Batman: Year Two
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Batman: Year Two was the title of a comic book, a four part DC Comics story based on Batman, written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by various talents in the comic arts field, Paul Neary, Alfredo Alcala, Mark Farmer, and Todd McFarlane. It originally appeared in Detective Comics #575-578.
The story begun life as a treatment by Barr entitled Batman: 1980, but was deemed unusable at the time, then, upon the success of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, based on Batmans' first days as a vigilante in Gotham City. DC Comics commissioned a few follow-ups to capitalize on the mini-series' success, following Batman's early adventures with different writers and artists in a format similar to Year One, across two Batman publications.
[edit] Synopsis
Batman by now is an established vigilante in Gotham City. Captain Gordon has recently succeeded Loeb as Police Commissioner, and is addressing local media stations on his new stature. The media also reflects on the anniversary of the final sighting of Gotham's first vigilante, The Reaper.
Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, in the meantime is visited by an old acquaintance, Leslie Thompkins, the medic who helped to raise him after his parents were murdered, and knows all too well of his double life. She is joined by Judson Caspian, and his daughter Rachel, who gradually develops a romantic infatuation with Bruce Wayne.
It soon comes to light that Judson is really The Reaper, driven to his life by the tragic death of his wife and it takes only one stroll down Gotham to remind Judson of the horrors of crime he thought he had put to rest long ago in his dual identity; he returns to his apartment and dons The Reaper costume. Immediately making an impact and leaving several criminal heavies dead, Batman and The Reaper soon come face to face, but The Reaper's experience and weaponry prove too much for Batman, and he is left bloodied, broken, and forced to flee before he is killed. Upon returning to Wayne Manor, a bandaged, injured Bruce angrilly admits that his best wasn't enough, and that perhaps the only way to confront a killer with his measure of thinking head on is to become that which he loathes the most, prompting him to now bear a firearm, the gun that took the lives of his parents.
Batman's vendetta against The Reaper leads to a falling out with Gordon, whom Batman nearly wounds or kills to prevent him from getting closer to what he considers his prey. Gordon misinterprets this action as Batman following in The Reaper's murderous footsteps, and soon deploys his forces against both Batman and The Reaper. As The Reaper lays waste to Gotham's underworld, various crimelords assemble and discuss ways of defeating him. Batman eventually intervenes in the meetings, and proposes they join forces against The Reaper. The crimelords agree, but only if Batman cooperates with a hand picked agent of their choosing; that individual is Joe Chill, the man who shot Thomas and Martha Wayne. Knowing his reason for being is working alongside him, Batman schemes to take Chill's life once The Reaper is disposed of, whilst at the same time he lays the groundwork for his life after Batman, asking Rachel not to convert to a nunnery and marry him. She accepts.
There is a battle which kills most of the underworld connections tied to Batman and Chill, as well as helping convince Gordon that Batman is not connected to The Reaper in his crimes. The Reaper is presumed dead, Batman and Chill escape separately, but meet up later at night at Batman's insistence. Batman takes Chill to a familiar alley... the alley where Chill took the lives of the Waynes. Batman reveals his identity to the shocked Chill and taunts him with the gun he used on them. Chill, stunned, remains composed, convinced that Batman will not pull the trigger; before Bruce can find out, The Reaper re-emerges and kills Chill point blank with a gunshot. Now knowing Bruce's identity, The Reaper beckons Batman to a final confrontation in the frameworks of the under-construction Wayne Foundation. There Batman and The Reaper fight to a standstill, and Batman eventually discovers The Reaper is Judson before he accidentally falls to his doom.
Bruce returns to Rachel, who has heard the news from television. Her path is now clear: Judson was her father, and she must atone for his sins. She produces her nun dressings and calls off the engagement. Bruce returns to prowl Gotham's streets as its sole vigilante for the present.
[edit] Sequel - Full Circle
The story was soon followed up in Batman: Full Circle, also written by Barr. It was set many years later, and centered on the son of Joe Chill assuming the mantle of The Reaper. The story reunited most of the cast of Year Two and incorporated Robin (the Dick Grayson version) into the story.
Emulating The Reaper's mission of zero tolerance towards criminals, Chill, in collaboration with his sister, attempt to lure Batman into a confrontation, where they will finally dispose of the Dark Knight with a very different kind of weapon. Chill's schemes are hampered by the arrival of his own son, whom Chill attempts to bond more with like his father did with him. We learn that Chill witnessed his father's death at the original Reaper's hands, hence the reason he has taken this identity. Batman in the meantime faces some personal issues with Rachel Caspian, who has returned to Gotham convinced The Reaper is her father reborn. The Reaper and his sister use this to their advantage, plaguing Rachel with many visions and false assertions as part of a way to manipulate and play with Batman's mind. He also frees his father's firearm from its hiding place within the Wayne Foundation.
Eventually capturing him, Chill Jr. subjects Batman to a video reel and a hallucinating drug that reduces Batman to a quiviering wreck suffering from survivor's guilt. Chill's downfall approaches when his sister attempts to double cross them and kill Batman for a mob boss. Chill, however, had already sensed potential duplicity from her due to her hatred of their father, and unloaded her gun before she had picked it up to use. He kills her, but Batman breaks free of his bonds, rattled back to his senses by the arrival of Robin, whom he realizes is counting on him. Batman and The Reaper collide; Batman emerges victorious, but is poised to slay The Reaper by dropping him in acid, whilst Robin urges for him to drop the murderer. He is stopped by the younger Chill, who reveals his father's identity. Deciding to act on the indecisions that he faced when he had Joe Chill at his mercy years earlier, Bruce spares Chill's life and discards Joe Chill's firearm into the ocean.
[edit] Trivia
- The Reaper helped inspire the design, methods, and murderous nature of the vendetta-driven Phantasm in the Batman animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (which see for more details).
- This story has now since been deemed non-canonical due to continuity revisions in the Batman universe as a result of Zero Hour, by story editor Dennis O'Neil. This is the second time a Mike Barr story has been retconned out of existence; the first was the one-shot Batman: Son of the Demon (although elements of Batman: Son of the Demon seem to have recently been put back into continuity) .
- Reactions to the story have been mixed. The story was heavily criticised for its portrayal of Batman being too easily coerced into resorting to weapons against The Reaper. Many accused the story of trying to turn Batman into a figure to rival the immensely popular Punisher character in Marvel Comics. Others appreciated the tale for being the first to portray Leslie Thompkins as someone who served as Bruce's confidant, but also was warier of his dual identity than Alfred was, leading to her often criticizing Bruce in ways that the loyal butler would only seldom, or never, do. Others also point out the popularity of the Reaper character and concept, as displayed by its homage in Mask of the Phantasm.
- The scenes where Bruce reveals his identity to Chill were taken from the classic Bill Finger story "The Man Who Killed Batman", although Chill's reaction is markedly different.
- Chill's death from Year Two was adapted in some form for the movie Batman Begins. The scene in the movie where Bruce throws the firearm that took his parents' life into the ocean is also depicted in "Full Circle". The love interest of Bruce in "Begins" also shares the first name of Rachel Caspian. The minor sub-plot of Bruce Wayne plotting to kill Chill only to have someone beat him to it is adapted in Begins but it is utilized differently.
