Batman: Year Two

A tale where the interest is in the unmasking of the antagonist, who is of the Foolkiller variety. Batman, a little bit further into his career than in Year One (naturally) is up against an extremely formidable opponent, and he must find out his secret before it is too late. Otherwise, death will result, and quite possibly his own.

The main problem with 'Batman: Year Two', it was clear to me from the start, is its title. Once a book is defined as a sequel, it demands a comparison to the original, and if anything is to be compared to 'Batman: Year One', there's no chance it won't disappoint. The fact of the matter is, other than the events depicted being more or less a chronological follower, 'Fear The Reaper' has absolutely nothing to do with Frank Miller's masterpiece. Quite frankly, there's no reason it should be expected to. The 'artistic revolution' DC Comics were having during the late 80s has become so famous, that it's easy to forget that most comics released by mainstream publishers at the time was not in the level of Frank Miller, Alan Moore or Grant Morrison; they were extremely exceptional individuals within the field at the time. It's important to remember that 'Year Two', unlike classics like 'The Dark Knight Returns', 'Year One', 'The Killing Joke' and even Barr's own 'Son of the Demon', was released not as an individual publication but as part of the regular monthly run of 'Detective Comics'. Bear in mind that the monthly publications were much more limited than a one-time release; first and foremost, those publications were still under the constraints of the Comic Book Code, gradually losing its grip though it was. Compare 'Year Two' to 'Son of the Demon', written by the same writer in the very same year; it's easy to see how much more restrained he had to be for 'Year Two'. That's not the only clear difference you can find in comparing the two: with no computers, the art in the monthly issues in that time couldn't have possibly looked as good as a graphic novel like 'Son of the Demon', which was months at work. Making that comparison would be like comparing 'The Killing Joke' to its chronological follow-up, 'A Death in the Family'. Instead, 'Year Two' should be compared to monthly Batman comics published in the same period of time, by writers like Danny O'Neil and Jim Starlin. In that light, you can get a whole different perspective on it. This means, if you're only looking for truly deep quality comics, you won't find it here; in fact, you won't find it in any monthly publication by DC Comics and Marvel up to the early 90s, and even then it's rare. 'Year One' is a classic and a masterpiece; 'Year Two' is far from it. If, however, you're a fan of the superhero genre by its own right, and of Batman in particular, 'Year Two' is well worth picking up. It's a classic Batman adventure, with good writing, some excellent action scenes, and well-written villains, and it also fills some important holes in the Batman history, which makes it important for anyone truly interested in the Dark Knight (the conclusion for the Joe Chill story suggests a somewhat different outcome then the one given in Batman #47 - 'The Origin of the Batman' - but it's close enough in principle). For the true comics buff, it might also be interesting to see early samples of artwork by To

"Batman: Year Two; Fear the Reaper" consists of issues #575-578 of "Detective Comics," which originally appear in 1987. The story follows "Batman: Year One" by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, but is not really a sequel although it is consistent with the spirit of revisionist continuity inspired by Miller's "The Dark Night Returns." The four issues are written by Mike W. Barr with different combinations of pencillers and inkers (Alan Davis and Paul Neary on the first issue, Todd McFarlane and Alfredo Alcala on the middle pair, with McFarlane inking his own pencils on the last one), which makes for quite a change from star to finish on the artwork. Barr's goal in this story line is try and make sense of the early years of Batman, guided by the modern version of the character. Specifically Barr was interested in exploring Batman's relationship with the new Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon and answer the big question as to why Batman does not carry a gun. Barr also revisits the fate of Joe Chill, the murderer of Thomas and Martha Wayne, who was originally killed by other criminals when he admits he is the one who inspired the Batman (they also shoot him before he can tell them Batman's secret identity). Clearly that is too impersonal a finale for Chill and Barr takes care of that in these stories. Barr also goes back to the beginning and works in Leslie Thompkins into the Batman mythos.The other significant development is that Barr takes the DC Golden Age villain the Grim Reaper and makes him not only Batman's predecessor as Gotham City's resident vigilante, but also the representation of the road not taken with regards to how Batman fights criminals. The Reaper's genesis parallels that of Batman, with the key difference that it might have been what Thomas Wayne would have done under slightly different circumstances (which, of course, creates a whole father-son paradigm for the Reaper and Batman, which is totally reinforced by who the Reaper turns out to be). "Batman: Year Two" does indeed revisit the death of Joe Chill and provide a different context for essentially the same fate, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed because with our modern perspectives on the Batman as a comic book superhero I was convinced Barr was going to have Batman step over the line. However, that was not the payoff for this story. Still, the revisionist continuity offered serves its purpose and makes this worth reading for fans of the Dark Knight.

I won't spend too much time discussing the quality of Batman: Year Two, save to say that while it doesn't have the charm or quality of Year One(a tough act to follow), it is well-written and has fantastic art. It also provides the Batman mythology with an intriguing villain culled from the Golden Age of DC Comics: The Reaper. While The Batman has always had one of the best rogues galleries in comics, there's always room for one more, and I'm disappointed that The Reaper hasn't been revived somehow since this tale. FYI, The Reaper inspired the Phantasm character from the excellent "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" animated film, as did the overall Year Two storyline. There are also rumors now that the new Batman film may also be inspired by Year Two, with a young Batman going up against The Reaper. If this is the case, "Batman Year Two: Fear the Reaper" may become a hot item. Whether this proves true or not, I highly recommend this story.

I first got this book when I was about 4 years old. It was the first time I heard of Batman as a comic book character. I hadn't learned how to read yet, so no matter how millions of times I saw the movie, I couldn't read that it was based on a DC character. But since I couldn't read, how could I enjoy this story? The art!!The first chapter in the book was drawn by Allan Davis, with the remaining chapters drawn with incredible grace by Todd McFarlane. I was able to figure out about 95 percent of the story, because of the art. Many stories need both art and writing to funcion, but this book is great on both. It is written by Mike Barr and it is great! Rather than reading like a typical comic book, it reads like one of the best action movies. Yes, Frank Miller and Geph Loeb are better writers (see Year One and Hush), but Barr is still one gifted writer.Year Two is obviously a sequel to Batman: Year One. And since he finished corrupt cops in the original, we can now have fun with colorful villains. Here, we get the Reaper. He was vigilante like Batman, but before Batman came. He had much more brutal methods than Batman, so after a several decade hiatus when Reaper returns to "fight" crime, he crosses paths with Batman and they clash.Reaper is so dangerous, that Batman can't fight him off by himself. Batman needs help and he gets it by none other than Joe Chill, the man who killed Batman's parents! It is incredible seeing Batman fighting the temptation to shoot him! Yes, Batman uses a GUN! The question of why he never used a gun before gets answered in this story!What makes this story great is the fact that as much the villain as Reaper may seem, in his way, he's the hero. And he believes he's the hero and Batman's the villain. This grey area adds so much dimension and this is something I just love thinking about. Mike Barr should write a prequel about the Reaper fighting crime before Batman came on. That would be cool.This copy of the book also contains "Full Circle," which is the sequel to Year Two. Here, we get Robin, more Alfred, and the return of the Reaper! I was wondering how Reaper would come back, but he came back in a very clever way and Full Circle is a very good story.Well, Batman: Year Two-Fear the Reaper (that is this version, the one that contains both stories) is my all-time favorite Batman story and I'm sure when you read it, you will like it too!