Batman Earth One Volume 2 Graphic Novel Review

The second volume of Batman Earth One returns to the grounded and more realistic world for a Batman story. It isn’t the Dark Knight we know…. and it’s all the better for it. The Earth One graphic novels takes familiar elements of the characters and makes a story feel fresh and exciting by putting a clever twist to familiar elements. The long-awaited follow up of Batman: Earth One by Writer Geoff Johns and Artist Gary Frank follows Bruce Wayne as he slowly becomes the intelligent, fearsome Dark Knight we all know and love, now tasked with bringing down the remaining players of the corrupt Mayor’s criminal organisation as well as a new enemy with a secret agenda behind his seemingly random attacks.

Earth One is a series of graphic novels that re-imagine the origins of various DC characters. The stories take place in a new continuity allowing writers and artists to build brand new beginnings for DC’s most beloved heroes. Since the launch in 2010 we’ve seen three parts of Superman’s story, the first volume of Teen Titans and Batman Earth One Vol. 1 in 2012. Batman’s new origin featured a rough around the edges Bruce Wayne, Oswald Cobblepot as the corrupt the Mayor of Gotham City, Alfred as former head of security at Wayne Manor and a fresh faced plucky Harvey Bullock. Everything that transpired in the first story has lead Gotham to become increasingly dangerous,, at the end of the first volume all Bruce wanted to do was to catch his parents killer and now realizes he has to go beyond that and his mission can not just be about him. Batman Earth One preserves many aspects of the mythology, Batman is still billionaire Bruce Wayne and he’s still assisted by Alfred Pennyworth and Jim Gordon against familiar villains, the changes that Johns and Frank bring the stories are subtle but still manage to be profound and innovative. 

The second volume picks up six months later with Gotham still coming to terms with the events and revelations of the corrupt Mayor and the emergence of the Batman. This sequel is very closely linked to the events of Volume 1, twins Jessica and Harvey Dent that were introduced in the last story are now main characters in this sequel, Mayor Dent and her D.A. brother Harvey are clearing out corruption and as the city grows with a new found feeling of optimism, but reports of a half-man, half-crocodile killer in the sewers and a new criminal responsible for attacking the city, killing Gotham’s citizen’s threaten to disrupt the city's progress from darker times. Batman has been operating in Gotham for past six months and improving at being a vigilante as he chases down petty thugs and criminals. When we first see Batman it’s in a scene that echoes of the opening of the first book, instead of failing to catch his suspect this time he is more successful but still needs some fine tuning, he’s not yet the Dark Knight legend, he makes mistakes, loses fights and loses control. Bruce hasn’t spent years travelling the world learning martial arts and other disciplines, he has only been the Batman for less than a year and only became a costumed vigilante to chase down a lead on the murder of his parents. Batman is on his way to becoming a legend, forging his partnership with Gordon whilst still remaining an urban legend to the public and media.

The original established the tone of these books and this follow up shows the role of Batman expanding, putting him through his paces with Bruce becoming a detective rather than just a vigilante. The arrival of the Riddler challenges Batman in a way he hasn’t been before, he is more of a modern day terrorist than a brilliant and obsessed criminal that isn’t playing any games, he’s serious with no gimmicks. It motivates Batman to become a hero not just to serve justice but to stop him from killing people. It’s a more threatening and dangerous interpretation of the character without the sense of honour we’ve seen in the classic Riddler, that’s suited to the grounded and more realistic world of Earth One.

One thing that stands out in these books are the clever twists of what we expect certain characters to be, the standout in the first book was Alfred, no longer the English butler but a hard edged former solider who’s a lot tougher on Bruce. The stand out this time is Killer Croc, the interpretation is a new twist on the character that’s fresh while still retaining some of his own traits. Former T.V. Detective Harvey Bullock is continuing his descent due to the horrors he witnessed in the last story and Jim Gordon is now on a better path and continues his partnership with a rookie Batman, it subverts the usual Gordon/Batman tropes that builds an unlikely bond between the two.There is more of a human element to these stories, Bruce Wayne is more central, there is more about the man than his vigilante persona. His humanity is more on display than before, the design of Batman’s cowl allows you to see his eyes, it’s a window to his emotions that can add new weight to moments in the story. It’s more of a character driven story, Batman has more humanity than we’re used to and new motivation to stop the terrorist acts of The Riddler, you can really see how it affects him.

The theme of the story is identity; Who is Batman? That question that means different things to different characters, for Bruce it’s a matter of deciding what he wants to accomplish and what he wants Batman to symbolize. He's still new to being a vigilante and inexperienced, it makes the action scenes a lot more suspenseful and gripping due to the lack of confidence that he’ll succeed, but when he does its thrilling. The story is exciting and suspenseful as we don't know what to expect from this new Batman and his villains. It's one of those books you wanna tell your friends about and its a great series for the more casual readers to get into that still has plenty of excitement and ideas to keep long time fans intrigued. It's plot and events make it another massive hit for its creators, Batman and the Earth One series. 

This new book continues all the things that made the first one so great. It’s a completely fresh start and continuity for Batman stories. If you enjoyed the first one as much as I did you won’t be disappointed to the return of Batman Earth One. Johns and Frank continue to make a brilliant story, it has a large cinematic feel to it with great action spreads and thrilling and exciting scenes. The book and this new universe is great, for long-time fans it takes the expected usual tropes and put its own clever twists on it, with a turn of a page readers are introduced to some new and inventive twists. Of the three series to debut in DC's slowly growing Earth One line so far, Batman: Earth One is easily the most successful. It presented a more grounded take on the Caped Crusader and Gotham City, as well as one with a number of clever twists to the usual formula. Volume 1 set up the tone and world in this new re-imaging of Batman, Volume 2 allows both writer and hero to explore inventive and creative adventures for the new Batman. Geoff Johns has always been one of the best writers and his Batman Earth One series are truly something special. 

The second chapter of his and Frank's alternate take on Batman revisits their more grounded realistic take on Batman, able to explore and create a different path for the Dark Knight free from a predetermined continuity making a solid and exciting Batman story full of surprises for one of comics most enduring characters. Volume 2 sets up some enticing plot threads that will get develop into future adventures that Johns has confirmed that Volume 3 will be available as soon as next year.

Batman Volume 5: Zero Year - Dark City Review

Batman Volume 5: Zero Year Dark City is the next part of the Zero Year story line that ended on a cliff-hanger in the last collection; Batman Volume 4 Zero Year Secret City, in which Bruce Wayne became Batman and successfully stopped the Red Hood gang. After that confrontation Edward Nygma made his presence known as The Riddler and in his first appearance announcing his control over Gotham, shutting off its power and challenging its residents of to rise up to the challenge to turn it back on. Also, the Gotham City Police Department's gruesome discovery sets up the main conflicts for the concluding chapters in this large scale story arc.

Having witnessed Bruce Wayne become the Batman in the last collection, Dark City is the first big challenge in the Batman’s career. He has to save the whole city while being public enemy number one in the eyes of the GCPD. The Riddler’s blackout is not Batman’s primary concern, a series of suspicious and gruesome murders are, wherein the victim’s bones grew out of their own bodies. Doctor Death was one of Batman’s original enemies; being the very first super villain Batman faced, first appearing in Detective Comics #29 in 1939, two issues after Batman’s original appearance. Zero Year Secret City featured the Red Hood, an early Batman villain, the same trend continues here in this re imagining of The Dark Knight's early crime fighting career. Both Doctor Death and the Red Hood are important players in the whole Zero Year saga, they both go way back to the earliest Batman adventures in the Golden Age of comics. Writer Scott Snyder takes one of the first villains he ever faced and puts him into the New 52 continuity as one of Batman’s first super villains. Dr. Karl Helfern, a scientist working on a bone growing serum whose experiments have turned him into a grotesque monster. The results of which have been teased in the final pages of the preceding volume. It’s a throwback to the mad scientist style of villain, Dr. Death provides the physical challenge to Batman in the first part of the story in which The Riddler can’t give. He’s also strikingly designed by Artist Greg Capullo, this modern revamp of the character is the most monstrous, disgusting and grotesque villain created and is extremely well suited to Capullo’s artistry, a most vile creation.

Edward Nygma’s New 52 origin was revealed in the first installment of Zero Year , it reveals that Nygma was once a high level employee of Wayne Enterprises and later becomes The Riddler, causing the blackout. The groundwork had been set and initially The Riddler hovers in the background as an unpredictable threat causing chaos in Gotham. He is not a physical challenge to Batman instead possess a sharp intelligence and cunning mind used to devastating effect. It’s more that just a battle of wits in the biggest scheme in the history of The Riddler. An entirely new version of the character, it’s startling and exciting to reveal as to what this new Riddler is capable of. Snyder has taken the classic Batman villain and has made him work so well in a contemporary Batman story. Some elements of Batman’s early days are somewhat predetermined. The Riddler’s schemes are not, which effectively makes the threat of Zero Year all the more terrifying. Giving Batman challenges unlike ones he’s ever faced before: A broken city, self doubt, and challenges to the essential functions of Batman himself.

In my experience of previous Batman origin tales, Bruce Wayne had always trusted Jim Gordon to some degree. He was the one good cop in Gotham. Their trust and mutual respect was always the foundation of that partnership. In this case, Bruce loathed and hated Jim Gordon along with the rest of the GCPD. It is a terrific addition to the story, Bruce saw Gordon as corrupt, distinctive of Gotham’s law enforcement and part of what turned him into a vigilante. Dark City examines Gordon’s tenure within the GCPD and puts a face to corruption that drove Bruce into taking matters into his own hands. It is a terrific addition to the story; He saw Gordon as corrupt, distinctive of Gotham’s law enforcement and part of drove Bruce into taking matters into his own hands. Dark City examines Gordon’s tenure within the GCPD and puts a face to corruption. This offers a change in the approach of how Gordon and Batman get to work together. The other part of that legend remains unchanged; a young beat cop named Jim Gordon was first on the scene to comfort the boy after the murder of his parents. His role remains the same and the event remains fully intact, it’s what comes after their faithful meeting that is altered so much that young Bruce Wayne grows up hating him. This turn of events adds a new mystery to their story giving readers and fans a twist on their iconic relationship. In the past, Jim had to prove that he would be worthy ally of Batman, Zero Year takes things one step further, personalizing the story to Bruce. Gordon had to earn back Bruce’s trust in order to earn Batman’s. After ripping down the foundation of trust between them, readers and long time fans now get to see this iconic partnership grow once more.

While the partnership of Batman and Gordon is unquestionably vital to the mythos, no other relationship is as commensurate as the one between Bruce and the ever supportive Alfred Pennyworth. While he has often shown to worry about Bruce and his protégés in the past, we now are given a depiction of Alfred constantly against Bruce’s mission. They've always had a conflict and difference of opinions and beliefs. Eventually though, Alfred proves that he basically simply wants the best for Master Bruce, and that he’ll always be there for him. He may not always fully understand or support his Master’s mission but will be ever dependable. Infusing a great deal of meaning and significance to a already meaningful relationship by adding dramatic elements that helped unite the pair in a way never seen before /innovative manner of story telling.

Bruce Wayne of Zero Year Dark City is still a refreshing change of pace from the dark and brooding persona that we've come to know. He’s less honed and regal, taking joy in what he does, a victorious smirk creeps across his face on occasion. He takes joy in what he is doing, his remark about a newly acquired scar he received as “First real kiss of Gotham” is telling of his attitude to his chosen undertaking. Zero Year Batman is a less experienced crime fighter capable of failure, he is still learning, he is vulnerable and the task at hand is too large to do on his own, it’s nice to see emphasis on the heroes without masks that carry Bruce when he falls. This is truly an origin story that enriches Batman’s character significantly, facing his deadliest challenge in his early career. This is a Batman driven by his guilt rather than vengeance. Bruce Wayne is The Batman and not the other way around as has been established over the decades.

Earlier story arcs in this best selling and critically acclaimed Batman series by Snyder and Capullo have been ambitiously large adventures but pale contrast to the Zero Year saga in terms of its sheer scale. A rookie Batman against mad machinations of monstrous Dr. Death and the ingenious of The Riddler, with only newly founded allies of both Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox to aid him in ultimately stopping Nygma’s control over Gotham City. That moment that the story has always been building to, Gotham City in ruins and Batman about to face his foe, teased way back in Batman #21 at the beginning of this story arc.

Snyder and Capullo add plenty of Batman references/easter eggs throughout, paying homage to what has gone before his re-interpretation of the Batman. The final act has a slight reminiscence of The Dark Knight Rises film.

Whereas Batman Year One was slightly more focused on Jim Gordon, Zero Year is a Bruce Wayne story. Presenting Batman’s formative years in the face of Gotham’s biggest threat, while giving insight of both characters pasts. Origin stories can typically be a short mini series or short story arc outlining the highlights of that hero’s journey. Zero Year is a large scale story, told within the pages of this Batman series, It is the origin of one of comics best heroes. Not just how Bruce Wayne came to be The Batman, but how Batman became the protector of his beloved city in the time when it was most in need. The conclusion is a deep and meaningful ending that gives new meaning to a symbolic connection of Batman and his city.

Batman is a character that is infinitely renewable, Zero Year was never intended to override what came before it instead Snyder simply/merely wanted to give his own interpretation of Batman’s origin in a modern contemporary setting of the New 52, Refining and giving us a new Batman going forward for the 75 year old character. Before Robin, the Batmobile and The Joker there was ZERO YEAR, a new take on Batman’s origin unlike any before. A 12 issue story arc offering an expanded and broader scope of an origin story. It doesn't have the appeal of a single short trade paperback graphic novel but instead Zero Year is a large scale and grand adventure, both action-packed and clever to the end. An epic story not to be overlooked and is in my opinion essential Batman story and must read.