Batman is not a hero.  He is just a man.  Fallible, vulnerable, and angry.  In a Gotham City where friend and foe are indistinguishable, Bruce Wayne's path toward becoming the Dark Knight is riddled with more obstacles than ever before. Focused on punishing his parents’ true killers, and the corrupt police that allowed them to go free, Bruce Wayne's thirst for vengeance fuels his mad crusade and no one, not even Alfred, can stop him.
In the tradition of the #1 New York Times bestselling Superman: Earth One, writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank re-imagine a new mythology for the Dark Knight, where the familiar is no longer the expected in this long-awaited original graphic novel from DC Comics.
Product Details:
Author:
Geoff Johns
Hardcover:
144 pages
Publisher:
DC Comics
Publication Date:
July 04, 2012
Language:
English
ISBN:
1401232086
Product Length:
5.98 inches
Product Width:
0.43 inches
Product Height:
10.0 inches
Product Weight:
1.25 pounds
Package Length:
10.2 inches
Package Width:
6.8 inches
Package Height:
0.5 inches
Package Weight:
0.85 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 140 reviews
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:
( 140 customer reviews )
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 57 found the following review helpful:
A Different Side to the Dark KnightJul 10, 2012
By Dana Sciandra The origin story of Batman has been told countless times. In "Batman: Earth One," superstar writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank take a stab at telling an entirely new and unique take on the Dark Knight's beginning...and the result is stellar.
The Batman that we all know and love from the movies and comics is already a fully-fledged badass, taking on the worst that Gotham has to offer and always coming out on top...but was he always this way? Surely Batman must have had a few setbacks on his climb from hero to super-hero...right? This is the story that Johns and Frank set out to tell, reminiscent of Frank Miller's wildly popular and best-selling, "Batman: Year One."
Now, before any Bruce Wayne / Batman purists get all up-in-arms over the tinkering with the widely-known and cemented origin story of the Caped Crusader, know that Earth One is intended as an alternate story-line to the Batman mythos...similar to the best-selling, "Superman: Earth One," told by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Shane Davis.
In fact, Johns has stated that he hopes to continue with this alternate story in future - self-contained - graphic novels, outside of the main story arcs presented by the monthly issues published by DC Comics.
What is immediately striking about Johns' and Frank's version of the Bat's origin story, is the sheer number of liberties taken with the established mythos and characters in that universe. Yes, Bruce Wayne's parents are still killed and his journey begins with a desire to hunt down the murderer(s)...however, everyone from Alfred the Butler (a totally different take), Commissioner Gordon (before he's made a name for himself), Barbara Gordon, Oswald Cobblepot (aka: "The Penguin") and Lucius Fox are re-invented (to a degree) in terms of the genesis of their relationship with Batman.
However, I can't tell you how satisfying it was when Johns' and Frank brought everything together in the end...of which, I'll allow you discover on your own. All at the same time, these relationships remain very familiar - but simply told in a different way - in a way that establishes and even solidifies how Batman came to attract such allies and their loyalty.
Another thing that struck me and immediately set the tone for what I might expect from the remainder of the book, was found in the first few pages. Batman is chasing a baddie down, only to have his famous grapnel hook fail on him by back-firing and then later missing a ledge while attempting to jump from one building to another - a feat he normally does with absolute ease - only to fall helplessly to the ground on his back into a pile of garbage (letting out a very non-Batman, "Ow") and the "perp" gets away.
Shortly following his failure (and likely because of it), Batman comes across a robbery in progress...and instead of dishing out the usual ass-whopping we are accustomed to, he walks away! It is this uncertainty - so antithetical to the confident Batman we know - that it is almost shocking. Even seeing Batman drive a normal (non-Batmobile) car while referring to a map of Gotham, threw me for a loop!
The reader is continually asked to keep in mind that this story is of the earliest days of the Dark Knight, when he is growing into his own at the very beginning of his road to becoming a legend.
Throughout the book, Bruce Wayne is an angry, impetuous, arrogant and almost careless protagonist. It is clear that he is primarily motivated and focused on solving the murder of his parents and has had given little thought or desire to be the crime fighter and last hope of Gotham that he will eventually become.
In fact, it is during the course of taking down a serial killer who preys on young girls (a pretty dark and gruesome part of the story), that Bruce finally seems to understand the true evil that lurks in Gotham City and that he might be the only one to put a stop to it...and, more importantly, an evil that is bigger than that which took the lives of his parents. Gotham is overrun with corruption and fear, and it takes a while for Bruce to realize that he could be the solution. However, until that point, he is singularly-focused on his own demons and the feelings of guilt surrounding his parents murder.
Gary Frank's art is an outstanding compliment to Geoff Johns' words. His ability to emote through expressions, especially in the eyes, is amazing. It was because of Frank's art that I felt that I was so easily able to give life to Johns' words and the emotion intended by the writer...most notably in the exchanges between Bruce and Alfred...a relationship that Mr. Johns completely reinvented.
Also, on a personal note, I love Frank's version of Bruce Wayne. For many readers, we all have an ideal of what we think Bruce Wayne should look like and for me, Gary Frank came exceptionally close to how I visualize the Billionaire-Playboy-Gone-World's-Greatest-Detective...with Kevin Conroy's voice, of course. :)
Batman: Earth One is a completely different re-telling of the Batman origin story. Truth be known, some people are going to love it, while others will hate it...I firmly place myself in the former category and am looking forward to the next chapter of this alternate storyline.
The book is also a complete story from beginning to end (144 pages) and is therefore told entirely differently than how the monthly comics are intended to be read. Johns' has stated that he really likes the graphic novel format for this story and hopes to put out more like it...and judging from the interest surrounding this first book, I'm confident that he will have an opportunity to do so...and quickly I hope, because I can't wait for the next chapter of this story.
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Excellent OverallAug 07, 2012
By Robert Quattrocchi As an old fan of comic books who hasn't been keeping up with them for a long time, I know how hard it is to jump into an ongoing story when there is so much history and backstory to slog through. DC's Earth One fixes that. Akin to Marvel's Ultimate Universe (which I am admittedly not much of a fan of) Earth One reboots and retells the Batman story in a new way.
This story of Batman is familiar yet fresh, characters such as Alfred and others have been tweaked and changed and we get to see a rash, hard-headed, Batman who has yet to become the hero he one day will be. I felt this book drew obvious inspiration from the Christopher Nolan movies with certain design and story-telling choices, and James Gordon in this book is a dead ringer for Gary Oldman.
If I understand what DC is planning to do with these Earth One stories is keep them as self-contained graphic novels, instead of releasing them as single issues and then later collecting them as trades. And for me that's a plus.
I rated this book four out of five stars though because I felt for my taste it was just a hair on the short side. Since this a re-telling of Batman's origin it felt as though some more of the time between the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne and Bruce donning the bat-cowl could have been a bit more fleshed out.
Solid read and solid purchase, looking forward to vol. 2.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Nolan Earth OneDec 14, 2012
By Chongo I was super excited when at last DC made an official release date for Batman 'Earth One' & eagerly awaited it to finally arrive in the mail. Now while I didn't entirely dislike the book I felt it came across as sort of predictable. If your a Bat fiend like myself you can't argue that Geoff Johns & Gary Frank were aiming to fire something new & different out of the Bat cannon, so that's sort of what we have here. There's a definite Christopher Nolan influence running amok in the comic as everything seems to be quite grounded in reality much like his Batman flicks & it's mean, gritty, violent, & not far off from a Frank Miller comic. Also there's a new origin & re-imagining of not just Batman but also with his long running cast that includes Alfred, The Penguin, & Harvey Bullock with Bullock being the sort of comic relief throughout this dark tale. Besides Gary Franks awesome artwork this was a very brief read & just when things started to pick up some steam so honestly, it doesn't offer anything remarkable to the established Batman fan but it's a pretty good entry point for newcomers & non comic readers. It's almost like a reboot of Batman 'Year One' for a new audience & I'm bias over a sequel to this.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Starts off OK, but ultimately disappointsSep 22, 2012
By Natalie W I came into this particular story completely blind; having read no reviews and avoided any hype surrounding it.
That being said, I was disappointed in it. It has a few strong points and tons of potential, but fails to realize it.
I'm a big fan of stories that have a bit of a darker element to them. Not so dark that it'll depress you for weeks, but the kind where there are consequences to the actions of the characters and the ending isn't always "...and they all lived happily ever after." Batman: Earth One certainly fits that bill, so I was instantly attracted to the darkness of the setting and thought it would be something that I would really immerse myself in. However, Johns failed to execute this in a clean manner as about midway through the story there is, what I feel to be misplaced humor by Bullock in order to lighten the mood a bit. It's not anything that would distract from the story for too long, but it's enough to take you away from it for the briefest of seconds, which leads me to my next point:
The characterizations. Oh, the characterizations! This is the one part that I really hated about this story. I get that the characters are supposed to be extremely modern and for the "new" generation of comic fans, but these versions just didn't work for me. First of all, Bruce Wayne is extremely flat and stoic. We're told that he wants vengeance for the murders of his parents, but that's it. There's no exploration of his emotions or his actions, he just seems like a whiny teenager and very one-dimensional. Secondly I hated the "new" Alfred. Once again, I understand that it's a different take on him, but I didn't like it. He just didn't feel like Alfred at all. His mannerisms, his actions, the way he talked, none of them felt like Alfred. In fact as I was reading, an American "voice" came into my head rather than a British "voice" despite me knowing that he was British.
Bad and weak characterizations aside, I also felt the story moved a little too quickly for it's own good and as a result, events felt rushed and it seemed like Johns was cramming things in. Those last few ending scenes seemed really unnecessary to me.
So, overall, it's an OK book, probably better for someone who's never read a Batman comic, but if you're the type that doesn't mind relaunches, re-tellings and modernization, check it out.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Great art, some of the new takes on certain characters are interesting, but major characters fall flatAug 24, 2012
By Gary Hoggatt Batman is one of the most popular characters in the modern mythos, and his origin story is frequently retold. The gold standard for Batman's origin is, of course, Batman: Year One by writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli. In their 2012 effort Batman: Earth One, writer Geoff Johns and penciller Gary Frank try a new spin on the story, but it's only partially successful.
The main angle Johns and Frank attempt to take is to depict Batman as more human. He can fail, you can see his eyes, he's only interested in solving his parents' murder and not ridding Gotham of crime in general. All of that is fine. But to set this story apart from established continuity, Johns changes pretty much everything at least a little, and sometimes a lot.
Bruce / Batman seems shallow. Not just "Bruce pretending to be a playboy" shallow, but just not developed. Other than effectively depicting him as a spoiled kid, he just doesn't seem fleshed out as a character. Perhaps it's that there's so little dialogue in the book, and that he's on screen as Bruce so little. There's an emphasis on action, and you'll frequently go several pages of big action shots with hardly a dozen words. I'm all for action, but when trying to tell an origin and establish how this take on the character is different, you need more words.
The changes in the supporting cast are hit and miss. I liked this take on Jim Gordon, and thought it did a good job of adding human depth to the character in a way different than in Year One. Giving a larger role in Gotham for Thomas and Martha Wayne is great. Barbara Gordon is fun.
Alfred, on the other hand, just didn't work for me. They give him a past in the Royal Marines, which is fine (in fact, I enjoyed the Batman: The Animated Series depiction of him as a former MI-6 intelligence agent), but his relationship with Bruce didn't make much sense to me. It's just too far off the established character, and there's no sense that this Alfred really cares much about Bruce. In fact, he doesn't even meet Bruce until the night of his parent's death.
Where this book shines is the art. Frank does an excellent job depicting the inexperienced Batman, and the character design, with one exception, is very well done. It's a different, more realistic / modern artistic style than Year One, which is fine. I love the Year One art, but if you're telling the same story, you need to differentiate the art, and I think Earth One does a good job of being modern and realistic without veering into the hyper-detailed and technical territory of the current Christopher Nolan films, either.
My main issue with the art is, like with the writing, Alfred. His new look, combined with his new, more active past and rougher demeanor, kept making me think of Kevin O'Neil's depiction of Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen more than anything. I kept expecting Mina and Nemo to pop up.
Overall, Batman: Earth One is a solid take on Batman's origin, but there are too many rough patches for me to endorse it too highly, and it has a hard time getting out of the shadow of previous versions of this story. The art, though, is great, and it's certainly a nice book to look at.
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