When Frank Miller Was Good, He Was Really Good

Batman: Year One, the Deluxe Hardcover Edition by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli

By Corrina Lawson
March 1, 2006

After the smoking train wreck that is All-Star Batman & Robin, I delayed opening my brand new deluxe hardcover edition of Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. It couldn't possibly be as good as I remembered. There had to be something in it that foreshadowed, in some small way, the very odd storytelling that Miller's been dabbling in of late.

Instead, when I read it, I remembered all the reasons why I loved this story. And it's not just saved by Mazzucchelli's art, which is outstanding. Miller's script and plotting are also near-perfect. Even in hindsight, knowing what Miller's become, this is still my favorite Batman story.

Mainly, because it's not just Batman's story. It's the story of Gotham, as seen through the eyes of three people: Bruce Wayne, on the verge of becoming Batman, new Gotham Police Lt. Jim Gordon, hoping for a new start in a diferent city, and Selina Kyle, looking for a new trade, wanting to be out from under the whims of others.

From the opening sequence, where they arrive in Gotham in very different ways — Wayne on a luxury airplane and Gordon via a run-down train — Wayne and Gordon are set up as deliberate parallels. Wayne wants to know even more about the dark side of Gotham, so he can learn how to fix it. Gordon sees all the darkness around him and wishes he could get away. Mazzucchelli establishes a mood for the series up front, making Wayne's word sharp and clear, while making Gordon's world rumpled and muddy.

Wayne wants to help turn Gotham around, but he's at a loss as to how to put his skills into effect. It can't be through the system: the police and the judiciary are corrupt. He tries to go out as an ordinary man but that's a failure. Only when he's bleeding and near-dying does he decide to become the Bat.

Gordon tries to be a good cop but his corrupt partner makes it difficult and dangerous. By the time he's gained enough publicity and respect to make him semi-untouchable, the married Gordon has another problem — he's in love with his new partner, Sgt. Sarah Essen. When I first read this book, I decided they were sleeping together. On re-reading, it's not clear that they are. They love each other, they both know it's wrong, and there are several panels which make the physical attraction clear, but it's not at all certain they've progressed to an actual affair. This is a subtlety that's definitely missing in Miller's recent work.

Selina Kyle is the counterpoint, the wild-card to Wayne and Batman, someone who doesn't see any solution to what Gotham has become but is intent on making this corrupt city work for her, pay her back for what she's had to do to survive. She's not evil, she's just out to get for herself what no one else will. When I hear complaints about B:Y1, it's mostly about Kyle being retconned into a hooker. I looked for that on this reading, prepared to be unhappy and yet ... it's not clear that she is a hooker in this version. She's definitely a dominatrix taking paying clients but that does not mean she's having sex with those clients — all we know is she's hurting them at their request. And she breaks from this, rescuing a young friend from her life as a hooker, to take up her new life as Catwoman. Like Wayne and Gordon, what she wants most is to have the power to create her own destiny.

All through this, Mazzucchelli's art sets the mood. Usually cited as the murder of the Waynes, with young Bruce kneeling over his dead parents is cited as the best panel in the book. The image has become so iconic that it was used in Batman Begins. But my favorite panel is a small one near the end as Wayne — out of costume — hands Gordon back his infant son, rescued from death at the hands of a thug. The symbolism here is perfect. Gordon captured the bad guy but was unable to save his son. It was the man outside the system, Wayne, who saved the innocent. The two men are equals, in many ways, but Wayne can protect the city in ways that Gordon never can.

The special features in this deluxe edition include new introductions by Miller and Mazzucchelli, an impressive commentary by Mazzucchelli on development art for the series and even some very early pages by young Mazzucchelli featuring Batman.

If you can only buy one Batman book, make it this one. Everything you need to know about the character and his city is in here.