Batman: Year One
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Batman: Year One was the title of a comic book story written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli and colored/painted by Richmond Lewis, first published in issues #404 to #407 of the ongoing Batman comic series in 1987 by DC Comics. It was one of the first examples of the limited series within a series format that is now very popular in comic books. There have been several different reprints of the story: a hardcover, at least two trade paperback editions (one in standard comics paper with simpler coloring and one deluxe version with rich detailing in the colors - both were colored by Richmond Lewis) and it was included in The Complete Frank Miller Batman leather-bound hardcover.
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[edit] Synopsis
The story recounts the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman and Jim Gordon's with the Gotham City Police Department.
Bruce Wayne, aged 24, returns home from martial arts training abroad for twelve years. In Gotham, he bides his time, waiting for the right moment to strike, all the while preparing himself. Gordon, meanwhile, has moved to Gotham from Chicago with his pregnant wife, and pursues a career in law enforcement. His first time out patrolling reveals to him the disturbing nature of law enforcement in Gotham as a senior officer, Detective Flass, assaults a teenager for "staying out late".
Bruce makes preparations - registering at a hotel to provide an alibi, giving himself a fake scar to disguise himself - before going out for his first street mission. He enters the Red Light District of Gotham. A young prostitute named Holly (who later becomes a recurring character in current Catwoman comic books,and after Infinite Crisis the new Catwoman) tries to proposition him. Her pimp, angry because he knows Bruce isn't the type to hire prostitutes, forcefully drags her away. Bruce confronts him and gets into a fight, and a few others join in. Selina Kyle, here shown as being a dominatrix-like prostitute, jumps from her window and fights with Bruce.
Unfortunately, the police arrive on the scene and arrest Bruce. On their way to the station, he manages to escape. He pulls the officers out of the car and goes back home, bleeding severely as he has been shot by the same policemen earlier. There he sits, looking for inspiration, something he feels will strike fear into the hearts of criminals. A bat crashes into the room through a window and perches on a sculpture of his father, to which Bruce immediately responds. He has found what he is looking for, stating the words "Yes father, I will become a bat."
Gordon tries to clean up GCPD, but on the orders of the corrupt Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, is attacked and threatened by fellow officers. After recovering, he visits the house of one of these officers, where they have gathered to play poker. He waits for Detective Flass, who he knows is responsible for organizing the attack. Flass is the last to leave, and Gordon tails him into the woods, where he proceeds to attack the drunken officer.
Bruce goes out for the first time as Batman and stops a trio of teenagers from stealing a television. A brief struggle ensues, resulting in the Dark Knight's first victory. The legend quickly grows with Batman attacking criminals with increasing boldness, including Flass, who was present at one crime, receiving a pay off from the criminals. One night, when the corrupt city leaders and gangsters like Carmine Falcone gather for a dinner party, Commissioner Loeb explains why Batman is politically advantageous to themselves, assuming he would never bother them; meanwhile, Batman sneaks onto the grounds, puts the guards to sleep and sets up stage lights around the window that comprises one of the dining room walls. He cuts the electricity, throwing the room in darkness, blows a hole in the outside wall and then activates the lights. He gives the men and women a dire warning that he is just as determined to deliver them to justice as well, then leaves. Meanwhile, Selina Kyle is inspired to become a costumed cat burglar when she sees Batman in action and becomes Catwoman.
The police try to capture Batman numerous times, but Bruce is too elusive and alert to fall for their traps. In addition, the maverick district attorney, Harvey Dent, becomes Batman's secret ally. After a night of following useless leads, Gordon and his partner, Detective Sarah Essen, see a truck barreling down the street. They give chase and Gordon hands the wheel over to Essen as he tries to get into the vehicle. An old, homeless woman stands in the way of the truck and is about to be run over just as soon as Batman jumps in and shoves her out of the way. The bus runs into a wall and Gordon briefly blacks out, only to awake moments later and find Essen holding Batman at gunpoint. She is momentarily distracted when she turns to ask if he is all right and Batman takes advantage to disarm her and flee into an abandoned building.
When cops arrive on the scene, the commissioner is quick to call in the trigger-happy Branden and his squad to drop a bomb on the building, which the Commissioner claims has already been scheduled for demolition. While dodging the fire from the explosion, Batman's belt (which contained explosives) catches fire, and he is forced to discard it. After suffering two dizzying gun wounds, Batman escapes into the secure basement and survives the blast. A crowd gathers outside the building. Stuck with only a blow gun and 3 darts, Batman uses a small device in his boot to summon thousands of bats from his cave to the building. A battle occurs as the police storm into the building and hunt him down. He incapacitates some and even saves a cat, jumping out of the building (after throwing a police officer forcefully through a wall) and takes advantage of the chaos that occurs when the bat colony arrives to speed away on a police motorcycle and escape.
Gordon has a brief affair with Essen. During the affair, he is confronted by the Commissioner, who threatens to inform his wife of the affair if he doesn't comply. Gordon, after bringing his wife to an interview with Bruce Wayne, whom he and others suspect of being Batman, stops the car in the driveway on the way back and tells her about his affair. Essen later leaves for New York.
Months pass and Batman overhears a local mafia boss planning revenge against Gordon. Selina Kyle, frustrated because she feels her petty crimes aren't enough, interferes and attacks the group. Batman does not appear, but helps Selina from the shadows, throwing small bat-shaped blades laced with tranquilizers at some of the men. Bruce, while working out, figures out the plan based on the part of the conversation he was able to record.
Gordon is called away by the police to investigate a robbery. On his way out, a mysterious motorist entering his garage raises Gordon's suspicions, as Gordon has never seen the motorist. He returns to the garage only to find his wife and baby being pulled into a car. He shoots and kills the men trying to take his wife, who survives; however, one assailant is unharmed. The car leaves with Gordon's baby in it, and Gordon shoots the motorist, takes his motorcycle and follows. The motorist, Bruce, is unharmed thanks to a bullet-proof vest. He attempts to leave, but not before Barbara threatens to shoot him. She lets him go when he promises to save her baby, takes a bicycle from a passing stranger, and pursues Gordon and the car.
Gordon shoots out a wheel on the car and it crashes into the side of a bridge. The don's hired knife, his nephew, exits the car, baby in hand. A struggle ensues and the baby is thrown off the bridge, followed by Gordon. However, Bruce had already arrived and dived after the baby before Gordon even falls over the rail. Gordon, having lost his glasses in the struggle with the hitman, thanks Bruce (whom he claims to not recognize due to his aforementioned missing glasses) and makes it clear that he won't turn him in.
Dent and Batman's efforts bear fruit with Flass, who is persuaded to turn damaging states evidence against his superiors, including Commissioner Loeb who is forced to resign. Although his immediate replacement is apparently worse, Gordon is content for the moment with receiving a job promotion and family counseling with his wife. The story ends with Gordon waiting for Batman to discuss The Joker.
The story also includes the first appearance of Mafia don Carmine Falcone.
[edit] Continuity
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths story, DC began to reboot all its properties. Uniquely though, most of the Silver Age Batman stories remained canon, with DC only wishing to revisit Batman's early years. The story was followed up by Batman: Year Two, but in the 1994 Zero Hour company wide crossover, it was erased from continuity. Catwoman: Year One (Catwoman Annual #2, 1998) tied into Catwoman's scenes, stating that the character had not been a prostitute, but rather a thief posing as one to help her commit crimes.
Officially, the story was continued in 2005 Graphic Novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, following on from Gordon telling Batman about the Joker, and thus recounting their first encounter. Also, beginning in 1998, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale created Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, two 13 issue limited series that fully recounted the rest of Batman's first, second, and third years as a crime-fighter, also re-telling of the origins of Two-Face and Dick Grayson. Another story, Batman and the Monster-Men, ties into the same era as Year One does.
[edit] Batman Begins tie-in
A film version had been in development at Warner Bros. Studio for several years, and while a direct adaptation (with scripts reportedly written by Frank Miller himself, and at one point to be directed by Darren Aronofsky) was eventually abandoned, Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, continuations of the stories in Batman: Year One, are both cited as inspiration for the reboot of the Batman movie franchise with Batman Begins in 2005, starring Christian Bale as Batman and Gary Oldman as Gordon. Some scenes in the film, including Batman using a sonic device to summon a swarm of bats to a building and take advantage of the ensuing chaos to escape unnoticed, and the ending in which The Joker's existence is revealed, parallel scenes of the same content from the comic.
[edit] Trivia
- Bruce sitting there bleeding while a bat crashes through his window is an obvious reappropriation of a nearly identical incident in his original origin story.
- 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.
- Mazzucchelli and Miller based Bruce Wayne's facial appearance on actor Gregory Peck. Miller has confirmed this in homage to the actor, as Orson Welles allegedly wanted to direct a Batman film back in 1946, with Peck appearing as the Dark Knight. The allegation has since been debunked.
- When Bruce is heading for the Red Light District, he makes references to the "Finger Memorial," "Sprang Mission," and "Robinson Park," all of which are named after Golden Age Batman writer Bill Finger, artist Dick Sprang, and artist Jerry Robinson.
- Contrary to some belief, Commissioner Loeb is NOT named after Batman comic writer Jeph Loeb, who did not start writing comics until years after the publication of Batman: Year One. At that time, he was a screenwriter, noted for such films as Commando, Teen Wolf, Teen Wolf 2, and the Howie Long vehicle, Firestorm.
- The nocturnal scene depicting Gordon and Essen in a bar called "Hopper's" is a graphic allusion to Edward Hopper's famous picture "Nighthawks".
[edit] External links
- Current edition at DC Comics ISBN 0-930289-33-1
- Deluxe Hardcover edition at DC Comics ISBN 1-4012-0690-5
| Batman | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Bob Kane and Bill Finger • Other writers and artists |
| Supporting Characters: | Robin (Tim Drake) • Nightwing (Dick Grayson) • Batgirl • Batwoman • Alfred Pennyworth • Lucius Fox • Barbara Gordon • Commissioner Gordon • Harvey Bullock |
| Villains: | Bane • Catwoman • Clayface • Harley Quinn • Joker • Killer Croc • Mr. Freeze • Penguin • Poison Ivy • Ra's al Ghul • Red Hood (Jason Todd) • Riddler • Scarecrow • Two-Face • Other villains |
| Locations: | Arkham Asylum • Batcave • Gotham City • Wayne Enterprises • Wayne Manor |
| Miscellanea: | Batarang • Batmobile • Batsuit • Popular media • Publications • Storylines • Alternate versions of Batman |
