Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition
Book Review: This is my FAVORITE Batman story....
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever since I picked up the first issue of this miniseries back in the 80's it's been my favorite. The minimalist artwork, the coloring and the story itself blend together in a masterpiece. This version of the birth of the crimefighter has been the inspiration for Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as well.
This extended edition has lots of interesting "goodies" that flesh out how the story evolved from concept to reality.
You may not be a comic book fan, but I'm pretty sure you'll like this. If you liked "Batman Begins", then I know you won't be disappointed here.
Book Review: Miller and Mazzucchelli set the tone
Summary: 5 Stars
If you come to this book looking for end-to-end Batman action, you may come away surprised, but I doubt you'll be disappointed. In tone, this book shares something with Miller's preceding Batman opus, The Dark Night Returns, in that it sets up the whole milieu in which Batman appears, the culture on which he's trying to make an impact.
It is also as much about Jim Gordon as it is about Bruce Wayne/Batman. Other key players in the Batman passion-play make appearances of varying impact (Alfred, Selina Kyle, Harvey Dent), but by and large this book lays out how Gordon and the Batman become unlikely partners. It's well-done, laying out step-by-step how this man who is so obviously commited to the idea of the rule of law comes to trust and even work with a man who believes that rule of law must take second place to justice. This is as much a story about a upright cop making his way in a corrupt police force as it is about Bruce donning the tights, and is the stronger for it.
Miller's great strength is characterisation and this book is no exception - much of it is in fact scripted as interior monologues from Gordon and Bruce, and he effectively evokes the way each character thinks. What spoken dialogue appears in the book is sparingly used, almost like a noir thriller. In fact, one can see elements from this book carrying through into the Sin City books that Miller began writing soon after.
Mazucchelli's art is excellent, walking a fine line - as he himself admits - between the realism that the noir approach demands, and the the fantastical that a guy running around in a cape throwing batarangs equally requires. As he says, superheroes don't really stand up to realistic representation, it needs that step of artistic remove to 'keep it real'. Still, the art is excellent in a gritty, kinetic way that seems relatively normal now but was striking back in the mid-80s.
And if you are looking at this book after having seen Batman Begins, and wondering if there's a connection, just buy it and try to spot how many things Cris Nolan lifted from it wholesale...
Book Review: Watching Him Stumble Through His Puppyhood
Summary: 4 Stars
Frank Miller was hot enough at Marvel with his successful overhauling of Daredevil, and DC wanted the same thing done with their Batman. Miller clearly loved the Man, and had his own personal agenda: "I had just turned 30. For just once, I wanted Bruce Wayne to be older than me again." The twilight of the Batman, as portrayed in "The Dark Knight Returns," hadn't been done before; it allowed Miller to distance himself from what everyone had done previously on the character, and find his own way. He drew and wrote it all himself, and took his graphic style one notch closer to the stark, brilliant chiarscuro that would define "Sin City". He used maddeningly shapless abstract blobs of ink to represent the cape in motion, hanging over a drain pipe, covering an adversary's face-- and it worked incredibly well. He used tiny panels of TV commentators like a Greek Chorus, weaving myths and anecdotes around the main action.
It was very popular. No one wanted it to end.
When it did, Miller, or his editorial staff, had the idea to follow it up with another story from the other end of Batman/Bruce Waynes life. Although the story of the murder of Wayne's parents in Crime Alley had been told ad infinitum, Miller realized that no-one had ever told the story of how Wayne actually created the Dark Knight. This gave Miller the opportunity once again to tell the emotional story of who he is (both Wayne & Miller) without being encumbered by the baggage of 60 years of Detective Comics.
This time, Miller got his old Daredevil collaborator David Mazzuchelli to draw the story, creating a very different effect than Miller's own artwork had on the The Dark Knight Returns. Mazzuchelli more than rose to the occassion; he suddenly created a new way of drawing that seemed to fuse Bob Kane's original flat, vital, crude pulp style, with a literary, photographic brush stroke that delineated not the outlines but the shadows; like the earlier Daredevil artist(and Tomb 0f Dracula/Blade creator) Gene Colan. The result was astonishingly fresh, deceptively simple, and surprisingly evocotive of character.
Miller also worked against expectations by putting Batman/Bruce Wayne in the background of his own comic, focusing rather on the story of usually under-used Jim Gordon. This was a different device, apart from the storytelling strategies in TDKR, to maintain the title character's air of mystery and shadow even as we watched him stumble through his puppyhood. We watched Gordon grow in the foreground, only glimpsing Wayne in our periphery.
I didn't know I could say so much about one story.
Book Review: Batman's origin in detail
Summary: 5 Stars
"Batman: Year One" is a description of how the Batman came to be. The story also follows closely the ascent of Jim Gordon within the Gotham police force and the friendship that is established between Gordon and Batman.
In his haste to begin cleaning Gotham, Bruce jumps the gun and goes into the city armed only with his martial arts skills and a toboggan to parially shroud his identity. He is stabbed and nearly killed. He realizes that he needs to be more careful and methodical in his crusade to erase crime.
Meanwhile, a young cop named Gordon is transferred from Chicago to Gotham City. Under the jurisdiction of a tyrannical, corrupt police commissioner and his lackeys, Gordon sacrifices his own well-being rather than his principles.
Each of the two men learn from their pain and losses and through their own development, continue down paths that eventually merge into one. The book reaches a climax when it appears that the corrupt police force may destroy the Batman.
"Batman: Year One" may well have inspired parts of the latest Batman movie, "Batman Begins." If you liked the movie, you will probably like the book.
Miller brings a level of determination to the Batman character that seems appropriate. Despite setbacks, Batman does not relent in his passionate bid to bring justice to
Gotham. Through ingenuity and tenacity, Batman challenges the city's acquiescence to injustice. I liked this book.
Book Review: The definitive Batman anthology
Summary: 5 Stars
If there is one Batman story you have to read, it's Year One. It is better than Dark Knight Returns, although less action-oriented, for one simple reason: it perfectly defines Bruce Wayne/Batman and his relationship with Jim Gordon. Frank Miller is at his finest here, delivering the definitive Batman mythos. With the recent release of Batman Begins, which is heavily inspired by Year One, I strongly encourage you to discover (or rediscover) one of the finest graphic novels ever written.