Batman Year One Deluxe
Batman - Before 2011 Renumbering
Graphic Novel Summary: Written by Frank Miller Art and cover by David Mazucchelli A new softcover edition of one of the most important and critically acclaimed Batman adventures eve! In addition to telling the entire dramatic story of Batman's first year fighting crime, this collection includes loads of reproductions of original pencils, script pages, promotional art, unseen Mazzucchelli Batman art and more!
Codes: 76194124583600111 7.62E+016 SEP070422 OCT060163 DEC070434 JAN080395 FEB080436 MAR080384 APR080431 MAY080410 JUN080449 JUL080372 AUG080382 SEP080397 OCT080396 NOV080396 DEC080392 JAN090473 FEB090433 MAR090405 OCT110256 1401207526 1401207526
| Price: | |
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| Artist: | David Mazzucchelli |
| Cover Artist: | David Mazzucchelli |
| Author: | Frank Miller |
| Artist: | David Mazucchelli |
| Cover Artist: | David Mazucchelli |
| Estimated Ship Date: | June 12, 2012 | In Stock? | Can be backordered, expected to ship in 7-20 days |
| Genre: | Superhero |
| ISBN: | 1401207526 |
| Lists: | Essential Batman Trades - Part 2: A Darker Knight, , My favorite comics/graphic novels/manga thus far, and Comics I read |
Customer Reviews
anyone who reads funnybooks for any serious length of time.
You've got your Watchmen, your Maus, your Dark Knight Returns.
And then there's Batman: Year One. Maybe it's not one of the great paradigm-shifting works of western sequential art, but it's a damn good story nonetheless, and anyone interested in the evolution of the superhero comic book (and of course, fans of Batman) needs to pick this up post-haste, if it's not already on your bookshelf.
Frank Miller tackles Batman for the first time post-Dark Knight as a writer on this book, which takes apart the seminal early days of Batman's career and reassembles them into a shape resembling the original, but also wholly unique. One big change Miller makes is that characters like Selina "Catwoman" Kyle and "Lieutenant" James Gordon now have their own major roles to play in the Bat-mythos. In doing so, he subtly expands Batman's foundations to include these vital supporting characters; just as Batman wouldn't be Batman without the fancy car and the insomniac crimefighting schedule, Miller seems to be suggesting that Batman also wouldn't be who he is without the female foil and the long-suffering cop on his side. It's an interesting shift in the Batman mythos, and it starts here.
Miller also gets good mileage out of planting Batman's feet more firmly in a "realistic" setting, as his chief adversaries in this story aren't whacked-out supervillains but instead are very violent and legitimate mobsters. It doesn't help him much that the cops also aren't really on his side, yet another subtle tweak to the early days of Batman that casts this era in some interesting shades of gray.
David Mazzucchelli's artwork is rightfully regarded as stunning and groundbreaking; you can see hints of it in artists today as diverse as Darwyn Cooke and Cully Hamner. Working in shades and the barest of lines, he suggests as much as he shows, which should be the golden rule of drawing Batman, since that's the whole point of the character.
It's hard to believe, honestly, that any self-respecting comics fan would never have read this, but if you're new to this stuff, or if this book has somehow slipped outside your radar, buy it now, and read it immediately.
3 pts.
Frank Miller’s first work post- Dark Knight Returns is this thrilling retelling of the classic Batman origin story, with all of the hits and bits that are hallmarks of Miller’s writing (strong characterizations of Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon, great internal monologues, etc). The story has always seemed a bit underdone to me, though possibly this is because unlike The Dark Knight Returns Miller knew he was writing this for the main DC continuity. I don’t know. What makes this an essential volume though is the art- David Mazzucchelli’s pencil and ink work and Richmond Lewis’s colors (watercolors, they look like to me) are just marvelous. Reading this again recently I note that there are a lot of ideas here that made it onto the screen in The Dark Knight film, like the sonar bat call and, well, a whole hell of a lot about Jim Gordon. Definitely a keeper!
1 pts.
