Holy popcorn Batfans it’s inpopculturewetrust‘s first ever comic review.

Yes that’s right as part of our season looking at all things Batman in anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises, tonight we are taking a look at the Frank Miller comic book Batman:Year One.

Cover of Batman: Year One

This is not just the story of Batman’s beginning but also that of future Commissioner Gordon, in fact Jim Gordon is the focus of at least 50% of this particular comic (it could have been called Gordon:Year One). The comic begins with both Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon arriving in Gotham. Played out in alternating panels Gordon arrives in the city via train seeing the decaying city at street level, whilst Bruce Wayne is returning via private jet wishing that he was closer to those he has returned to fight. This opening sets up the parallel narrative beautifully and the two narrations both complement and contrast each other. Both our heroes are quickly introduced to the corruption and villany of Gotham city. And as the months roll by (brilliantly sometimes a date refers to a single panel) a disguised Bruce  is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with a knife wielding pimp and is attacked by several prostitutes, including dominatrix Selina Kyle. Police officers shoot and take him in their squad car, but a barely conscious Bruce breaks his handcuffs and causes a crash, dragging the police to a safe distance before fleeing. He reaches Wayne Manor barely alive and requests guidance in his war on crime. A bat crashes through a window giving him the inspiration to become a batman. Whilst all this is happening Gordon, who has been working to eliminate corruption in the police force, is attacked by a fellow officer, Flass. Flass is a dirty cop depicted taking bribes and beating on children. When Gordon comes to he coldly waits for Flass before attacking him stopping short of sending him to the hospital. This is the first time (prior to the Nolan films) that I have seen Gordon depicted this way, he can handle himself and is a bit of a badass! This is a revelation and kicks the story into a new level, we see Bruce and Jim as two sides of the same coin. As Batman wages a war on crime moving from petty street thugs up the chain to the top crime bosses. Gordon is tasked with his capture. Gordon tries in vain to catch him, Batman attacks crime boss Falcone, stripping him naked and tying him up in his bed after dumping his car in the river, infuriating the crime 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. commissioner Loeb who is in cahoots with Falcone orders his SWAT team to kill Batman and they chase him, wounding him in the process, into a building populated by vagrants. Blowing up the building the SWAT team enters to confirm Batman’s demise but Batman has survived and takes the officers out one by one, using a device to attract the bats of his cave to him, he flees amid the chaos. Selina Kyle, after witnessing him in action, dons a costume of her own to begin a life of crime as Catwoman.

Gordon starts a brief affair with Essen, which is used against him by his corrupt colleagues. But Gordon has already told his wife and so Loeb lures Gordon away from his apartment intending to kidnap his wife and new-born child. Gordon, as he sees a motorcycle speed by, realises whats happening and races back to save his family. He saves his wife but his son is taken. The motorcyclist is Bruce Wayne and as Gordon takes the bike to try to save his son, Bruce follows. Gordon catches up with the abductor and fights him on the bridge and during the brawl Gordon’s son is thrown off the bridge. Bruce leaps over the railing and saves Gordon’s son. Gordon realizes that he is in front of an unmasked Batman but states that without his glasses, which he lost in the brawl, he is practically blind. This is brilliant because it is scripted and drawn so ambiguously that you are not sure whether Gordon is telling the truth or not. The comic ends with the resignation of Loeb and the promotion of Gordon to Captain, and the final panel has Gordon waiting for a “friend!” to help him with the Joker problem.

I would heartily recommend this work of graphic fiction. It is a brilliant albeit grim and cold look at these two pop culture icons. Batman doesn’t appear in costume all that much but when he does it is a revelation. David Mazzucchelli‘s art sells the fantastic and scary look of Batman perfectly. I love the fact that this is really a character study of Bruce and Jim who are depicted, possibly for the first time, with shades of grey. Brilliant. My only cause for concern is the use of Catwoman here. The insertion of the character is completely redundent and feels just like filler.

So join us next time same bat place, same bat blog for another Batman comic review.

Belive the hype

Steve