revenge, the recovering Gordon tracks Flass down, beats and humiliates him, leaving him naked and handcuffed in the snow.
As Gordon becomes a minor celebrity for several brave acts, Batman strikes for the first time, attacking a group of thieves. Batman soon works up the ladder, even attacking Flass while he was accepting a drug dealer’s bribe. After Batman interrupts a dinner party attended by many of Gotham’s corrupt politicians and crime bosses, including Carmine Falcone, Leob orders Gordon to bring him in by any means necessary.
As Gordon tries in vain to catch him, Batman attacks Falcone, stripping him naked and trying him up in his bed after dumping his car in the river, further infuriating the mob boss. Assistant district attorney Harvey Dent becomes Batman’s first ally, while Detective Sarah Essen and Gordon, after Essen suggested Bruce Wayne as a Batman suspect, witness Batman save an old women from a runaway truck. Essen holds Batman at gunpoint while Gordon is momentarily dazed, but Batman disarms her and flees to an abandoned building.
Claiming the building has been scheduled for demolition, Leob orders a bomb dropped on it, forcing Batman into the fortified basement, abandoning his belt as the explosives inside catch fire. A trigger-happy SWAT team led by the sadistic Brandon is sent in, who Batman attempts to trap in the basement. They soon escape and, after tranquilizing Brandon, Batman dodges as the rest open fire, barely managing to survive after two bullet wounds. Enraged as the team’s carelessly fired bullets injure several people outside, Batman beats the team into submission and, after using a device to attract the bats of his cave to him, he flees amid the chaos. Selina Kyle, after witnessing him in action, dons a costume of her own to begin a life of crime.
Gordon reluctantly has a brief affair with Essen, while Dent has Batman intimidate a mob drug dealer for information. The dealer comes to Gordon to testify against Flass, but Leob blackmails Gordon against pressing charges with proof of his affair. After bringing Barbara with him to interview Bruce Wayne, investigating his connection to Batman, Gordon confesses the affair to her. Though their marriage remains strained, the birth of their son, James Gordon Junior, helps to repair it slightly.
Batman sneaks into Falcone’s manor, overhearing a plan against Gordon, but is interrupted when Selina Kyle, hoping to build a reputation after her robberies where pinned on Batman, attacks Falcone and his bodyguards, aided from afar by Batman. Identifying Falcone’s plan as the morning comes, the unconsumed Bruce leaves to help.
While leaving home, Gordon spots a motorcyclist enter his garage. Suspicious, Gordon enters to see Johnny Vitti, Falcone’s nephew, and his thugs holding his family hostage. Immediately shooting and killing the thugs, Gordon manages to save his wife, while Vitti flees with his baby. Seeing and shooting the motorist, Gordon takes his bike to pursue Vitti, while Barbara holds the still-alive motorist at gunpoint. The motorist, revealed to be Bruce, promises to save her son and chases Gordon on a stolen bicycle.
Forcing the car to crash on a bridge, Gordon fights Vitti hand-to-hand till both of them and James Gordon Junior fall over the side. Thankfully, Bruce jumps over as well and catches Junior in time. He hands the crying baby back to his grateful father, who cryptically reminds him he is blind without his glasses and urges him to go after hearing sirens.
After less then three weeks in jail, Flass turns on Leob, supplying Dent with evidence and testimony, forcing Leob to resign. While his replacement is worse, the newly promoted Captain Gordon is content, with him and Barbara doing well in marriage counseling. Falcone tries to have his nephew killed for his failure, causing his sister to declare war on him. The story ends with Gordon waiting on the rooftop of the GCPD headquarters for Batman, to discuss somebody called The Joker and his scheme to poison the reservoir.
[edit] Critical reaction
IGN Comics ranked Batman: Year One at the top of a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, saying that "no other book before or since has quite captured the realism, the grit and the humanity of Gordon and Batman so perfectly."[1] The website added, "It's not only one of the most important comics ever written, it's also among the best."[2]
[edit] Continuity
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC rebooted many of its titles. Year One was followed by Batman: Year Two, but the 1994 Zero Hour crossover erased Year Two from continuity. In another continuity re-arrangement, Catwoman: Year One (Catwoman Annual #2, 1998) posited that Selina Kyle had not actually been a prostitute, but, rather, a thief posing as one in order to commit crimes.
The story was continued in the 2005 graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, following up on Gordon informing Batman about the Joker, and thus recounting their first official encounter.
In 1998 Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale created Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, two 13-issue limited series that recounted Batman's first, second, and third years as a crime-fighter, also retelling the origins of Two-Face and Dick Grayson. Two other stories, Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk tie into the same time period of Batman's career.
Launched in 1989 following the success of the film Batman, the title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight examines crime-fighting exploits from the first three to four years of Batman's career. This title rotated in creative teams and time placement, but several stories directly relate to the events of Year One, especially the first arc "Batman: Shaman". Following the title's 2007 cancellation, Batman Confidential began publication, depicting Batman sometime between Year One and The Long Halloween.
Miller has stated that Batman: Year One exists in the same continuity as the other storylines in his "Dark Knight Universe", consisting of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Spawn/Batman, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman!.[3] There is even an early scene in DKR where Wayne and Gordon are reminiscing on a scene in Batman: Year One where the Lieutenant was introduced to the playboy in a state of mock intoxication, though all Wayne really drank was club soda.
Needless to say, of these only Year One is considered to be part of mainstream DC continuity. However Earth-31, one of the alternate earths revealed in 52, is essentially the Frank Miller Dark Knight Universe.
[edit] References to other media
When Bruce is heading for the Red Light District, he makes references to the "Finger Memorial", "Sprang Mission" and "Robinson Park", which are named after Golden Age Batman writer Bill Finger, artist Dick Sprang, and artist Jerry Robinson, respectively.
The nocturnal scene depicting Gordon and Essen in a bar called "Hopper's" is a graphic allusion to Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks.
The moment when Bruce decides which method he will use to fight crime is widely regarded as a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven, by the kind of chamber he is in and the bust over which the bat lands. The scene in itself is something of an elaboration on a classic scene from Detective Comics #33. Both share the line "I shall become a Bat".
The image of Bruce sitting and bleeding while waiting for inspiration is reused in the Elseworlds tale In Darkest Knight, though instead of a bat flying through the window, a dying Green Lantern summons him and bestows him with the ring.
The fact that Miller based Bruce on a young Gregory Peck is coincidental to a much-discussed hoax. In 2004, Mark Millar wrote about a failed attempt by Orson Welles to adapt a feature film of Batman in 1946. Although this has since been proven fictional, it is true that Welles attempted to star as The Shadow, whom Bill Finger cited as inspiration for his written portrayal of Batman, in a film adaptation, which never got off the ground.
Frank Miller referenced many old-time Hollywood faces in the book. Harvey Dent was based on Alan Ladd, and Essen was clearly modeled on Elizabeth Scott.
The East End sequence contains a few refences to the film Taxi Driver, including the teenage Holly Robinson based of Jodie Foster's character.
[edit] References
- ^ The 25 Greatest Batman Graphic Novels, Hilary Goldstein, IGN, June 13, 2005
- ^ Batman: Year One Review, IGN, June 17, 2005
- ^ Comics in Context #119: All-Star Bats on IGN
[edit] External links
- Current edition at DC Comics ISBN 0-930289-33-1
- Deluxe Hardcover edition at DC Comics ISBN 1-4012-0690-5
- Ninth Art review
- Plot summary and review
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