Gotham City: Year One by Tom King and Phil Hester

[MajorHoy]

I thought Gotham City became "a hell hole" in part because of the deaths of Thomas and Martha?

Yeah, that was the original understanding (by original I mean dating back to the early 70's and ''No Hope in Crime Alley''). Though I think the general consensus in the comics for the last 30-odd years, and various adaptations, is that Gotham was already messed up - the Wayne murders just accelerated the process by getting rid of the two people trying to fix things. And then when you consider something like the Court of Owls, then obviously you know that the rot goes back much further.

I mean the very fact that the Falcones and Maronis were active in Thomas' time shows that it wasn't all hunky-dory before he was killed.

Oh, like many other major cities, I'm sure Gotham City was not a crime-free utopia prior to the death of Bruce's parents. As you say, "I think the general consensus in the comics for the last 30-odd years, and various adaptations, is that Gotham was already messed up - the Wayne murders just accelerated the process by getting rid of the two people trying to fix things", though I think the idea of Thomas and Martha actively "trying to fix things" was also more of a modern development as well.

But I think their deaths in an alley after a night out at the movies with their son is still the one event that can be pointed to as the moment when things went from "not great, but tolerable" to "ten times worse" in the minds of Gotham's citizens because it seemed so random and that nobody was safe from it.

[Frontier]

Maybe it's all some Gothic Tragedy in the end...

[bat39]

Oh, like many other major cities, I'm sure Gotham City was not a crime-free utopia prior to the death of Bruce's parents. As you say, "I think the general consensus in the comics for the last 30-odd years, and various adaptations, is that Gotham was already messed up - the Wayne murders just accelerated the process by getting rid of the two people trying to fix things", though I think the idea of Thomas and Martha actively "trying to fix things" was also more of a modern development as well.

But I think their deaths in an alley after a night out at the movies with their son is still the one event that can be pointed to as the moment when things went from "not great, but tolerable" to "ten times worse" in the minds of Gotham's citizens because it seemed so random and that nobody was safe from it.

Oh yeah, definitely, the Waynes actively trying to ''fix'' Gotham is a more modern development. Hell, the idea that Gotham is a hellhole of crime and corruption is itself a modern development. I think it was in the 70's that Gotham having even a higher-than-average crime rate first became a thing (in fact, I think even ''No Hope in Crime Alley'' establishes that it was the specific neighbourhood of Park Row that became a hive of violent crime after the Wayne murders and not the city at large). Frank Miller of course went to town with the idea of Gotham being a hellhole and that's been the dominant interpretation ever since.

My point is that the premise of this particular mini-series makes sense when you consider the aforementioned dominant interpretation of Gotham - that its a multi-generational problem and not just something that started a few decades ago. It also makes more sense why Batman's crusade is seemingly never-ending...even 15-20 years of vigilantism isn't enough to solve problems that have existed for the better part of a century!

[Hypo]

Gotham City: Year One #1 Preview
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Phil Hester

[Frontier]

So Sam starts out this classy private eye before we see him become the rough and tough Slam Bradley we know and love?

[bat39]

Gotham City: Year One #1 Preview
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Phil Hester

Color me intrigued!

This really does feel like a Phillip Marlowe-esq hardboiled noir story by way of Gotham City.

Nice to see that my theory about Helen being Thomas' sister was true! Though given that she's never been mentioned before, it does have the unfortunate implication that she's not making it out of this story alive. There's also no mention of Thomas so I wonder if this story is set before he was born (and maybe he's only born after she dies). Incidentally, I know different continuities are involved, but maybe the names 'Helen' or 'Helena' run in the Wayne family, which is why at least one version of Bruce names his daughter that?

Have the names of Bruce's paternal grandparents ever been revealed previously, and if so, were they different from Richard and Constance?

Interesting that King is providing a hard date for this story's setting - 1961. A bit later than I calculated (I thought it'd be the 1940's or early 1950's). So I guess if we assume that Thomas was/is born in the early 1960's (maybe after the events of this story), then Bruce would have been born in the late 1980's or early 1990's, putting him in the 30-35 age range today. Now I think Batman in mainstream continuity is a good decade older than that, but, oh well, comic-book time is a bitch Besides, do we know if this is officially 'in continuity' or a more ambiguous Black Label-type deal?

On a lighter note, just for laughs, here's what was really going on in Gotham in 1961, back on good ol' Earth One...

[MajorHoy]

. . . Interesting that King is providing a hard date for this story's setting - 1961. A bit later than I calculated (I thought it'd be the 1940's or early 1950's). So I guess if we assume that Thomas was/is born in the early 1960's (maybe after the events of this story), then Bruce would have been born in the late 1980's or early 1990's, putting him in the 30-35 age range today. Now I think Batman in mainstream continuity is a good decade older than that, but, oh well, comic-book time is a bitch Besides, do we know if this is officially 'in continuity' or a more ambiguous Black Label-type deal?

Part of me is surprised it's not later, like the 1970s or 1980s.
How old does King intend for Slam Bradley to be these days, or in King's mind is Slam already dead by now?

[Top Hat]

Part of me is surprised it's not later, like the 1970s or 1980s.
How old does King intend for Slam Bradley to be these days, or in King's mind is Slam already dead by now?

He must think he is from the setting. Unless he’s been in a Lazarus Pit at some stage.

[bat39]

Part of me is surprised it's not later, like the 1970s or 1980s.
How old does King intend for Slam Bradley to be these days, or in King's mind is Slam already dead by now?

I must admit, I don't remember if Slam Bradley was alive or dead pre-Flashpoint in the 'present day'. But he was originally meant to be someone from the 1930's and 40's (he was the protagonist of 'Tec # 1 after all) so him being active as a young private eye in 1961 is itself a retcon I guess.

It can't really be later if its Bruce's grandparents' generation. Already, this 1961 setting means that Bruce can be in his mid-thirties at most in the present-day (though I must admit this is based on my assumption that Thomas hasn't been born yet, which may not be true). If it was set in the 1970's, it would mean that Bruce is in his twenties today, and if it was set in the 1980's, then he'd be a pre-teen today.

I am genuinely curious to know the reasoning, if any, behind picking the specific date of 1961. King could have gone with the floating timeline and just had it vaguely set '60 years ago' (or better yet 'A long time ago') while Hester could give everything an old-timey feel through the art, making it clear that the story was set long before the present-day, without pinning things down to a specific decade (there's already a rich history of Gotham having an anachronistic vibe). If he wanted a specific date, then the 1940's or early 50's might have made more sense given that Slam Bradely is the protagonist and he comes from that era. But he's picked 1961 for whatever reason, and I'm curious to know what that is...unless its something as simple as King thinking that Bruce is in his mid-thirties in 2022 and working his way back from that.

[PurpleGlovez]

Have the names of Bruce's paternal grandparents ever been revealed previously, and if so, were they different from Richard and Constance?

Patrick Morgan and a woman named Laura, as established in Batman Secret Files 97; Morrison references Patrick by name as well. Really getting exhausted with these needless changes to established lore, especially from King's pen.

[bat39]

Patrick Morgan and a woman named Laura, as established in Batman Secret Files 97; Morrison references Patrick by name as well. Really getting exhausted with these needless changes to established lore, especially from King's pen.

Oh well...guess we can chalk this one up to Flashpoint or something.

[MajorHoy]

I must admit, I don't remember if Slam Bradley was alive or dead pre-Flashpoint in the 'present day'. But he was originally meant to be someone from the 1930's and 40's (he was the protagonist of 'Tec # 1 after all) so him being active as a young private eye in 1961 is itself a retcon I guess...

Don't forget, he was a supporting character in Brubaker's Catwoman series that started in late 2001. That version wouldn't have been old enough to be a private investigator in the 1930s.
(The original Slam was possibly on Earth-2 back in the pre-CoIE days.)

[bat39]

Don't forget, he was a supporting character in Brubaker's Catwoman series that started in late 2001. That version wouldn't have been old enough to be a private investigator in the 1930s.
(The original Slam was possibly on Earth-2 back in the pre-CoIE days.)

Ah okay. I haven't read a lot of Brubaker's Catwoman to be honest, apart from Selina's Big Score.

In any case, I guess this means that a 1960's Slam Bradely is a new idea, so obviously King has a specific motive for picking that era that has nothing to do with Bradely.

[HsssH]

Part of me is surprised it's not later, like the 1970s or 1980s.
How old does King intend for Slam Bradley to be these days, or in King's mind is Slam already dead by now?

He might be dead, I think that he hasn't appeared asides of few short stories in anthologies and with those it is never clear if they are, or aren't, in continuity. He also had an appearance in New Super-Man, but that was flashback to Detective #1 so not "real" either.

[MajorHoy]

Ah okay. I haven't read a lot of Brubaker's Catwoman to be honest, apart from Selina's Big Score.

Well, the Ed Brubaker /Darwyn Cooke run started as a four-part back-up story in Detective Comics #759-762 ("Trail of the Catwoman") and then was followed by her series (first issue cover-dated January 2002). Cooke did the art for issues #1-4, and Brubaker left as writer after issue #37.