Batman: Year One
Graphic Novel
"Year One", later referred to as "Batman: Year One", is an American comic book story arc published by DC Comics which recounts the superhero Batman's first year as a crime-fighter. It was written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein. Batman: Year One originally appeared in issues #404–407 of the comic book title Batman in 1987. As well as recounting Batman's early crime-fighting career, the story simultaneously examines the life of recently transferred officer James Gordon – eventually building towards their partnership.
Background
Batman (Bruce Wayne) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics who debuted in "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate", a story published in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). He was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger to capitalize on the success of DC's other superhero Superman and was inspired by characters from pulp fiction stories, such as the Shadow. Batman's origin story was introduced in a two-page, 12-panel story by Kane and Finger from Detective Comics #33 (Nov. 1939). In the story, a young Bruce witnesses the murder of his parents Thomas and Martha at the hands of a mugger. Bruce vows to avenge his parents' deaths by fighting crime; he takes the persona of Batman after a bat flies through his window one night. For the story, Finger lifted elements from tales published in Popular Detective and The Phantom, while Kane traced artwork of Tarzan and from Junior G-Men.
In the years afterward, much of DC's continuity became convoluted and contradictory. Examples of this were present in Batman's origin: in a 1948 story, Finger gave the mugger a name (Joe Chill), and in 1956 wrote that he killed Bruce's parents on behalf of the mob. Finger also went on to suggest that the Batman persona was inspired by a bat costume Thomas wore to a masquerade ball. Other stories depicted Bruce traveling across the world to learn the skills he would need as Batman. In an effort to resolve continuity errors like these in the DC Universe, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez produced the 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Wolfman's plans for the DC Universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths included relaunching every DC comic with a new first issue.
During the production of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Frank Miller became the writer of Marvel Comics' Daredevil. Miller had originally been the series' penciller, but editor Dennis O'Neil soon made him the series' writer.[7] Sales rose dramatically after Miller began to write. For one critically acclaimed Daredevil story, Miller collaborated with artist David Mazzucchelli. Miller went to work for DC as well, and produced the influential four-issue limited series The Dark Knight Returns (1986). O'Neil also made the move to DC.
Development
The contract Miller signed to produce The Dark Knight Returns also required him to write a revamped Batman origin story. While Miller handled the writing and artwork of The Dark Knight Returns, he simply wrote "Year One", while Mazzucchelli joined to pencil. In the past, Miller had been overwhelmed by having to handle both writing and illustration duties.[8] Todd Klein was the story's letterer, while Mazzucchelli's wife Richmond Lewis handled coloring. O'Neil edited the issues. According to O'Neil, the contract Miller and Mazzucchelli signed to produce "Year One" in the ongoing Batman series guaranteed publication within 6 months.
"Year One" was originally conceived as a graphic novel. O'Neil, who had been asked to edit several issues of Batman, was friends with Miller and was able to learn of the story. Reflecting on poor sales of Batman, O'Neil caught Miller one day while on a walk in Los Angeles and convinced him and Mazzucchelli to serialize the story in the ongoing series. Miller was initially reluctant; he felt this would be hard because he had to ensure the story stayed canonical to the DC Universe, something he did not have to worry about when writing The Dark Knight Returns. In addition, Miller's pacing would have to be altered because of ongoing series' relatively small page counts. O'Neil reasoned that Crisis on Infinite Earths had completely remade the DC Universe, so Miller would be able to have the same creative freedom that The Dark Knight Returns provided. He also reassured Miller that he and Mazzucchelli "weren’t going to lose anything" by serializing it.
Miller has said he kept Kane and Finger's basic story for "Year One" but expanded it. In writing the story, Miller looked for parts of Batman's origin that were never explored. He left the core elements, such as the murder of Bruce's parents, intact, but reduced them to brief flashbacks. Bruce's globe-trotting adventures was something Miller removed, as he found uninteresting. Rather than portraying Batman as a larger-than-life icon as he had in The Dark Knight Returns, Miller chose to characterize "Year One"'s Batman as an average, inexperienced man trying to make a change in society because Miller believed a superhero is least interesting when most effective. Examples of this include Batman underestimating his opponents, getting shot by police, and his costume being too big. The story's violence was kept street-level and gritty, emphasizing noir and realism.
In illustrating, Mazzucchelli sought to make "Year One" look grimy, dark, and muted. His interpretation of Gotham City was designed to symbolize corruption, featuring muddy colors that gave the impression of the city being dirty and needing a hero. The newsprint paper used in Batman was unable to reproduce the bright coloring and visual effects of The Dark Knight Returns, so Mazzucchelli took on "Year One" with a more grounded and darker approach.
- From Wikipedia