Batman: Year One

So to start off my journey into the dark cave made completely out of the hundreds (or is it thousands?) of Batman comics ever published. I light up a torch and follow the tunnel that leads me further on, the floor under me making a ruffling sound as I stomp on the cheesy issues where Ace the bat-hound was first introduced.

Finally I reach my destination, the treasure I’m looking for right in front of me, shining on its pedestal. A wise man on the internet told me that this would be where I should start, and where I should first delve into the dark street of Gotham.

I pick up Batman: Year One, and start reading.

So, Batman: Year One. As the name suggests, this is clearly the comic that describes the first year of the Dark Knight as the protector of Gotham, and it seemed like a sane suggestion when random people on the internet said I should read it first.

Going into Year One, I was expecting something slightly different than what it is. Instead of being a collection of stories about his first encounters with his various villains, each story contained within itself and not interfering too much with the other stories, Year One offers shots from various days in the lives of Gotham. For example, the very first page starts out in the fourth of January, and on page six it skips forward to February 12^th. Although at first confused, I grew accustomed to this style of storytelling fairly quickly and it grew on me.

The second surprise of Year One is that there are no supervillains. There’s no Joker, there’s no Clayface, not even Bane shows up to beat on the Batman. Instead the book concentrates more on Batman’s growth as a character and how he starts defining himself, and how he learns to properly be the Batman. The villain in the book throughout is the Falcone crime family, and although most of the action is centered around taking down the Falcones, it still isn’t the focus of the story.

It’s obvious that this whole book was crafted as a stepping stone for further Batman reading, and I do agree that anyone new to the comics should start with this one. However the story suffers from the same things that the Lord of the Rings books in parts did; there’s too much description of some events that no one cares about. In LOTR it was traveling through an open field with absolutely nothing in it, in Batman: Year One its Batman contemplating about him being Batman.

I still have to say, the book was a very good read. The depiction of the character is dark but not overly dark, and he has those human flaws that every character needs in order to be interesting. This isn’t some god descended down on humanity, this is a man with a set of extraordinary skills. He can take down an entire SWAT team, but not without facing real danger and taking some damage himself.

Overall, this was a very good book. I recommend you pick it up if you have the chance.