Batman Begins! In Graphic Novel Form! The Best Origin for the Caped Crusader by a Mile! - Rated 
This is a reworking of the Batman origin story, and has had lots of praise heaped on it over the years - it was published for the first time way back in 1986!! Not many graphic novels have this long a lifespan and it is usually a good indicator of the quality of the work ; The Dark Knight Returns by the same author as this book (Frank Miller), The Watchmen by Alan Moore and V for Vendetta also by Alan Moore would fall into this category. These three works are from the eighties as well, and so Batman Year One is in excellent company!
It basically tells of how Bruce Wayne begins his career as Batman and shows how he makes early mistakes, and learns from them on his way to becoming the character we know and love today. That is one facet of the story, but the other side of this is the introduction and development of one Lieutenant Gordon. This is a really good subplot and shows how Gordon copes with crisis in his work and home lives. He has moral dilemmas, just like Bruce Wayne and it is interesting to see the different ways they deal with their problems.
The Batman storyline is quite hectic, and full of adrenaline as he learns his trade - the police trapping him in a building is a really good example of this. Whereas the Gordon storyline is a bit slower, and shows him having time to think about all the implications of his actions both at work and at home.
For those of you who are big fans of the Christian Bale Batman films, you can definitely see where segments of this book has been adapted to the Batman Begins reboot - and that shows how much quality this graphic novel has.
It has a couple of minor niggles though. Firstly, it is quite short! Now, this is probably because the story is so good and i was left wanting more, so i wouldn't mark it down for that. And the other thing is the artwork. Again, it is of it's time(well over twenty years old now!), but i also feel that it is not crucial to the quality of the graphic novel as a whole, because it allows you to concentrate on the storyline; sometimes, beautifully drawn graphic novels lack the story behind them, and i would prefer weaker artwork and a stronger story.
All in all, this is one that you MUST add to your collection. I would put this in a top ten list of Batman stories. It is good for the fan, and the person just starting out reading the graphic novels. Highly recommended, and worthy of all the plaudits it receives!
A new beginning - Rated
This book has a special meaning for me, it is the first batman story I ever read, better yet, it is the first American comic I ever read and it instantly turned me into a fan of batman and later led me to other greats like spawn, hellboy, spiderman and many others. The illustration on page 38 of this book, showing the shadow of the batman in a smokescreen he created is forever burned in my memory as the moment that I started loving batman.
However even if you do not share the same memories as I have, this is still one of the best batman paperbacks, where Frank Miller reinvented batman, giving him more darkness then ever before and fleshing out our favorite masked hero out into a true persona.
very good read - Rated 
this book is a very good read. althought the first chapter is quite slow the rest are very fun
Just great - Rated
Bruce Wayne/Batman always had a great origin and when DC were retelling the origin of the hereos Batman was the one that changed the least.
Year one has a great feel, classic looking pencils, no superfreak shows just the Dark Knight and Lady Gotham.
A must read for any follower.
Great while it lasts. - Rated
Many say that this is one of the best Batman "novel" out there and I won't be the one to disagree. Since this is only my 2nd Batman "novel" (first was The Dark Knight Returns) I don't have much to compare it with. I might have gotten spoiled with The Dark Knight Returns as I find Year One a bit on the short end, but apart from that this is a must read. The story doesn't just focus on Batman but instead it tries to capture what it would be like for the normal citizen (and the police) to have a vigilant come and (try) to restore order in a rotten city.
The art is great, and with the deluxe edition you get some pretty sweet extras on the art, background etc. Great for fans.
|
