Zero Year: Secret City Hardcover

[resipsaloquitur]

I just got my copy in the mail. I'm annoyed that although it includes Batman #21-24, it doesn't include #0 which, as far as I understand, fit right between #21 and #22 and was intended as a prelude to Zero Year.

I could have sworn this was solicited at collecting #0 as well. Sigh. Is the only place to get #0 in that Zero Month hardcover (or else own the floppy)?

[charliehustle415]

I just got my copy in the mail. I'm annoyed that although it includes Batman #21-24, it doesn't include #0 which, as far as I understand, fit right between #21 and #22 and was intended as a prelude to Zero Year.

I could have sworn this was solicited at collecting #0 as well. Sigh. Is the only place to get #0 in that Zero Month hardcover (or else own the floppy)?

I'm pretty sure issue 0 was retconned out, maybe that's why it's not included.

[SpideyZERO]

Yeap, #0 no longer makes sense continuity wise.

Probably will be collected together with issue 18 to 20 after Zero Year HCs

[Penguin Truth]

I usually wait for the paperback, but for Zero Year? RAM THAT HARDCOVER RIGHT IN MY COMICS HOLE.

What? That's what I call the container I keep my comics. Honest.

[resipsaloquitur]

...well, maybe it makes sense. I remember reading #0 along with #21-24 before I sold my issues (which I used to finance my purchase of the HC) and not being bothered by them. I don't think it was the smoothest fit, but I generally understood that #0 fit in the general timeframe of those issues and best fit between #21 and #22. What changed, and what made them inconsistent?

[nepenthes]

I'm pretty sure issue 0 was retconned out, maybe that's why it's not included.

It was indeed solicited to include 0#, you're not imagining. It's probably best they left it out though as the prologue and the actual story are very contradictory, with the prologue becoming retroactively redundant even.

That said, the Tynion back-up featuring the Robins should definitely go into Vol.5 Dark City (which should've been titled Wild City in itself, but oh well) .

[resipsaloquitur]

I wonder how it's going to feel when I eventually read Zero Year and Year One back-to-back. Probably very confusing.

[SpideyZERO]

...well, maybe it makes sense. I remember reading #0 along with #21-24 before I sold my issues (which I used to finance my purchase of the HC) and not being bothered by them. I don't think it was the smoothest fit, but I generally understood that #0 fit in the general timeframe of those issues and best fit between #21 and #22. What changed, and what made them inconsistent?

The City knows Bruce Wayne is back and that he's in (sorta) friendly terms with Gordon.

In the actual Zero Year, no one knows Bruce Wayne is back and when they do, Bruce immediately gets boomed by the Red Hood Gang, rendering the later half of #0 impossible to happen.

[resipsaloquitur]

The City knows Bruce Wayne is back and that he's in (sorta) friendly terms with Gordon.

In the actual Zero Year, no one knows Bruce Wayne is back and when they do, Bruce immediately gets boomed by the Red Hood Gang, rendering the later half of #0 impossible to happen.

Hmmmm. I guess that would be confusing. Again, I don't remember it bothering me when I read it before, but maybe I wasn't paying attention. I wonder why Snyder deviated from what he'd already set up? Gah, I hate the mechanics of comics some days.

[nepenthes]

I wonder how it's going to feel when I eventually read Zero Year and Year One back-to-back. Probably very confusing.

Ha, definitely, but it will also tell you alot about the times in which these stories were produced. Try Detective Comics #33 (the first ever origin story) then Untold Legend of the Batman (the ultimate silver age origin), Year One and then Zero Year if you really want to be confused

[SpideyZERO]

Hmmmm. I guess that would be confusing. Again, I don't remember it bothering me when I read it before, but maybe I wasn't paying attention. I wonder why Snyder deviated from what he'd already set up? Gah, I hate the mechanics of comics some days.

Probably plan changes, or that Snyder did not know he was going to do an arc set in the past.

Maybe someone should ask him on Twitter

[resipsaloquitur]

Ha, definitely, but it will also tell you alot about the times in which these stories were produced. Try Detective Comics #33 (the first ever origin story) then Untold Legend of the Batman (the ultimate silver age origin), Year One and then Zero Year if you really want to be confused

Oh, I'm having some fun with this. I'm currently taking a Bible course and one of the things we study is the differences among the four Gospels. They're remarkably different books with incredible stylistic differences and, oh yes, contradictions. The basic similarities are there (there was a guy named Jesus, he worked some miracles and preached some stuff, then he was crucified and came back), but they don't read very cleanly as one story. They read separately as four different versions of one basic story. If someone asked me why the Gospels contradict, I'd point to the multiple versions of Batman's story as an explanation.

Yeah, I went there. I just compared Batman to Jesus. Take that, Grant Morrison.

[officersmile1466]

I think I read an interview with Scott Snyder shortly after zero year was announced and I think he took the approach of comparing the zero issue to a trailer for the main event.

If that's the case then it makes a little sense why the zero issue has been nearly erased from the story all together. The issue was designed as a glimpse into some of the plot threads Snyder would be playing with, like Bruce's relationship with Gordon, his early crime fighting, the sinister Kane family and of course, the Red Hood Gang.

I can assume that if Snyder's stock had fallen at DC or if the idea of a new origin was greeted with indifference then presumably the zero issue would have had one or two fill in issues to wrap up the story. But it didn't and I can guess that Snyder designed to grow his origin story into the insanely and often brilliant 11 issue series we're currently reading. Since nothing was set in stone back in mid 2012, I'm guessing he elected to change a lot of details from that zero issue.

So while it's annoying for completists, I can sort of understand why DC would exclude the Zero Issue from their big glossy trade. The story doesn't need it and it only serves to confuse the already kind of chaotic story.

[NewMutant]

They also didn't trade print issues 18-20.

[PyroSikTh]

Well that's unfortunate to hear.

I haven't read #0 in a while, so maybe I've forgotten a lot of the finer details, but the implication that it was a direct chapter of Zero Year was definitely there, mainly because...

Probably plan changes, or that Snyder did not know he was going to do an arc set in the past.

There was a note at the end of #0 saying it'll get continued "next year" or something, so Snyder definitely knew he was going to do a fully fledged origin story.

EDIT: Thinking about it, doesn't this make Vol.4 only 4 issues long, with the last being double size (so more akin to being 5 issues)? Why won't they do this for Dark City and Wild City, split them into vols 5 and 6? It would make more formatting sense, and look pretty awesome on the shelf. Although I'd have to admit I'd have preferred it if they did this from the get-go and used the cover from the opening issue of each arc as the collection cover, you know the minimalistic one of the bat-symbol - blue for Secret City, black for Dark City, green for Wild City. That would have been awesome; tying the trilogy of volumes together by their covers. DC really missed a beat in collecting Zero Year (well they miss a beat in a lot of their collections, but that's a debate for another thread).