BATMAN YEAR ONE or EARTH ONE: Which Should You Read?

 

2014 marks Batman’s 75th anniversary and DC Comics has been celebrating in high fashion. They’ve launched a weekly comic book called Batman Eternal that, throughout the year, will change Batman and his supporting cast “forever” — as it goes in comics.

In February, they released an extra-sized issue of Detective Comics #27, commemorating the Dark Knight’s first appearance. DC has also released an oversized hardcover collection of essential Batman stories.

Among the many Batman books that’ll see increased sales numbers this year are 1987’s Batman: Year One by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli, and Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, released in 2012. Both are origin stories told by all-star creators. Critically acclaimed upon release, they’ve both been partially adapted into other media.

Batman: Year One

Source: Fanzing.com

The Script

Frank Miller is one of the most influential comics writers of all time. His career, with highlights like Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and Sin City, is by and large a streak of unbroken quality that any creator should aspire to. Despite his unfortunate descent into extreme right-wing paranoia and his modern-day artistic incompetence, this is still the case.

Miller was hired to write Year One on the strength of his work with Mazzucchelli at Marvel on Daredevil. Their work there played up the martial arts side of Daredevil and generally made people care about Daredevil, which hadn’t happened before. It was a critical and commercial smash; it caught DC executives’ attention. They hired Miller to do an original graphic novel, Ronin, and The Dark Knight Returns.

After 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries– which rewrote DC history so that there was only one world of DC superheroes with a new timeline–the publisher was looking to reboot Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. As legendary Batman editor Denny O’Neil wrote in his introduction to the Year One collected edition, the company decided that “Batman’s origin should not be changed. But it might be improved…given depth, complexity, a wider context.” Miller volunteered because “[h]aving done Batman’s omega [in Returns], Miller was willing and anxious to do Batman’s alpha.”

The story Miller presents in Year One is that of two men. On the one hand, there’s Bruce Wayne, back from years of world-traveling to begin his war on crime. On the other, there’s Lt. Jim Gordon, a transfer from Chicago who learns the hard way that being a good cop gets you on everybody‘s wrong side in Gotham.

The way Miller gives these two stories equal weight and space is astonishing. Today, with decompressed narrative the preferred form of comics storytelling, this might have run for 12 issues. Miller does it in 4 and gives the viewer a complete, astonishing reading experience.

The Art

David Mazzucchelli largely left comics after Batman: Year One with that and Daredevil being his only large superhero gigs. He’s since done illustrations for places like the New Yorker and done his own original graphic novel, the astonishing Asterios Polyp. Year One, then, is his superhero swan song. What a way to go.

Drawing stylistic inspiration from the old Fleischer Superman cartoons, Mazzucchelli, doing his own inking, uses shadows and lighting to phenomenal effect. The way he stages scenes–particularly anything with Batman swooshing his cape around, swathed in darkness–is gorgeous and extraordinary.

Enhancing his work are the efforts of colorist Richmond Lewis and letterer Todd Klein. Lewis uses a rich palette to draw out the tension and highlight the mood Mazucchelli strives for with any particular image. The work he does with a fire scene that takes up most of the third chapter is breathtaking.

Klein, basically the comics letterer, uses different fonts to full effect. Bruce’s internal monologue is a fine cursive, honed from years of prep school. Gordon’s thoughts are plain lettering in caption boxes that look like yellow legal pad paper. Little things like that go a long way towards making these characters come across fully and authentically.

The Impact

This is flaunted as an essential Batman stories with good reason: it’s great. A top-of-his-game Miller and the flawless artwork of Mazzucchelli, Lewis and Klein combined to take a big marketing ploy and turned it into a story so unique, so special and so bold that it’s still influencing Batman stories to this day.

In the wake of the book’s success, an entire sub-line of stories set in the “Year One” era was launched. Classics like The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and the long-running comic series Legends of the Dark Knight and Batman: Confidential all sprang up out of this story. Other media also took from Year One.

There’s the direct-to-video Year One film released in 2009 (as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line) with Bryan Cranston as Lt. Gordon and Ben McKenzie–who’ll be playing Gordon in this fall’s Gotham TV series–as Batman. In the Emmy Award-winning “Robin’s Reckoning” two-parter of Batman: The Animated Series, Batman is shown in flashbacks without the yellow oval around his Bat-logo, a decision direct from Year One. The first two seasons of the 2000s cartoon The Batman had the young Caped Crusader distrusted and wanted by the police, one of this story’s key themes.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, of course, took plenty from Year One. Batman Begins is essentially, with some additions and simplifications, largely a straight adaptation. On top of that, those films’ grim, bleak tone is inspired directly by what Miller & Co. do here.

Batman: Earth One

Source: Bloody Disgusting

The Script

Geoff Johns is a name anybody researching DC Comics will soon see. There’s a reason for that: these days, Johns is DC. Over the last decade, he’s worked himself up from an original title–Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.–to a lengthy run on the Justice Society of America to molding Green Lantern into an A-List character. Now he’s Chief Creative Officer for DC. That means he basically has a say in what the entire DC Universe is, down to each title and event.

Batman: Earth One was announced way back in 2009 as part of the Earth One line, a line of original graphic novels with modern origins for DC heroes, completely separately from one another. Yet, the book wasn’t released until 2012. Was it worth the wait?

In a word, yes. Johns informs readers upfront that his Batman is vulnerable and failure-prone. Batman hasn’t been either of those things since the ’90s. It’s a wonderful change of pace and Johns nails it. His Bruce is young and too confident for his own good.

The biggest change here is that Alfred is basically Sean Connery. Instead of an actor-turned-butler, he’s Thomas Wayne’s old friend from the Gulf War who comes as a bodyguard for the Waynes during Thomas’ mayoral run. The Penguin is now Thomas’ opponent, and not quite so rotund and grotesque as usual.

Johns’ script makes these new ideas mesh well with what we all know and love about Batman. More to the point, he writes perfectly to the book-length format. The story never feels too long or short. The only sour note is that his Bruce ultimately is motivated by revenge. Prior versions of Batman have never been about revenge, but about preventing tragedy. I don’t want to say this is out of character–this is a new vision, after all–but it feels like a stretch.

The Art

Gary Frank previously collaborated with Johns for a lengthy Superman run in Action Comics. Their warm, quietly awesome work there–with Frank drawing Supes as basically Christopher Reeve–is the highlight of both their careers. I was looking forward to Frank’s take on Gotham; he doesn’t disappoint.

The rain-soaked streets and nighttime vistas of Gotham provide ample material for Frank’s considerable talent. The fight scenes are poised. The characters look lithe and strong. The backgrounds are lush.  Frank put so much care into this and it pays off. His effort and care was worth the wait. Overall, it’s really quite nice stuff.

Jonathan Sibal, Johns’ and Frank’s Action inker, returns. He hasn’t lost a step, inking Frank with precision and impact like nothing. He really draws out the impact of Frank’s pencils. This is most evident in the night scenes and there’s plenty of those. This is a Batman story, of course.

Brad Anderson’s colors and Rob Leigh’s lettering also complement the artwork. Anderson’s texturing makes Batman’s costume really tangible and he adds some fun lighting effects. Leigh’s lettering is done just right, laying out and enhancing what the artwork is already saying.

The Impact

At only 2 years old, this story hasn’t had a huge impact just yet on other media. But it”s made some inroads.

In 2012, concept art was released for the cartoon Beware the Batman that showed Alfred firing a machine gun into the air. That was controversial in and of itself, but after the Aurora, Colorado shooting, producer Glen Murakami announced the show was undergoing extensive retooling in order to tone down its violence and gunplay.

When the show finally premiered in the summer of 2013, Alfred (voiced by J.B. Blanc) may not have had a machine gun, but he was still a military-trained badass. Bald like Jason Statham and dressed like John Steed, this version of Batman’s faithful friend undoubtedly drew from Earth One. Time will tell if any other incarnations draw from this book.

Final Verdict

While Earth One is pretty solid in its own right, in the end, Year One is clearly superior. It has a more confident voice, a more distinct style and a better sense of itself.

Whatever Frank Miller’s missteps have been in the past decade–and there are a lot–he knows how to structure and pace noir stories. That’s what Batman: Year One is, no question. Miller’s skill is enhanced a thousandfold by Mazzuchelli and his cohorts. Together, they provide an ample showcase as to why this Batman origin will be referenced and reinterpreted above all else for years to come.

Cover image source: Fellowship of the Geeks

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About the author:

One of Tom Speelman’s earliest memories is watching Batman: The Animated Series reruns on Cartoon Network. He blogs 2-3 times a week at Tomtificate (tomtificate.wordpress.com). Follow him on Twitter @tomtificate.