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27th out of 232 books
—
297 voters
Batman: Earth One (Batman)
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Batman is not a hero.
He is just a man.
Fallible, vulnerable, and angry.
In a Gotham City where friend and foe are indistinguishable, Bruce Wayne's path toward becoming the Dark Knight is riddled with more obstacles than ever before. Focused on punishing his parents’ true killers, and the corrupt police that allowed them to go free, Bruce...more
Batman is not a hero.
He is just a man.
Fallible, vulnerable, and angry.
In a Gotham City where friend and foe are indistinguishable, Bruce Wayne's path toward becoming the Dark Knight is riddled with more obstacles than ever before. Focused on punishing his parents’ true killers, and the corrupt police that allowed them to go free, Bruce...more
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published
July 10th 2012
by DC Comics
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Why ...Why does everyone have to try a hand at re writing Bob Kane's character ?
Well that rant apart ...this book is decent. It is not half as bad as you think it will turn out to be once you've started.
The characters are very gaudy - very b grade cinema. Interesting twists on Gordon's character (the one i loved the best)but overall very forgettable.
While I am at it ...yes this is one of the better earth ones (when compared to the Superman stuff)but that said this one suffers because it compet...more
Well that rant apart ...this book is decent. It is not half as bad as you think it will turn out to be once you've started.
The characters are very gaudy - very b grade cinema. Interesting twists on Gordon's character (the one i loved the best)but overall very forgettable.
While I am at it ...yes this is one of the better earth ones (when compared to the Superman stuff)but that said this one suffers because it compet...more
I really did like this beginning and how it set the path for Bruce and Alfred's bond. That lighter was priceless. You can finish this in one sitting if you're any type of fan of Batman.
I love Batman. I really do. And this is Geoff Johns. Surely it had to be good. Right? Right? Okay, it was good, but I always expect greatness from Geoff and this wasn't great.
Bruce is shown in his Year One era, ala Batman Begins and several other origin stories/re-imaginings over the years. He is particularly unbatmanish though, as this book's version of Alfred points out in one sequence: "No recon? No tactics? Just a stupid bat costume? A Useless cape?" Bruce isn't Batman yet in this one. He h...more
Bruce is shown in his Year One era, ala Batman Begins and several other origin stories/re-imaginings over the years. He is particularly unbatmanish though, as this book's version of Alfred points out in one sequence: "No recon? No tactics? Just a stupid bat costume? A Useless cape?" Bruce isn't Batman yet in this one. He h...more
Really surprised that the "re-imaging" trend hasn't run its course already. Course that is pretty what the major comic book publishers have been doing it for decades. Same story, different decade.
That being said, I don't mind these kind of tales. This one is OK yet I agree with others that Frank Miller's Year One is a better work.
Earth One's Alfred is probably the most realistic background story I've seen. It the best part of this re-telling.
The Bullock story is interesting, but never right. For...more
That being said, I don't mind these kind of tales. This one is OK yet I agree with others that Frank Miller's Year One is a better work.
Earth One's Alfred is probably the most realistic background story I've seen. It the best part of this re-telling.
The Bullock story is interesting, but never right. For...more
In a word: sweeeeet. This is a nice rearranging of Batman's origin story, perfectly matching the tone and ingenuity of
Superman: Earth One
. Batman is, by default, grittier than Superman, and this story is decidedly darker than Superman: Earth One, but they still complement one another very nicely.
Johns and Frank have reinvented most of our favorite characters (some of which were more convincing than others), and I particularly like the extra depth given to Martha Wayne's family history and the...more
Johns and Frank have reinvented most of our favorite characters (some of which were more convincing than others), and I particularly like the extra depth given to Martha Wayne's family history and the...more
A rather different take on the beginning of Batman, that aims at rebooting the same story with a few different (& darker) twists, ostensibly to provide the readers belonging to the present era with a more up-to-date version. Here, Bruce Wayne was a pampered son of Thomas Wayne, the candidate for Gotham's mayoral post who had been slated to win against Oswald Cobblepot (yes, Penguin is presented in a far nastier shape as a politician here). But Thomas & Martha (presented as a member of Ar...more
I enjoyed Batman: Earth One just as much as Superman: Earth One. The Earth One series retells classic superhero stories in a more realistic, modern-day version of Earth. As with Superman, I think a great job was done making the ideas of the staple character work within a modern context.
Lots of changes were made, and I enjoyed seeing how various characters were reimagined to make them more believable, especially Alfred. Bruce Wayne has just taken up the cowl, he's young and inexperienced, but he...more
Lots of changes were made, and I enjoyed seeing how various characters were reimagined to make them more believable, especially Alfred. Bruce Wayne has just taken up the cowl, he's young and inexperienced, but he...more
Coming off of Superman: Earth One with a less than glowing affection, I was skeptical of this story at first. I mean sure I tend to be a huge fan of Johns and Frank as a creative duo (their Earthman/ Legion story in action is one of my all-time favorites), but I've been reading a lot of Batman lately, and between the new 52, the movie, and the flashpoint books I've read for this challenge; I'm a little over saturated with renditions of cape and cowl…
So feel me when I tell you how refreshing and...more
So feel me when I tell you how refreshing and...more
Another one of the Earth One stories from DC Comics, this one about that universe's Batman. Like the two Superman: Earth One stories, this is set in a more realistic world with a varied back story for our heroes. The high notes are still there, Bruce Wayne's poor parents still meet the same unfortunate end, but we're given a slightly different view of Gotham, one that is far more intertwined with the messy lives of two prominent families, the Waynes and the Arkhams.
As with the Superman stories,...more
As with the Superman stories,...more
If you're looking for the definitive Batman origin story, this isn't it. Read Frank Miller's "Batman Year One" instead. "Earth One" is a revisionist take on the Batman mythology, well told, with beautiful artwork.
The problem is that it is essentially a superhero story without any heroism. It embodies the worst qualities of the "dark and gritty reboot" trend. To make the Batman story realistic, Geoff Johns makes everyone contemptible. Bruce Wayne is not a hero, detective, or skilled fighter, and...more
The problem is that it is essentially a superhero story without any heroism. It embodies the worst qualities of the "dark and gritty reboot" trend. To make the Batman story realistic, Geoff Johns makes everyone contemptible. Bruce Wayne is not a hero, detective, or skilled fighter, and...more
Every time I see trailers for the next batch of movies arriving in theaters, I inevitably find myself thinking, "Does anyone want to put out an original idea anymore? Are we really so desperate to earn an easy buck that we can't try something new?" I say this fully realizing that I love stories that make use of old and existing characters in new ways. I just get so tired of hearing the same story told by another storyteller. It gets boring.
When it comes to comics, there seems to be a desire to r...more
When it comes to comics, there seems to be a desire to r...more
i don't know anything about continuity in batman comics. i doubt i ever actually read a complete batman comic until this year, but i did enjoy the heck out of this one.
in a revolving door of re-telling batman's origin story, this one does everything right, by which i mean bruce wayne doesn't just emerge from vague "training" to instantly become the nemesis of every mad criminal in gotham. no, he's disorganized, clumsy, and, in some cases downright hapless in his early efforts.
this is a wonderf...more
in a revolving door of re-telling batman's origin story, this one does everything right, by which i mean bruce wayne doesn't just emerge from vague "training" to instantly become the nemesis of every mad criminal in gotham. no, he's disorganized, clumsy, and, in some cases downright hapless in his early efforts.
this is a wonderf...more
Earth One is another experiment in DC's ongoing reboot obsession. The Earth one universe is a self contained cannon built just for modern takes on existing characters (where that leaves Earth 2 is beyond me). As much as DC's obsession with alternate versions of characters can be infuriating its also liberating when its at this level of quality.
I will try my best to avoid specific plot spoilers abut can't promise to be spoiler free....
The Batman of Earth One is a more raw Bruce Wayne who has rece...more
I will try my best to avoid specific plot spoilers abut can't promise to be spoiler free....
The Batman of Earth One is a more raw Bruce Wayne who has rece...more
With DC Comics having *just* rebooted their entire universe and uprooted and revised all established superhero origins, do we really need another Batman origin story that's different from the original Batman created by Bob Kane, different from the post-Crisis Batman, different from the post-Flashpoint/New 52 Batman, different from Batman starring Michael Keaton, and different from Batman Begins starring Christian Bale? The answer, simply, is no. They're all similar, but each tells a slightly dif...more
I'm almost speechless after reading this, as it's a fantastic retelling of the origin story, and really does manage to make the story vibrant and fresh again.
I can't resist making comparisons with both Batman:Year One, and Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as they both take a similarly 'realistic' take on the story and strangely Alfred even looks to my eyes, a little like Christian Bale in some panels.
To me Batman :Earth One exceeds both of these as it reinvents the characters in some truly int...more
I can't resist making comparisons with both Batman:Year One, and Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as they both take a similarly 'realistic' take on the story and strangely Alfred even looks to my eyes, a little like Christian Bale in some panels.
To me Batman :Earth One exceeds both of these as it reinvents the characters in some truly int...more
I have been out of touch with comics for many years now. I try to keep up with what is happening with Batman at least, but this was a surprise when I saw it was coming out to Hardcover graphic novel. I really wanted it but new I could wait for the day I go back to the comic store and start collecting these again. Well, my brother-in-law, against my wishes, bought this for me as a belated birthday gift. The child in me couldn'twait to rush home and read this, and that is exactly what I did. I do...more
Definitely better than Superman: Earth One, this is DC's version of the Ultimate Universe. I enjoyed the cinematic panels of Gary Frank, and his fight scenes were riveting. However,some of his figures needed improvement. Batman is a lot more "human" in this story and makes many mistakes but hopefully there will be sequels that show him mature into the Dark Knight we see in the Scott Snyder comics. Even with Batman's weaknesses, Johns does a great job fleshing out the supporting characters. Jim G...more
I think I'm going to like this series. This is a retelling of the Batman origins story -- which normally I wouldn't necessarily be in favor of (I can only handle so many origin stories) -- except that they're using it to do something *new*. This book exists in its own separate "universe," apart from the other Batman comic books (it has a separate continuity, that is to say, if you're familiar with that term) -- and that gives author Geoff Johns free license to write the story any way he sees fit...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Was eager to read this re-imagining of the batman origin and Geoff Johns did'nt disappoint.
Welcome to a harder, grittier and more violent Gotham where Jim Gordon has turned a blind eye to keep his loved ones safe from harm, Mayor Oswald Cobblepot keeps his wallet (and his gut) full through greed and corruption and Ex SAS hardman Alfred Pennyworth just wanted to visit an old friend.
I'm a big fan of the Batman and I can imagine that this alternate version of Waynes early years as the Bat will be s...more
Welcome to a harder, grittier and more violent Gotham where Jim Gordon has turned a blind eye to keep his loved ones safe from harm, Mayor Oswald Cobblepot keeps his wallet (and his gut) full through greed and corruption and Ex SAS hardman Alfred Pennyworth just wanted to visit an old friend.
I'm a big fan of the Batman and I can imagine that this alternate version of Waynes early years as the Bat will be s...more
I didn't rush out to get this particular book because after the hooplah surrounding the Superman Earth One graphic novel I didn't want to find myself let down. I was seeing more than a few positive and glowing reviews and figured that a little distance would do me some good. I have been anticipating the book a little bit, as the announcement for the title was made back when I still had a bit more regard for Geoff Johns as a writer. Don't get me wrong, I still believe he is a great talent and one...more
Not the total rewrite of Batman's history I was expecting, but I liked that the changes made were original and unforeseen. It's not as gritty or dark as Batman: Year One, which is by this point probably the definitive Batman origin story, but it also feels a little more human, a little more relatable. In Miller's famous work, Bruce Wayne often comes off as totally single-minded, a sort of more cunning Travis Bickle; here his quest to find his parents' killer seems more natural, almost like somet...more
Not the masterpiece I expected, but at least it's fun to read. Johns' take on Batman origin story is a 'safe' one, he didn't rewrite the whole history, but again, every inch of a character named Batman had been exploited for 70 years now, in almost every storytelling medium known to human.
There are only so little space left untouched in Batman's life, and Johns (with Frank) can still perform well in this very tight room.
The most interesting part of Batman Earth One is the reinterpretation of Al...more
There are only so little space left untouched in Batman's life, and Johns (with Frank) can still perform well in this very tight room.
The most interesting part of Batman Earth One is the reinterpretation of Al...more
"Earth One" puts Batman in a parallel universe where his well-known story is flipped around so different aspects of it read differently to the Batman canon. This is "Year One" written another way and Geoff Johns does a fine job with it.
Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by an unknown murderer and Bruce was raised by his parents' faithful friend Alfred. When he becomes a man he decides to hunt down his parents' killer and bring him to justice while wearing a suit designed to terrify. He will becom...more
Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by an unknown murderer and Bruce was raised by his parents' faithful friend Alfred. When he becomes a man he decides to hunt down his parents' killer and bring him to justice while wearing a suit designed to terrify. He will becom...more
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Pretty good. Kind of a reinvention I've always wanted to see - in the vein of Miller's Year One (my personal favourite Bats story), where it's a man in the process of reinventing himself. This is nowhere near as good, but interesting nonetheless. Unlike Miller's Batman, this one needs a lot more time to figure out what he's doing, and how to stay alive doing it.
There's no Batcave, not even a Batmobile; Bats drives a black sedan - and that kind of says it all. He's a dork in a costume who has ga...more
There's no Batcave, not even a Batmobile; Bats drives a black sedan - and that kind of says it all. He's a dork in a costume who has ga...more
So the Earth One series is picking up the mantle of the old school What if... series in the DC universe. Here we have a re-imagined and updated origin story for Batman set in an entirely different continuity. Is it plausible? Yes. Is it good? Not really. I like Geoff Johns a lot and he definitely can write. It's just incredibly difficult when you mess with the staples of a beloved franchise and try to make them different. Example: In Earth One, Alfred is not the humble Wayne family butler. He's...more
Prelim Review: Honestly speaking I preferred Superman Earth One, which as a Batman fan moreso then a Superman fan, that grieves me. I didn't feel like the artwork or 'new' origin story was as crisp as in Superman Earth One. Oh details were changed (Alfred is a military vet!) but at its core it was still 'Bruce Wayne fights crime to atone for the brutal slaying of his parents'. In Superman Earth One it became more of a 'Clark Kent searches for his place in life while learning the true meaning of...more
Building a Better Batman
At this point in comic book history, one approaches an origin story with an overbearing feeling of tedium. This is particularly true in the case of a character like Batman, who has had his origin retold so many times in different popular mediums that one is immediately pessimistic about the possibility of it being any good. How can anything top Year One? Well, Batman: Earth One is a good medicine for such cynicism. This is a good book. Even though it does not come anywhe...more
At this point in comic book history, one approaches an origin story with an overbearing feeling of tedium. This is particularly true in the case of a character like Batman, who has had his origin retold so many times in different popular mediums that one is immediately pessimistic about the possibility of it being any good. How can anything top Year One? Well, Batman: Earth One is a good medicine for such cynicism. This is a good book. Even though it does not come anywhe...more
A Different Side to the Dark Knight…
The origin story of Batman has been told countless times. In “Batman: Earth One,” superstar writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank take a stab at telling an entirely new and unique take on the Dark Knight’s beginning…and the result is stellar.
The Batman that we all know and love from the movies and comics is already a fully-fledged badass, taking on the worst that Gotham has to offer and always coming out on top…but was he always this way? Surely Batman must...more
The origin story of Batman has been told countless times. In “Batman: Earth One,” superstar writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank take a stab at telling an entirely new and unique take on the Dark Knight’s beginning…and the result is stellar.
The Batman that we all know and love from the movies and comics is already a fully-fledged badass, taking on the worst that Gotham has to offer and always coming out on top…but was he always this way? Surely Batman must...more
i was really hyped for this book because one, i like the format of a full length story (as opposed to issue per issue), two you've got Geoff Johns writing and three, i dig the concept of having an Earth One. gone are the days of DC Elseworlds but if Superman E1 (soon Superman E2) and Batman E1 do well, we just might see a return for them.
as far as the book goes, it's yet another origin story for the caped crusader. while the story telling is topnotch, there really isn't anything groundbreaking a...more
as far as the book goes, it's yet another origin story for the caped crusader. while the story telling is topnotch, there really isn't anything groundbreaking a...more
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Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990’s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career...more
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Feb 24, 2013 09:53pm