Batman: Year One

Plot

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 to Gotham City at the age of twenty-five from training abroad in martial arts, man-hunting, and science for the past 12 years, and James Gordon moves to Gotham City 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 Arnold John 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 shoot and take him in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Bruce breaks his handcuffs and causes a crash, dragging the police to a safe distance before fleeing. He reaches Wayne 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 to become a bat.

Gordon soon works to rid corruption from the force, but, on orders from Commissioner Gillian Loeb, 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 to announce his intention to bring them to justice, including Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, Loeb 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 tying 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 woman 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, Loeb 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 Branden is sent in, whom Batman attempts to trap in the basement. They soon escape and, after tranquillising Branden, 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. After witnessing him in action, Selina Kyle, dons a costume of her own to begin a life of crime.

Gordon has a brief affair with Essen, while Batman intimidates a mob drug dealer for information. The dealer comes to Gordon to testify against Flass, who is brought up on charges. Upset with Gordon's exploits, Loeb 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.

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 were pinned on Batman, attacks Falcone and his bodyguards, aided from afar by Batman. Identifying Falcone’s plan as the morning comes, the uncostumed 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. Gordon decisively shoots the thugs and chases Vitti, who has fled with the baby. The mysterious motorcyclist, now revealed to the reader as Bruce Wayne, rushes out to chase Vitti. Gordon blows out Vitti's car tire on a bridge and the two fight hand-to-hand, with Gordon losing his glasses, before Vitti and James Gordon Junior fall over the side. Bruce leaps over the railing and saves the baby. Gordon realizes that he is standing before an unmasked Batman, but says that he is "practically blind without [his] glasses," and lets Bruce go.

In the final scenes of the comic, Flass turns on Loeb, supplying Dent with evidence and testimony, and Loeb resigns. Gordon is promoted to captain and stands on the rooftop waiting to meet Batman to discuss somebody called the Joker, who is plotting to poison the reservoir.

Critical reaction

Batman: Year One has received widespread critical acclaim. IGN Comics ranked Batman: Year One number 2 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels (behind "The Dark Knight Returns", also by Miller) and said that "no other book before or since has quite captured the realism, the grit and the humanity of Gordon and Batman so perfectly." The website added, "It's not only one of the most important comics ever written, it's also among the best."

Writer Matthew K. Manning in the "1980s" chapter of DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle (2010) praises the story for both Miller's "realistic characterization" and Mazzucchelli's "brilliant iconic" artwork.

Continuity

Before the New 52 Batman: Year One existed in the mainstream DC continuity, and in the same continuity as the other storylines in Miller's "Dark Knight Universe", consisting of The Dark Knight Returns, its sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, Spawn/Batman, and All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. However, following the New 52 reboot, Batman: Zero Year replaced Year One as the official origin for Batman and Year One was relegated to the continuity of the other Frank Miller storylines.

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC rebooted many of its titles. Year One was followed by Batman: Year Two, but the 1994 Zero Hour: Crisis in Time crossover erased Year Two from continuity. In another continuity re-arrangement, Catwoman: Year One (Catwoman Annual #2, 1995) posited that Selina Kyle had not actually been a prostitute, but, rather, a thief posing as one in order to commit crimes.

Launched in 1989, following the success of the film Batman, the title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight examines crime-fighting exploits primarily, not exclusively, from the first four to five 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". In 1998, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale created Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, two 13-issue maxiseries that recounted Batman's early years as a crime-fighter following the events of Miller's original story and retold the origins of Two-Face and Dick Grayson. The Year One 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. Two other stories, Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk tie into the same time period of Batman's career, filling in the gap between Year One and the Man Who Laughs. Following the 2007 cancellation of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman Confidential began publication, depicting Batman's early years, although some of these stories take place several years after Miller's Year One story because Batman is depicted wearing his "yellow oval" costume.

Other releases

Batman: Year One was released in 1995 by Battleaxe Press in South Africa under the serial numbers of Batman #1 to #4 as an introduction to the character.

Live-action film

In 2000, Warner Bros. hired Darren Aronofsky to write and direct a reboot of the Batman film franchise. This reboot was to be based on Batman: Year One. Accordingly, Aronofsky collaborated with Frank Miller who finished an early draft of the script. The script, however, was a loose adaptation, as it kept most of the themes and elements from the graphic novel but shunned other conventions that were otherwise integral to the character. It was eventually shelved by the studio then both Aronofsky and Miller moved on to other projects.

In 2005, Christopher Nolan began his series, with the reboot film Batman Begins, which draws inspiration from Batman: Year One and other stories (see below).

Animated film

In 2011, a film adaptation was released as a DC Universe Animated Original Movie. It was produced by Bruce Timm, co-directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu. It features the voices of Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bryan Cranston as James Gordon, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Katee Sackhoff as Sarah Essen, Grey DeLisle as Barbara Gordon, Jon Polito as Commissioner Loeb, Alex Rocco as Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone, and Jeff Bennett as Alfred Pennyworth. The movie premiered at Comic-Con, with a Catwoman short shown in October.

Batman Forever

Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, although set during another timespan, adopts some elements directly from the graphic novel. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. The studio rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Batman's past.

The Dark Knight trilogy

Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and its sequel The Dark Knight are set during the same timespan and adopt several elements directly from the graphic novel. Major characters like Commissioner Loeb, Detective Flass and Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone who are featured prominently in Batman Begins.

Film critic Michael Dodd argued that with each major motion picture focused on the Dark Knight's origins, the odes and references to the Year One comic increased. Comparing Mask of the Phantasm with Batman Begins he noted that "...Phantasm was a Batman story with Year One elements, while Batman Begins was a Year One story with added features".