View Poll Results: Best Batman origin (other than Year One)?

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  • Earth One

    11 16.42%
  • Zero Year

    15 22.39%
  • Batman Begins

    31 46.27%
  • Gotham

    1 1.49%
  • Golden Age ('Tec # 33 & Batman # 47)

    12 17.91%
  • Untold Legend of Batman

    13 19.40%
  • Golden Age Retold (Secret Origins # 6)

    5 7.46%
  • Post Zero Hour

    3 4.48%
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  1. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I had to look this up and in SECRET ORIGINS 6 it does show that Martha died from heart failure--although she may have suffered a blow struggling with Chill as he took the necklace, so that might have been the cause of the heart attack rather than the shock of seeing Thomas killed and Martha being, you know, a woman and they are all supposed to be weak (that old chestnut).

    But in DETECTIVE COMICS 33, and reprinted in BATMAN 1, it clearly shows that Chill plugs her to shut her up. So it seems to me that ought to be the correct continuity for the Earth-Two Batman, yet S.O. 6 wants BATMAN 47 to be the Earth-Two standard, I guess.

    If issue 47 was after the Code, then I'd say the change was to reduce the amount of violence, but that issue came out in 1948, well before the Code. So it beats me why Bill Finger made this change.
    Yeah, it'd be interesting to know why the change was made, particularly if Bill Finger himself made it.

    Its worth remembering that Earth Two is in itself a kind of retcon/reimagining of the Golden Age into a cohesive continuity and universe (which those old stories, for the most part, really did not help with). The actual published Golden Age (and early Silver Age) stories were loaded with inconsistencies and changes, so in the 70's and 80's, writers were basically free to pick and choose details and craft their own vision of what the 'Golden Age' was supposed to look like.

    And that's why this issue has Martha Wayne dying of a heart attack and Batman starting out wearing a slightly modernized version of the classic Golden Age/early Silver Age suit, rather than Bob Kane's original design with the purple gloves. And also why Stryker falls into the vat of chemicals by accident, and not due to Batman punching him (Bronze Age writers tried to water down the idea that the Golden Age Batman used lethal force).

    And in BATMAN 47, Bruce only catches Joe Chill years after his parents' murder, after he's become Batman and after he's teamed with Robin. So if not catching the killer was a rationale for him being a broody pillock, then he should have been morose in all those 1940s comics and he wasn't. Personally, I think that Bruce would not have been so backward in finding the man that snuffed his folks and it's more likely that Chill was brought to justice earlier.
    Oh I agree. But I was talking more from the point of view that the powers-that-be felt that the murderer never being found would be more in line with with their ''darker and grittier'' take on the Dark Knight.

    As far as Chill being brought to justice earlier goes - I'm cool with the idea, which seems to have been the standard since Batman Begins (and since Chill was reinstated to continuity after IC). But personally, I feel no story involving Joe Chill has ever matched the poignancy of the original - the idea that Bruce fought crime for years as Batman and became the world's greatest detective, but never found his parent's murderer, but one night, by happenstance, he just so happens to get involved in a case where he encounters the man again and has a chance to bring him to justice in some form. Not to mention, Bruce revealing his identity to Chill and haunting him, Chill blabbing that he created Batman to other criminals who gun him down...karma at its best! (The BaTB cartoon's adaptation of this story is a true gem, I might add).

    I also kinda like the idea that when Bruce helps Dick bring Tony Zucco to justice, he does so because he wants Dick to have the closure and sense of justice that was denied to him. Until he later gets his chance as well.

    But I'm not adamant about it. If anything, Joe Chill being caught even before Bruce puts on the cowl adds a bit more complexity to Bruce's decision to become a crime-fighter beyond him just wanting to lash out at the world owing to his parent's murder.

  2. #47
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    NOTE: Thread was started back in January 2021.
    Apart from Year One, which is the best Batman origin story?
    Quote Originally Posted by bat39 View Post
    Not including Year One in this one, because I feel its almost universally loved in the Batman fandom and is bound to win any poll (feel free to express your appreciation in the thread though!). But which of the other Batman origin stories would you regard as being the best, or among the best?

    I'm trying to be as a broad-based as possible on this and include a wide range of options.

    With 53 people having voted,
    * Batman Begins = 24 votes
    * Zero Year = 11 votes
    * Earth One = 10 votes
    * Untold Legend of Batman = 10 votes
    * Golden Age (Detective Comics # 33 & Batman # 47) = 9 votes
    * Golden Age Retold (Secret Origins # 6) = 4 votes
    * Gotham = 1 vote
    * Post Zero Hour = 1 vote

  3. #48
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    Golden Age. If you have a choice, you always go with the Golden Age.

    I think part of that answer is that they present the template. Even when
    people retell or re-imagine the story, the Golden Age background is still there.
    As for the fact that you have inconsistencies well that is just the way life is.

    I will say that the early Golden Age stories are a riot, rather different from the
    never kill rule of today. Then you have the first appearance of the iconic
    supervillains amazingly quickly into the run.

  4. #49
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    The only one's I didn't pick were Gotham, Batman Begins, and Batman Earth One.
    Keep in mind that you have about as much chance of changing my mind as I do of changing yours.

  5. #50
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    With 60 people having now voted,
    * Batman Begins = 27 votes
    * Zero Year = 12 votes
    * Untold Legend of Batman = 12 votes
    * Golden Age (Detective Comics # 33 & Batman # 47) = 11 votes
    * Earth One = 10 votes
    * Golden Age Retold (Secret Origins # 6) = 5 votes
    * Post Zero Hour = 3 votes
    * Gotham = 1 vote

  6. #51
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    For me there is still a not good origin story for Batman that i want

  7. #52
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    NOTE: This thread was started in January of 2021.
    -------------------------

    With 63 people having voted,
    * Batman Begins = 28 votes

    * Zero Year = 13 votes
    * Untold Legend of Batman = 13 votes

    * Golden Age (Detective Comics # 33 & Batman # 47) = 12 votes
    * Earth One = 11 votes
    * Golden Age Retold (Secret Origins # 6) = 5 votes
    * Post Zero Hour = 3 votes
    * Gotham = 1 vote

  8. #53
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bat39 View Post
    Hmm...I thought of including that. But its not really a full 'origin story'. More like a glimpse of the time just before he becomes Batman.

    Likewise, I haven't included the many MANY times we see the Wayne murders.

    I'm sticking more to stories that sort of comprehensively cover Bruce's journey from the murders to putting on the cowl and his first adventures. Admittedly, Gotham's inclusion here is a bit tricky, but it does get us up to him putting on the cowl, and also shows us a pre-Batman vigilante stint (or so I've heard...I haven't actually watched the show beyond Season 1 )

    The post-Zero Year 'zero issues' collectively do a good job charting Bruce's pre-Batman history and filling in a lot of the gaps left by Year One. They also together serve as a complete origin, hence I included them.

    But one of my personal favorite origins has to be the retelling of the Golden Age/Earth Two Batman origin in Secret Origins # 6. It sort of recontextualizes the old pre-Crisis Batman mythos and spins its own narrative around them. So, in this version, Bruce hangs out with Commissioner Gordon at the start of "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" because Gordon is his Uncle Phillip's friend, and he's hoping to get a desk job in the GCPD (having already been out on one mission as Batman, which didn't go entirely according to plan). Solving the chemical syndicate case is what motivates him to continue to operate as Batman.
    By the way, did Tom King do much in his Batman run to add to or change Bruce's origin of becoming Batman?
    I seem to remember hearing there was one issue where it was revealed young Bruce was cutting himself after his parents were killed (don't know which issue number that was in) . . .

  9. #54
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    NOTE: This thread was started in January of 2021.
    -------------------------

    With 67 people having voted,
    * Batman Begins = 31 votes
    * Zero Year = 15 votes
    * Untold Legend of Batman = 13 votes
    * Golden Age (Detective Comics # 33 & Batman # 47) = 12 votes
    * Earth One = 11 votes
    * Golden Age Retold (Secret Origins # 6) = 5 votes
    * Post Zero Hour = 3 votes
    * Gotham = 1 vote

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