Mike Barr might be the most underrated Batman writer in his 80+ year history. He strikes the perfect balance between the upbeat Caped Crusader of the Silver and Bronze Age and the brooding Dark Knight of today.

I love Batman Year Two. It features Batman at the lowest point we've ever seen him, shunning his friends, reluctantly working with the man that killed his parents, and contemplating the murder of an out of control villain. Despite seeing Batman doing things we never thought we would see him to, Year 2 nevertheless has a very classic feel to it. The art by Alan Davis and Todd McFarlane is breathtaking as well.

However, while I still love the story today as much as I did the first time I read it, reading Batman Year 2 right after Batman Year 1 is downright surreal.

In his introduction to the trade paperbacks, Mike Barr stated that Batman Year 2 was 75% remnants of a rejected proposal for a Batman origin story called Batman 1980. Knowing this explains quite a deal, because Year 2 is really only a sequel in name only to Year 1:

-None of the characters introduced in Batman Year One such as Holly Robinson, Arnold Flass, of Sarah Essen appear here.

-While James Gordon is very much the protagonist of Year One, his role in Year Two is much more minimal.

-In a contrast to Batman Year One being relatively timeless, Batman Year Two is somewhat of a period piece. We see leftovers from the hippie generation and the fact that The Reaper operated 20 years ago in the 70s, firmly planting this story in the 197os.


Probably the weakest part of Batman Year Two were plot holes and lack of strong character motivations?

-The story never shows how Bruce Wayne found out that Joe Chill killed his parents. I don't think Joe Chill's name was even mentioned in Batman Year One.

-It was never made clear why Batman felt he needed to kill The Reaper with a gun aside from some generic "you have to fight fire with fire" one liner. As indicated by the last page of Year One, Batman would have already fought the Joker at this point, so there doesn't seem to be a reason to abandon his no kill rule.

-Why is Leslie Thompkins sleeping over at Bruce Wayne's house? Bruce offers to give her the penthouse on top of the Wayne Foudation building, but she still has a home in Gotham.

-It wasn't necessary for Batman to jeopardize his relationship with Gordon and the GCPD to work with the mob.