Book Review for the Comic Book Club for January: Batman: Year One

Book: Batman: Year One (issues #404-407) by Frank Miller with illustrations by David Mazzucchelli, color by Richmond Lewis and lettering by Todd Klein

Edition: Trade Paperback

Description:

In his first year on the job, Batman feels his way around a Gotham City far darker than the one he left. His solemn vow to extinguish the town’s criminal element is only half the battle; along with Lieutenant James Gordon, the Dark Knight must also fight a police force more corrupt than the scum in the streets.

Batman: Year One stands next to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns on the mantle of greatest Batman graphic novels of all time. Timeless in its appeal, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece would stand apart from the crowded comics field even today.




Rating: 4 1/2

Review:

Batman: Year One was a good story if not a little overly dramatic at times. The illustrations by David Mazzucchelli and Richmond Lewis did an amazing job of telling the story even more so at the beginning when the writing had a choppy narrative. The story follows as socialite Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City after being away for 18 years while at the same time James Gordon was a new arrival to city as the new Lieutenant for the Gotham City Police Department.

Bruce had a plan to clean up the crime and corruption in the city but he wasn't quite sure how to carry it out. Meanwhile, Gordon was finding it difficult to clean up the city especially since Commissioner Loeb and so many of the cops were extremely dirty and corrupt. A simple reconnaissance of Gotham's East End nearly cost Bruce his life when got into a fight with several people including Selina Kyle and later the police. However, back in his study at Wayne Manor, he was bleeding out from his wounds when he got the perfect inspiration to fully carry out his plan.

With a city rampant with crime, becoming Batman was easier than he expected as he went after low level crooks to mob bosses. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Commissioner Loeb and his dirty connections were targeted leaving Gordon forced to have to track down the bat vigilante.

An attempt by Batman to stop an out of control truck and try to save an elderly lady who was crossing the street had him crossing paths with Lieutenant Gordon and Sergeant Sarah Essen. A misunderstanding had the Gotham SWAT going after Batman in an abandoned building but this only led to more frustration for the Commissioner and the police. Speaking of frustration, Selina Kyle was changing her line work and going into a business that includes a costume that perfectly reflects who she is.

When Gordon wasn't trying to arrest Batman, he was spending a little too much time and late hours with Sergeant Essen instead of being with his very pregnant wife Barbara. This would later be used against him in order to get him to toe the line and follow Loeb's orders. Gordon's Batman investigation was leading him to Bruce Wayne, however, Wayne played his part as a shallow, bored and indulgent socialite perfectly. The pressure was starting to increase for Gordon and it was putting his family in harms way.

Prior to reading this, I already knew about Gordon cheating because when fans are disappointed they certainly let you know all about it. They were very disappointed that writer Frank Miller decided to portray Gordon as a cheater since he was usually shown as being a very honorable guy. I can understand their disappointment because it just felt like unnecessary drama added to an already drama filled story. Perhaps it was included to show that even good people make poor decisions. I do wonder if the anger fans had for this was one of the reasons why the New 52 reboot completely erased Gordon's connection to Sarah. I also watched the Batman: Year One animated movie prior to reading this and now I can say that it's a very faithful adaptation by doing a great job of honoring the source material.

There have been and will continue to be various takes on Batman's origin story and this was a good one but at times it felt like there was a lot happening in this story from the intense and violent scenes to the humorous once. I found Bruce's transformation into Batman to be exciting. Prior to finding his inspiration he may have had the heart and the mind of a hero but he was missing that certain something that would turn him into the ultimate crime fighting hero. As for Gordon, he was doing a good job trying to clean up the city despite so many obstacles in his way. However, it was starting to affect his personal life including stemming from some of his own poor choices. Even though Selina Kyle was only in a small portion of this, her scenes are very memorable from her fight with a disguised Bruce Wayne to donning an early take on her infamous costume.

What I found interesting about this story, is that the reader immediately starts to see the effects Batman and Gordon were having on Gotham. The city was changing and it was making criminals including dirty politicians and cops nervous. They prefer the city the way it was which allowed so many to prey upon others and Batman and Gordon were ruining that for them. This was a good read and I'm glad I picked it for the Comic Book Club because I finally got around to reading it.