The Comicologist » Frank Miller http://www.comicologist.com Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:41:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Batman: Year One http://www.comicologist.com/batman-year-one/ http://www.comicologist.com/batman-year-one/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:57:10 +0000 The Comicologist http://www.comicologist.com/?p=60

Batman: Year One is a four issue story arc written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, that originally appeared in issues #404 to #407 of DC Comics' Batman series in 1987. Batman: Year One is one of the "must read" Batman comics, and is also one of the first examples of the "limited series" format (or self contained series within a series) that is now common place in most main stream comics. Batman: Year One is also the story arc that inspired a lot of the key plot points for the film Batman Begins, and there is a clear link between the gritty style portrayed in both Year One and the film.

Batman: Year One begins with the return of Bruce Wayne. Having left Gotham city 15 years ago, following the death of his parents, it appears that Bruce Wayne has spent his time away training in martial arts as well as forensic and criminal sciences. Jim Gordon is also moving back to Gotham City, with his pregnant wife Barbara. It doesn't take Gordon long to figure out that law enforcement in Gotham is not everything that it should be. Corruption has spread to the highest levels.

Bruce Wayne, yet to adopt the Batman persona, hits the street for his first mission, creating an alibi and disguising his appearance before entering the Red Light District of Gotham. Following an altercation with a local with a local pimp, and a brief fight with a dominitrix called Seline Kyle (who will go on to become Catwoman), Bruce Wayne is shot by police. Managing to escape and make his way back to Wayne Manor, Bruce sits alone, bleeding, and wondering whether it's worth going on. Searching for a flash of inspiration, and a way to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies, a bat crashes through a nearby window and lands on a sculpture of his father. "Yes Father, I will become a bat". Batman is born.

All the while, Gordon is on his own search, desperately trying to figure out how he can clean up the Gotham City Police Department. Gordon, now sure that Gotham is run by corrupt city leaders and gangsters like Carmine Falcone, begins to draw increased attention from those he'd seek to bring down.

From here, Gordon and Batman are on a collision course that will bring the two characters together, uniting to achieve a common goal.

Batman: Year One is awesome for a number of reasons. Firstly it gives us a greater insight into the development of Batman, at a time when he's arguably at his most vulnerable. Secondly it's an origin story, and I love a good origin story. But it's not just a Batman origin story, it tells us as much about Jim Gordon as it does about Batman in many respects. It also provides a few insights into the origin of Catwoman, that had not been previously explored.

Batman: Year One also illustrates the formation of the relationship between Batman and a young Assistant District Attorney, Harvey Dent. Year One also introduces crime boss, Carmine Falcone. Finally, Batman: Year One is awesome because it re-established Batman as a dark and gritty vigilante, that wasn't afraid of getting his hands dirty to clean up Gotham City. Frank Miller effectively reclaimed the character, and I think we can all be grateful for that.

What did I learn?

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight both owe a lot to Batman: Year One. Would I recommend it? Heck Yes. Pick up the graphic novel now and read it twice.
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]]> http://www.comicologist.com/batman-year-one/feed/ 1 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns http://www.comicologist.com/batman-the-dark-knight-returns/ http://www.comicologist.com/batman-the-dark-knight-returns/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:41:53 +0000 The Comicologist http://www.comicologist.com/?p=6 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a mini-series written and drawn by Frank Miller and published by in four issues by between February and June of 1986.

Don't get Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (DKR) confused with the 2008 Dark Knight movie. They are two distinctly different tales. DKR is set twenty years into an alternate future in which superheroes are strangely absent, and super-villians are either jailed or dead. Ordinary criminals now fill the void, and a gang known as the "Mutants" are holding Gotham City to ransom.

Batman has not been seen for ten years following the death of the second incarnation of Robin (Jason Todd). Bruce Wayne, whilst battling a drinking problem, is still a rich man. We learn that for years he has been funding the rehabilitation of Harvey Dent, to the point where "Two-Face" seems to have disappeared, and Harvey Dent is released back out into society. When Dent returns to crime, Batman is forced out of retirement. After recapturing Dent, Batman then goes after the mutants, defeating their leader, and fuelling the media's obsession with the re-emergence of the Dark Knight.

Having spent tens years lying catatonic in a psychiatric hospital, the Joker emerges after hearing reports of the return of Batman. When the Joker escapes, Batman finds himself asking the same question many readers will have asked time and time again. If Batman had killed the Joker in their first meeting rather than locking him up, only to have him escape again and again, how many lives would have been saved?

When the Soviet Union invade nearby Corto Maltese, the US government send in Superman to naturalise the threat. The Soviet Union respond by launching a nuclear attack on US soil, causing massive power loss and social upheaval. When Batman gathers the former "Mutants", who now call themselves "Sons of Batman", and forms a small army, and restores order to Gotham, and making it the safest city in the US in the process, the US government is publicly embarrassed. When Superman is then ordered to naturalise the Dark Knight it's clear that something has to give.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a classic not only in terms of the Batman saga, but also for the comic format as a whole. It covers themes including social alienation, the mass media's influence on society, the cold war and government corruption. It is also one of the books that Frank Miller is most well known for. The plot is dark, and has a constant feeling of foreboding as you turn the pages. You'll find yourself constantly asking, is this the end of the Dark Knight?

If nothing else, it teaches us that you can teach an old dog (or bat?) new tricks.

You'd be lucky if you found 9.4 CGC graded copy of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 for anything less than $100US, with the 6th Edition Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Trade Paper back worth upward of $55US for a 9.8 CGC graded copy.
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