Batman: Year One

Written by Frank Miller

Art by David Mazzucchelli

Published by Titan Books

The story of Batman's origin has gone relatively unchanged since his creation in 1939, most people would be able to tell the tale of how a young boy witnessing his parents deaths went on to become 'The Caped Crusader', fighting for the idea of justice by utilizing fear against the criminals of Gotham City. Using his inheritance to fund everything that makes Bruce Wayne the Batman has allowed him to fight crime at the level of superheroes without needing any actual super powers and this is what makes him so popular. The idea that anyone of us could go out and fight crime given the resources without relying on shooting fireballs out of our hands or needing some special ring.

While this general story remains unchanged, Frank Miller manages to redefine the birth of Batman, creating something that seems familiar but much darker and grittier than before. This book aimed primarily at the more mature audience makes adults proud to be reading a comic book, taking us back to reading comic books as a child while redefining it into something new, something interesting and exciting.

The thing that primarily sets Year One's story line aside from others is that it focuses as much on James Gordon as it does Bruce Wayne, interweaving their two different approaches to fighting the crime in the city. It also shows them both in new ways, not as the perfect cop and vigilante hero, but as two slightly flawed human beings striving for the same goal. It shows Bruce Wayne's struggle to convince James that he isn't the bad guy and James Gordon realisation that in order for him to achieve his own goal he will need the help of Batman.

The story written by Frank Miller offers something familiar but with new dimensions, making it seem better than before. The artwork is slightly more controversial, some readers are fans of the dated look to the story given that it was written in the 80's while others believe that the artwork in some places does not match the storyline. I for one think it is a small fault on an otherwise perfect book. Any fan of comics will agree hands down that this book is the ultimate in detailing the origins of Batman and building the foundations upon which all future stories can be told.

A must have for every fan of Batman especially those looking to start a collection of comic books.

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Comic Book Review: 'Batman: Gates of Gotham' 1

Batman: Gates of Gotham hit the shelves of comic stores everywhere today, delivering the first of five issues to make up the miniseries. Gates of Gotham brings together writers Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins and features the artwork of Trevor McCarthy. This impressive team brings us a storyline that has its roots coming out of Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated, particularly issue #6 where Cassandra Cain began tracking explosives that eventually found their way to Gotham in the first issue of this series.

The story begins with the bombing and subsequent destruction of three bridges in Gotham City that follow with a cryptic warning to the press that "the families will fall by the gates of Gotham." The fact that each one of these bridges was named after a prominent family (the Cobblepots, the Elliots and the Waynes) leads us to believe that some deep dark secrets of said families are about to come out of the closet. The first couple pages sets that idea up nicely as we're treated to a meeting held in 1881with Bruce Wayne's great great grandfather to discuss the construction of these bridges. Personally, I loved this intro because of the time period being illustrated and it brought back that nostalgic vibe I felt when I read Gotham by Gaslight for the first time.

The first issue is clearly setting up the questions for the next four books to answer so the pace is relatively slow. That shouldn't come as big surprise for anyone starting a new series that has a well-developed storyline. I feel that pacing here is key. There is, however, a great action sequence that's wonderfully illustrated by McCarthy of Batman's response to the bridge explosions and the rescue attempts made. After being treated to a few pages of this type of action, I was fine having a slower pace for the rest of the issue.

McCarthy's artwork has grown on me a little bit more with this book. His character work stands out in this issue and he manages to effectively energize the panels, regardless of the action taking place. I particularly enjoyed the work he did illustrating a meeting between Batman and the Penguin. His drawings of Gotham City are very well done in the few panels in which it's visible. The buildings come off as dark and rustic and lend to the mood as the backdrop for the story. These illustrations are even more important to pay attention to as the city itself can be seen as a prominent character in Gates of Gotham.

What excites me about his storyline is that we're going to get new insights and backstory on the history of Gotham City. Snyder and Higgins both have a liberty here to create a new way for us to view how Gotham came to be and how it may have shaped the destinies of the characters in the Bat-universe. I hope they wield this liberty wisely because knowing that there's only 4 more issues to tell this story, I'm anxiously awaiting to see where it goes.

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Who Is Batman? The Mythology of the Dark Knight

In this article we are going to discuss a superhero that is known as batman. Batman is a fictional comic book superhero created by Bob Kane and Bill finger. Batman was first introduced to the world in 1939. Batman has several nicknames including the batman, the caped crusader, the world's best detective and The Dark Knight.

The origin story of the dark knight is that young Bruce Wayne's parents get murdered and he then seeks revenge on the criminal underworld. Bruce Wayne is the alter ego of the bat-man and has to live the life of a billionaire playboy at day and caped crusader at night.

Bruce Wayne has to first train himself physically and mentally before he becomes a superhero and although it's not known how long he trains for many people believe it to be around 15 years. In this time Bruce trains in multiple martial art disciplines.

When Bruce returns to Gotham city he sees that it's in ruins and decides to dress up as a bat to instill fear on those who prey on the fearful.

What makes batman so well liked in popular culture is that he is relate-able. Even though his parents were killed and he's a billionaire he still struggles with every day issues like you or I. Batman also has an impressive list of villains which include:

The Ridler
The Joker
Catwoman
Penguin
Two Face

Batman has many other super villains however in my opinion the ones listed above are the favourite among fans.

The caped crusader has had many outings on the big screen and has had many big Hollywood actors portraying him; actors such as Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton, George Clooney and more recently Christian Bale have all donned the suit to play the dark knight.

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Pamela Ivy - Batman Villain, But Who Is She?

Pamela Lillian Isley is a fictional comic book villain more commonly known as poison ivy.  Ivy is one of the main female comic book villains to the hero known as Batman. Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff and was first introduced to the world in the batman comic issue 181.

Pamela Ivy is known as one of the world's highest threat eco terrorists and uses botany to carry out her evil plans.  Ivy uses toxins from her own blood and other plant life to carry out acts of terrorism which usually involve protecting Mother Nature. Poison Ivy is often played as a love interest to Bruce Wayne and is seen as one of his most powerful foes.

Ivy's most powerful story arc was when she attempted to rob a gala hosted by Bruce Wayne.  During the robbery she kissed Bruce meaning that she left her deadly poison on his lips which would have killed him if ivy hadn't has later kissed a dying Batman which gave him the cure.  She did this without knowing and ever since a sexual tension has been apparent between the super hero and the villain, which has made for many highly charged situations.

Poison ivy isn't one of my favourite female villains, simply because I don't find her too interesting, having said that I believe that Ivy has a lot of potential when it comes to including her character in feature length movies in the future, and with the right story arc poison ivy really could become a powerful enemy to the Dark Knight.

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Is Batman A Superhero Or Not?

What exactly defines a superhero? Is it truly necessary for a superhero to have super powers like flying, inhuman strength, x-ray vision or invulnerability?

Most people would quickly state that to be a super hero you must have these abilities. If this is true, the question should be expanded to include others like Iron-Man and Green Arrow. Are they also superheroes or not? In the same sense as Batman, they cannot be seen as super heroes. Some see Batman as a vigilante with a lot of high-tech gadgets but no innate super powers. In their opinion, he can't be a superhero.

Taking a look at the definition of a super hero in the Merriam-Webster, you find a superhero defined as "a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers" as well as "an exceptionally skillful or successful person." So, even if Batman does not have any superhuman powers, he does have some really extraordinary powers.

He is a very skilled fighter, being a master at various martial arts. He is extremely intelligent and is seen as the Dark Detective for his abilities to solve complex puzzles. He is a master of various forensic sciences, and he has a great understanding of the human psychological processes. Batman is, quite certainly, a powerful individual. He is physically strong and agile. Except for these qualities, Batman also shares quite a lot of commonalities with other fictional superheroes. He wears a costume to hide his true identity. He uses various special equipment, ranging from small utilities on his belt, to his famous bat mobile. He usually fights those who are classified as super villains, like the Joker, Two Face, Killer Croc and the Penquin.

His extraordinary abilities are shown by his ability overcome the lower level thugs, mostly used by the super villains. Even when vastly outnumbered by these thugs, Batman can handle and disable them all with relative ease. These alone moves him into the arena of exceptionally skillful. So even though he has no real super powers, he does fit the definition given by Merriam-Webster. Of course, technology does help him in his shortcomings. He doesn't have x-ray vision, like Superman, but he does have his bat-goggles. He cannot fly, but with his trusted grappling hook, he can move quite effectively between the buildings of Gotham. He uses smoke and stun grenades to overcome a huge number of enemies, and he can pick locks and disable alarms with great ease. What he needs in superpowers, he makes up in gadgets.

The biggest argument for Batman as a superhero comes from the Justice League of America. Distinquished superheroes like Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter work side by side with Batman. Would these superheroes accept a mere human being if he is not up to their standards? The answer is no. The Justice Leaguers reckon Batman as one of them.

Batman does not have any real superpowers, but according to the definition of Merriam-Webster Batman does fit the definition of a superhero, and with real superheroes accepting him as an equal, no doubt Batman can truly and utterly be called a superhero.

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