Batman: Zero Year vs. Frank Miller's Year One

[Baggie_Saiyan]

ZY > Y1 (not that good of a comic really)
TDKR>ZY (but these are just incomparable).

[greenish lantern]

Not the biggest Year One fan (I prefer TDKR), Enjoyed Zero Year about as much. Original, exciting with lots of incredible moments (The huge Bat signal is probably one of my favorite Batman moments ever).

[Turn the Page]

I wasn't a fan, the story didn't really need to drag on for 12-13 issues and I didn't really like the Doctor Death part or the N52 version of the Riddler. Year One and the Monster Men were much better stories about Bruce's early days as bats.

On the plus side it did start fairly strong with the Red Hood Gang story, but then my interest quickly vanished.

[Kryptoniac]

Dominatrix Catwoman brings down Year one to a 7.5..I give ZY a solid 8..Still should've been 6-8 issues max i feel

[JohnnyGoodboy]

I thought ZY was awful and dragged out like most of Snyder's batman stuff.

[Rafa-Rivas-2099]

Dominatrix Catwoman brings down Year one to a 7.5..I give ZY a solid 8..Still should've been 6-8 issues max i feel

You got me there. It doesn't affect me much because it wasn't explicit, and because it doesn't affect the quality of the story itself (if you didn't know Catwoman, you wouldn't mind).

I always say that I wouldn't mind if, in the same non explicit way, Selina had been hinted as a first or second time stripper, so that you have her reborn at what shee sees as a low point in her life, feeling like a cat among drooling, idiotic dogs that get beaten by Batman. The (not clearly shown) nakedness would be symbolic. So, she walks away and seeks a new path in life. However, that sort of thing would be incredibly hard to pull without looking like artistic indulgence. I think that however it is done, Selina's origin has to be make clear that she hates her place in society, takes the wrong example from Batman, and seeks change through a new path, which, ultimately, is what Year One does.

[resipsaloquitur]

It's an...8? I tend to personally set "Secret City" apart from "Dark City" and "Savage City." Yeah, it's all one big read, and the epilogue of "Secret City" pretty much requires you to move into the other two parts.

Keep in mind that Zero Year and Year One are completely different stories (with some vague crossover--you can try to read them together, but they're not really reconcilable). Year One presents a hard, gritty, crimefighting Batman for the 1980s. Zero Year presents a more lighthearted, hi-tech, superheroic Batman for the 2010s. It's a different incarnation of Batman for a different time period. Miller's concerns were with urban and social decay and government corruption. Snyder's are more with terrorism and natural disasters. Both present Batman as a moral-but-obsessed man who exemplifies the human struggle against those forces, but they're also responses to the needs of different audiences.

...now I wonder what Miller's Year One would look like if he were writing it today. (Insert obvious ASBAR and TDKR joke here.)

[deadboy80]

It was done quite well. To be honest, it exceeded my expectations. It is good for the Nu52 to establish its own origin stories. I mean the whole idea is that we look away from the old and toward the Nu.

[Rafa-Rivas-2099]

It was done quite well. To be honest, it exceeded my expectations. It is good for the Nu52 to establish its own origin stories. I mean the whole idea is that we look away from the old and toward the Nu.

Not that it was a great idea to begin with. However, I agree that YO doesn't really fit Nu52.

[The Nuke]

Yes YZ and YO are two different origins, but quality of story still comes into play. YO is a well paced,great art, well told, and a simple retelling of the Batman origin. YZ in comparison is a good story, has great art, and has some cool moments.

However it's not well paced, and drags a lot. So much that as is the usual criticism with Snyder you feel that the story could have been chopped in half and still had the same effect. It didn't need to be that long, and because of that some subplots and other minor story bits don't really work that well.

A personal complaint of mind, is that Joker is given a more definitive origin. I'm sorry, but I just don't like that.

ZY is good, but its not great. YO is great.

[CapeandCowl]

Year One was not as interesting as I thought it would be, but The Dark Knight Returns rocks. Now THAT is a Batman story.

[Rafa-Rivas-2099]

Year One was not as interesting as I thought it would be, but The Dark Knight Returns rocks. Now THAT is a Batman story.

I think you confused the thread. This is the one with YO vs zero year, no the one with YO vs TDK

Read YO, learn to love the elegance and simplicity. It's like watching some well directed movie.

Why is it called Zero Year, anyway? I'd think that it is because Bruce doesn't wear the cowl, but I wouldn't be surprised if the team was stupid enough to have him as Batman already.

[Maxpower00044]

I can't take anyone seriously who says YO isn't good. Must be the new "edgy" thing to say on CBR.


Zero Year was a great, but, YO is not only one of the best Batman comics, it's one of the best comics.

[CapeandCowl]

I think you confused the thread. This is the one with YO vs zero year, no the one with YO vs TDK

Read YO, learn to love the elegance and simplicity. It's like watching some well directed movie.

Why is it called Zero Year, anyway? I'd think that it is because Bruce doesn't wear the cowl, but I wouldn't be surprised if the team was stupid enough to have him as Batman already.

I have read YO and seen the anime film and still did not like it. It just wasn't a favorite. As for the original post I made, someone mentioned TDKR in an earlier and I replied. Sorry for any bad feelings.

[DarkBeast]

Year One was a tight perfect 4-issue arc. It's not my favorite comic storyline or my favorite Batman storyline, but it was perfectly executed for what it was, with Miller delivering note-perfect characterizations of Bruce and Gordon, and with Mazzucchelli delivering a carefully thought-out style that somehow was innovative, forward-looking, and nostalgic, all at once. It was an instantly timeless storyline, the origin story produced nearly 50 years into Batman's history that somehow seemed to have always been there, the origin storyline that all other origin storylines are compared to, totally perfect for what it was trying to do, a seemingly effortless performance by two masters at the top of their game.

Zero Year was a hype-filled quasi-event/crossover bloated mess with tons of cliche villain rantings, a monster that seemed out of "Spawn", many pointless Snyderisms, long-winded monologues, tie-ins, gimmick covers, with maudlin things like the "Saga of Gordon's Trenchcoat" shoved in there for little to no reason. Capullo did this usual thing, and the colors were impressive. But good god it was nothing special.

PS. Lastly, I don't see how Catwoman is a negative in Year One. The portrayal fit in with what had already been suggested about the character; and the portrayal obviously made enough sense to have legs and stick around. It doesn't show Selena in a weak light at all. She is every bit the strong woman. Prostitutes aren't necessarily weak victims; Selena definitely wasn't. The portrayal gave her something to overcome, a way for the character to grow, but in and of itself it was not negative, imo anyway. That's not to say that Miller hasn't/doesn't have issues with female characters, but I don't see his Catwoman as offensive. (His recent Catwoman cover image is kinda another story.)