Batman: Year One Review

It's been five years of the Geek Cast Radio Network

would like to give back to you. How you may ask?

Well, first of all, we're coming up with a brand

new website to be launched June 1st, 2014. In

addition to that, there'll be many new features

for interactive abilities. So how do you enter

into this magical celebration? Well, Geek Cast

Radio has a contest where you can win some awesome

prizes. ranging from comics, blu -rays, DVDs,

trade paperbacks and comics, and more. How do

you enter? Write in your favorite stories of

how the Geekcast Radio network has affected you

in the last five years, and how it's Unleashed

the Geek in You. You can also enter by writing

reviews on our shows on iTunes. For more information,

visit www .geekcastradio .com and click on the

banner. So until next time, Unleash the Geek

in You. Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we

dig out our latest comics and discuss them with

a rotating panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back

and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag. This is episode 70. I am your

host TFG1Mike. Joining me is Steve Megatron.

Hello. Hello. Well, we started Batman month here

celebrating 75 years of the Dark Knight with

JT and I doing Batman 66 issues five through

eight and then Steve and I covered But where

the Batman chapters one through four the digital

series and now we go to one of the Batman Masterpieces

Batman year one by Miller Yes When was the first

time you read this? Honestly, I never read it

Seriously, yeah, I I saw the Film the film and

the same way I More so it wasn't because I wasn't

interested. It's just because I hadn't been exposed

to it and I didn't I When it comes to some of

these classics, I try not to find CBR files of

them I Try not to I actually do do like to own

at least the trades of some of them Like some

that we'll end up discussing in future episodes,

but I It's it's not it again, it's not that I

don't care for it because I do I love Batman

and I love what Frank Miller has brought to Batman

in general Mean the 80s were a huge transformative

time for Batman. Oh Yeah, so sure. So to me it's

it's more of I'm I'm a fresh onlooker on to the

The the timeline of Batman's first year more

or less For me Like I've said throughout this

podcast's history so far. I wasn't reading comics

as a kid I just wasn't I mean I read a few spider

-mans here and there but Especially in the 80s

86 it was transformers 87 was turtles You know

I mean I wasn't I wasn't didn't grow up with

comics and it's taken us 69 or so episodes to

get to this moment because like you I've seen

the animated film and I really enjoyed the animated

film I thought it was great for what it was and

I gotta say right away I almost enjoy the film

a little bit more that's not because of the story

that's told in here it's because of the way the

arts done in certain places see I always thought

that this was supposed to be the darker Batman

and it kind of is a little bit in certain places

but I thought this was like supposed to be a

little bit more current because I didn't realize

back in the I guess I shouldn't realize since

it it went up till about the 90s that it was

the old kind of art style and yeah I love the

film I thought the film was great I think that

I don't think Batman talked enough in it, but

then again he had Ryan Atwood from the OC voicing

him, which is kind of funny because Ben McKenzie

voiced Batman in year one and he is now slated

to play Lieutenant Gordon in Gotham, in Fox's

Gotham. So, alright, Batman year one. Now for

me, I I've been getting the trades through the

library a lot of the times that you know that

I can't actually go out and buy them And granted

the library isn't the best like condition of

a book, but hey, it's free you know So we start

out with the crime blotter and we have various

Various little little stories. It's kind of like

the Crime Stoppers section of a newspaper etc

etc What I find that what I find extremely interesting

about this one is the first story here Oops,

she did it again. Gossip Diva Vicky Bale got

her legendary notoriously firm shapely Fanny

tossed into the Houskau yet again after trying

to lift an estimated eleven thousand dollars

worth of merchandise from the sprang Uh, the

cutie klepto pled guilty after paying for the

loot and promising on a whole big heap of bibles

to seek counseling. She got off with a wink and

a nod to the judge. Leave us say the dame knows

how to wink. One juror says she even blew a kiss

to the horny old fart. You can't make this crap

up. I find it absolutely interesting that they

made her that way because the only time I've

ever really seen Vicky Vail was in the 89 movie

as the photographer. We have a nice little introduction

by Denny O 'Neal, so that's interesting here

in the trade. And I gotta say the covers, I'm

wondering, now I know a lot of the BTIS stuff

came from Batman 89 But this whole black paper

thing for the first couple of seasons of Batman

the animated series I'm wondering if they got

if Tim got the idea for that or I think it was

Eric Radomski that had that idea got it from

this because How the trade is is it opens to

a black page and then and then the the images

Bruce with his slain parents So that's very interesting

Chapter one who I am and how I come to be It's

an interesting overarching image here with this

cover because You've just got the shadow of the

bat and then Bruce as an adult sitting in what

looks like to be a bloody chair or blood under

the chair I Really do like the story. The story

is very well done. It's The course of one year

January 4th to I believe it's December third

I could be wrong but you have Gordon coming into

Gotham and he's you know just starting out and

forgive me folks if I maybe mistakenly call him

Commissioner Gordon because that's what I'm used

to calling him but we have James Gordon coming

into Gotham and The his little partner picks

him up and I love the narration and I do as I'm

going through this I do enjoy some of the art.

I will say well I do enjoy the story There are

times in here where I'm not a fan of how it's

told I think there are way too many news things.

I think that only works in the animated film

I don't know, it just didn't read that well for

me. I don't know, what about you? What did you

think of the layouts and all that? I mean, it

was a little confusing as far as reading the

book is concerned. Yeah. The only reason it makes

some sense to me is because I've watched the

year one film where they've kind of definitely

taken a lot of what's shown here throughout this

trade. So I mean there is that But I mean for

one I'm not fond of Of the art history in this

But I do feel that the year one film actually

captured a lot of it Not only the story but a

lot of the the stylings Yeah, most definitely.

And yeah, that's what I mean, though. Like, it

plays fine in the movie where you have the news

reports coming in and out, in and out, intermingled

with the story. Here in the book, it just...

I don't know what it was. Like, I didn't know

which panel to look at. Usually you read from

left to right with comic panels. And it just...

There are times it just didn't... I don't know,

it was a little strange. And I think I'll oh

no no it's not this one. This is next episode

actually I'm mentioning this this news thing,

and it's only really happened once in here Dark

Knight returns is really where where I got All

kinds of f'd up because that's the one that has

the that's the one that confused me we'll talk

about that next time in episode 71, but Yeah,

um You know you've got You've got Commissioner

lobe you've got What is his partner's what is

the guy's name? Oh god? I can't think I'm gonna

talk my head. I'm the dead accordance partner's

name is yeah Snedley snide least needly. I'm

just making up class that's what it is yeah class

yeah you can really tell like as soon as gordon

gets off the the plane and flash picks him up

that the gotham pd is not on the open up uh...

well you know they're all definitely scumbags

pretty much and gordon he's coming from a place

where i believe he came from the new yorker chicago

chicago and Yeah, and and he's coming from a

place where he just busted all of the people

For be so he has a reputation of Getting internal

affairs involved in cops lives and specifically

dirty cops lives. Well, he's a hard man and he's

a real cop Yeah for the most part very true And

we eventually get to March 11th where He ends

up getting a beat down by the other cops and

he can tell that it's you know flasks there We

also go to the eat now Is it I hope it's not

just me stereotyping this but I thought normally

in towns It's the West End that is normally the

bad end to town But I find it really interesting

that the East End of Gotham is the bad end of

town And we get our first glimpses of Selena

Kyle She Has a certain profession She's a hooker.

She's a hoe. Yeah But at least she's a hoe with

morals because damn it nobody hurts Holly And

throughout this whole part and I know I've kind

of skipped ahead a little bit here but throughout

this this whole beginning of this is Bruce trying

to figure out his method his his way of crime

fighting and how to do all this so he actually

goes into the East End and he starts you know

he doesn't really pick a fight but he ends up

in the fight and The cops break it up, and they

have him in the back of the car. Oh my, this...

I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe it's because

I didn't grow up reading this book, but the movie

does these scenes so much better as far as visually.

It really, really does. You've got Gordon heading

home, and Bruce basically cuts him off or sideswipes

him. And as I'm looking at this again, the art

is really picking up for me. You know, I read

this a little bit before we get to the recording.

Well, it's also getting more diverse as it goes

on. There's a lot more color, a lot more variation,

whereas in the beginning it was very rough and

it was kind of difficult to follow. Yeah, and

I think for me what it was was that I was confusing

this with Dark Knight Returns because that's

really where I have the art and the layout issues.

Yeah, well, and the other thing I've noticed

about Frank Miller is he tends to go by a gimmick

to pastime. Mm hmm. Rather than spending all

of the time telling out the entire story, he

skips ahead or skips complete points or transitions

in a certain way. Like here, he transitions by

using dates. Mm hmm. In The Dark Knight Returns,

he uses television Conversations to push on to

come on the story Yeah, so it's it's kind of

a convenient plot device here I think it's done

a little bit better than there, but I'll get

into that later, but It's definitely evident

here, but I in this case, I think it works well

Well, it works well here because it's supposed

to be telling the first year the first year of

Batman's life And it's also explaining Gordon

Yeah, well, so this that's the biggest thing

about year one is I always thought after I watched

the film that it was more of a Gordon story than

it was a Batman story Sure in the film Batman

is there he's around but we don't get as much

as we do here Than we did there At least I didn't

I didn't think so because they're in the film

He's not really that he's present, but he's not

like ever present like here. He's at least on

Every single page once or twice. Yeah, he's at

least even with Gordon. Yeah So after Gordon

gets beat up he then gets his revenge on flasks

which I found really interesting. It was rather

fitting how he kept the pimp hand strong. So

to speak. It was a grand slam right there, you

know, right? Yeah. That's what she said. Yeah.

And we ain't talking Denny's, ladies and gentlemen.

So we get to this Actually, it's the mayor's

mansion and this just goes to show you how corrupt

Gotham is it goes? All the way up to the bear

Yeah, everybody in town is pretty much on neck

-and -neck with being corrupted Pretty much now

they're good. I was gonna say there are elements

of this trade. I know I'm jumping around a bit

but They actually use part of this trade in Batman

Begins. Oh Do they yes? Well, yeah with Commissioner

Lowe and yeah, well, I mean part of that I mean

that even goes through the Dark Knight Yeah,

but like some of his you know, the summoning

bats thing and the Bat receiver and he I think

he did that in the 89 film the bat receiver.

Well, it draws the bats close. No, that was Begins.

I thought so. I thought I was mistaken on that

second one, but I knew Begins did it. What I

do love about it is about the scene at the mayor's

house is how he floods everything with smoke

and then that's where you get the dark. That's

where you know, that's where you really get oh

my god, it's Batman I thought that was awesome

And it's really interesting how this plays out

through all these dates it really is I'm finding

that normally in a book like this and people

are probably gonna scream at their iPods or iTunes

or Whatever is the listening of this, but I'm

gonna compare it to this because I think it's

a fair comparison from my opinions As I was reading

through this I kind of got a current Marvel Universe

Hawkeye vibe off of it because when Ryan and

I Ryan the uneven flow and I reviewed the first

two volumes of Hawkeye back in episode 26 of

the podcast it constantly changes background

colors from reds to blues to greens to pinks

to purple and this does the same thing but here

I don't mind it so much I like the color change

backgrounds in this so let's see where are we

we get to Batman is gonna save the old lady Or

Gordon is somebody's saving the old lady. Yeah.

Yeah, but yeah Batman saves the old lady And

throughout this, you know as we've got to this

point we should say that Commissioner or damn

it Gordon and Is it Elson Nelson? Essence that

that's that's what it is. Essence is basically

Sarah has and is basically got Batman at gunpoint

and Gordon's like don't take your eyes off of

him. Oh Boy the peep the mistakes people make

when facing off against Batman So we get we get

into the second chapter and uh... batman's in

the building now and he's uh... oh no where am

i yeah yeah he's in the building because this

is one of the reasons why i don't like the the

constant change scene changes in some comics

is because he gets in the building he finds a

little uh... danger electricity hatch and then

it switches back to Selena for like a one page

and then we go back to Gordon and trying to find

Batman and this scene and I know I'm referencing

the movie ladies and gentlemen but the movie

really is a love letter to this book because

the movie has these scenes so well done This

building scene where they're trying to find Batman

was so great Let's see here we have basically

they're all looking for him they can't find him

and here is where Or he uses the Where he uses

his bat signal Yes, and then of course he has

to save the cat Because every you know crumbling

building needs a stray cat in it. It's always

a black cat Actually, this one was gray, but

yeah I'm gonna leave me alone And I guess this

was like to show Gordon that he wasn't going

to do the drastic measures like you know Batman

isn't about killing He's about saving people

I do like how Gordon narrates it and how after

the bats are summoned how they followed him if

they kept following the bats and Batman must

have turned at some point and um... uh... always

eager to please the commissioner detective swanson

pursued the bats in the bitter end uh... so interesting

they don't really make it they make it obvious

but they don't really make it uh... too much

of a focal thing but throughout this whole thing

gordon has his wife Barbara who is pregnant with

I believe their son James Jr. and starting in

this book here in this part of the story he's

starting to basically want Sarah his partner

there they do more in the movie with it than

I thought they would actually But they kind of

show you that they're having an affair. Yeah.

Yeah, I remember that. That was... That was about

the only time I've seen Gordon kind of waver.

Yeah. He's a man whore. Here. Yes. And I thought...

and again it may maybe it's just me but this

final page before we get to the next part of

the story with him sitting on a bed and his wife

sleeping she's pregnant i thought the animators

and the designers in the movie did it so much

better i'm sorry folks i'm not i don't dislike

year one the the the trade paperback i don't

i just guess because I've seen the movie it it's

kind of clouding my judgment and the sad thing

is I didn't even watch the movie before reading

the story I've seen it when it first came out

so so we get the chapter four a friend in need

and Batman is hunting down people to to find

Who's responsible Yes, oh crap that's netted

point god damn it 2442 so he's hunting down all

these people wanting response wanting answers

to this because He's trying to figure out who

is responsible for all this stuff and and how

to get How to get at them love the Batman glider

yeah I love the Batman glider but I love the

scene on September 25th where Gordon comes to

Wayne Manor so hilarious Bruce really does play

the play the playboy role very very well and

the bat glider that's that's awesome right there

I thought that was really good Don't know how

that would work though because he's It doesn't

look like a fast -acting you can just hit a button

and be done with it. I don't know cuz Looking

at that image. He's like Strapped himself in

Yeah, I don't know how that would work I don't

know either. I mean even Even looking at the

other part of the image at the bottom of the

panel where he's he's got his legs free still

It's a little strange So he's at whose house

was that I I lose track honestly just looking

at it. Yeah Let go of me you idiot How'd she

get up here? Well close my face So it's Batman

and Catwoman basically now Yeah, it looks about

right and yep And I just now notice the Mickey

Mouse phone really seriously a Mickey Mouse phone

come on now Plan for subtlety do we have yes?

Overall I mean, I think it's a really really

good book I really do as as it progressed I like

the art more and more It's an interesting story,

I just I don't know I think the movie did it

a little bit better Yeah, I I'm almost inclined

to agree You know I do like the the subtle nod

at the very end mm -hmm About the Joker mm -hmm

That's what they put in begins yeah the end of

this Calls himself the Joker. I've got a friend

coming who might be able to help should be here

any minute Yeah Overall I do like year one. I

think it's a really cool and interesting story.

I'm just I Don't know man. I'm just I'm so used

to the current day stuff with the glossy art

and everything else I guess you could say we're

spoiled Yeah, that's that's essentially what

it is. It's yeah, it's definitely age showing

Yeah, so I Think it's a very wonderfully written

story and I think the using the dates is is nice

because you have Little snippets of one whole

year from one date to one date without actually

having to go through all 365 days of either Gordon's

life or Batman's life or Whomever's life, you

know And it's a nice little passage of time Alright,

we're gonna take a quick break and we'll come

back with final ratings and thoughts after this

my brain is not a nice place to be We are back

here in the pull bag for Batman 75th anniversary

spectacular for me in year one I'm gonna give

it a three and a half stars, which is I really

liked it, and the link to our Universal Rating

System for Geek Cast Rater Network will be in

the post. I just felt at times that while I enjoyed

the art overall as it progressed in the beginning,

it was a little rough and weird. The story though,

the story is amazing. The story is very well

done. I'm going to play copycat and say the exact

same thing because that's what I was actually

looking at while you were saying it. It's just

one of those things where I guess I get spoiled

by the film. I said this back in Marvelous March.

I found out by reading older comics that I prefer

the newer style as far as how... whether it's

digital or ink and paints or whatever, I just

prefer the newer glossier, shinier style than

I do the old kind of matte style that they used

to use. But, you know, hey, at least I can say

I read year one and, you know, all that good

stuff, so. Where can the people find you online,

sir? They can find me at SCP -21 on Twitter.

Find me at tfgmike on Twitter. You can also follow

at GeekCastRadio for all the other network updates

on Twitter and Make your great escape into comics

and we will catch you next time You've just heard

the latest episode of the pullback the GCR ends

comic review and discussion podcast There are

several ways to get in touch with us and leave

feedback for the show You can visit the website

geekcastradio .com where you can comment on the

episode and all of our different podcasts. You

can rate our show on iTunes. Be sure to leave

us feedback. Call the voicemail line 502 -526

-5821. Please remember to tell us the show you're

leaving the message for and your name. Become

a fan of us on Facebook by searching Geekcast

Radio Network. Send us an email feedback at geekcastradio

.com. Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.