Year one is better. I hope it reverts to that status
Year one is better. I hope it reverts to that status
X-Men Forever
So well said. Yea, one consequence of the New 52 was that DC's official version started having a lot less weight. A lot of bigtime respected continuity chroniclers just stopped and DC has gone into too many zany and radical directions on some things and have turned so many off on official canon.
Things I love: Batman, Superman, AEW, old films, Lovecraft
Grant Morrison: “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.”
Thread Necro!
I'm very interested and amused with this OP, from the perspective of the middle of "I Am Suicide." Having reread Batman #11 (Bruce's letter to Selina), and Batman #33 (the ending of Zero Year), I'm deeply intrigued by several interesting parellels. Both contain revelations by Bruce about what he did in the past trying to cope with the death of his parents (nearly slitting his wrists in I Am Suicide, nearly destroying his brain in Zero Year) - but I think it's fundamentally different. Perhaps driven by that very comic, released just three days before the OP, there was an assumption that King was agreeing with Snyder that Batman represents a kind of "death" for Bruce - that he can't have any real future or growth (the argument I think Snyder makes in Zero Year and Superheavy - Batman #33 and #50). However, I think it's key that King articulated that idea for "who is Batman" very early in his run, and the overall trajectory (especially now) seems to be that King is going in a very, very different direction - that Bruce needs to grow out of that mindset of Batman as a death.
It's also very interesting to me to look at the other assumptions of late 2016 three years later, in late 2019. Duke does have a solid title, but he's not really played the kind of part in the main Batman titles you might have expected given his appearance in King's run early on and All-Star Batman.
King's own approach to Batman canon, as seen in #44, 69, and now 78-79, is that everything happened in some form or another. Which I kinda like. It's a very "Rebirth" approach (though Morrison tried a similar version of that, using "it was all drugs" to fit it into canon).
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
Year One. I have it as the best Batman story ever.
As of now according to King both Year One and Zero Year happened, specifically the fight between Bruce and Selina in Crime Alley, meeting Duke Thomas, and Riddler taking over Gotham City.
Since Selina knows Batman's secret identity almost immediately, the event on the boat where Batman nabbed Selina and the diamond also happened, The War of Jokes and Riddles happened before Dick was adopted and he's adopted as a child, but 10-year-old Duke who met Bruce in Zero Year is still 16 in the present day...
The timeline looks like it goes like this
Year One - the Crime Alley fight - Bruce became Batman
Zero Year - Riddler took over - Bruce met Duke when he was 6, not 10
The Boat - The Bat met The Cat and fell in love
Year One continued - Selina became Catwoman - Batman saved James Jr., not as a baby but a kid
Post Year One - Selina already became Catwoman and found out Batman's identity
The War of Jokes and Riddles
Dick Grayson was adopted at 10+ years old and became Robin
Fast forward 10 years, Dick is 20 something, James Jr. is 19 as per New 52, and Duke is 16
Last edited by Restingvoice; 09-16-2019 at 04:34 AM.
Year One for sure, it's one of the greatest Batman stories of all time. Zero Year is forgettable.
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My runs: Batman #230-, and Detective #420-
I would have to say Year One because you have Bruce's origins as well as Gordan & Selina.
In the latest preview of King's Batman Year One is explicitly referenced.
I really like Year Zero, but it's a Batman origin for the MCU generation; very pop and vibrant but it lacks depth.
Year One is a meditation on two men's sense of justice and their desire for vengeance.
It's the Dynamic Duo! Batman and Robin!... and Red Robin and Red Hood and Nightwing and Batwoman and Batgirl and Orphan and Spoiler and Bluebird and Lark and Gotham Girl and Talon and Batwing and Huntress and Azreal and Flamebird and Batcow?
Since when could just anybody do what we trained to do? It makes it all dumb instead of special. Like it doesn't matter anymore.
-Dick Grayson (Batman Inc.)
It's the Dynamic Duo! Batman and Robin!... and Red Robin and Red Hood and Nightwing and Batwoman and Batgirl and Orphan and Spoiler and Bluebird and Lark and Gotham Girl and Talon and Batwing and Huntress and Azreal and Flamebird and Batcow?
Since when could just anybody do what we trained to do? It makes it all dumb instead of special. Like it doesn't matter anymore.
-Dick Grayson (Batman Inc.)
Now that you mention it, Penguin was working for Falcone at the time, right?
Then Long Halloween's not canon.
Also, since Stephanie Brown's origin from Batman Eternal is still canon, and Carmine Falcone's alive there, (and now that I mention it... Lincoln March's plan in Eternal which lead him to be frozen by The Court which leads to his resurrection if he can bring them Dick Grayson which leads to the situation in Nightwing Rebirth are all still canon) then we're still following Batman Eternal timeline, not Long Halloween.