"Batman: Year One, Chapter Two:War is Declared"
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: David Mazzuchelli
Colours: Richmond Lewis
Letters: Todd Klein
Synopsis: Gordon's called in to settle a hostage situation. An escaped inmate of Arkham Asylum is holding three children in a tenement building. Loeb calls in Sgt. Branden, an over-zealous SWAT team leader with a history of excessive force. Gordon overrules him and manages to settle the situation with a minimum of force. He continues to make enemies in the department. He attempts to have a romantic night at home with his wife, Barbara, but is interrupted by calls about a giant bat.
We get our first glimpse of Batman as he fights three would-be thieves on a fire escape. He's overconfident and soon the situation turns for the worse. While he manages to overcome them, his debut is less than spectacular, and he considers himself a lucky amateur. By May 15, Gordon has been placed in charge of a task force to catch the vigilante, who is now operating regularly enough to put a dent in the operations of crooked cops like Flass. One of the detectives under Gordon is an attractive blonde named Essen.
During a late-night dinner at the mayor's mansion, attended by Commissioner Loeb and mob boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, Loeb tells Gordon that his position is that Batman should be left alone. Loeb believes that by giving the people of Gotham a hero they will be less likely to ask questions about the corruption in the city. Falcone disagrees. Batman crashes the party and sets up a dramatic entrance, announcing his presence and intentions to the top level of Gotham's corrupt elite. Loeb does an immediate about face on Batman and pressures Gordon to capture him, which he fails to do.
Batman, meanwhile, harasses The Roman and continues to earn the wrath of Gotham's criminals. Gordon investigates Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent on the suspicion that he is the Batman. The evidence looks good -- Dent is passionate and works out -- but what Gordon doesn't see is that Batman's been hiding under Dent's desk the whole time, as the two are working together.
Essen tips Gordon off to the fact that Bruce Wayne is the only man in Gotham who could afford all the Batman's toys, and his parents were murdered by a mugger. But before Gordon can act on the tip, he's nearly in a fatal car crash involving an out-of-control truck and a helpless old lady. Batman saves the old lady and Gordon while Essen calls for back-up. Batman escapes into an abandoned tenement building as Branden's team shows up in helicopters and begin fire-bombing the building...
My Thoughts: The second issue of "Year One" takes us away from emotional origins and into dynamic story-telling. It's also the point in the arc where Lt. Gordon officially overshadows Bruce Wayne/Batman as the lead character. Gordon becomes the audience's touchstone, an ordinary man trying to do the best he can in a city gone mad. Batman becomes a shadowy figure of the night, a legendary hero striking at injustice and placed into conflict with Gordon by the whims of fate. Along the way we meet powerful new characters like the villainous Carmine Falcone and the dashing DA Harvey Dent. This issue has a lot of good build-up to it, as we move the plot forward and feel the fates begin to entwine the destinies of Gordon and Batman, who were largely two seperate stories last issue.
The Art: Mazzuchelli's artwork continues to be brilliant this month, from his rain-soaked morning at the beginnings of the issue, to his powerful action shots of the Batman. This is the first issue featuring Batman, and Mazzuchelli's Dark Knight has a realism and a dynamic that sets him apart from the mileau of the superhero comicbook. Batman looks like a man in a costume, his cape moves like real fabric, his body type is that of a lean, muscular man, not an over-powered superhuman. This makes it all the more exciting and involving when we see him commit heroic acts such as diving in front of a speeding truck to save a helpless old woman. Mazzuchelli makes characters who looks like real people, and it is in the subtlety of his linework that we see their emotions and character. The colours of Richmond Lewis continue to add a kind of real-world, street level majesty to the proceedings, such as the brilliant twilight blues of a sky upon which the tiny figure of the Batman is silouhetted.
The Story: Miller keeps delivering the goods here, as we see him introduce Batman, Carmine Falcone, Harvey Dent, Sarah Essen, and of course, Stan Merkel, Gordon's reliable but little-seen partner. Miller creates a world of Gotham City that seems believable and familiar, the Gotham City that exists right outside our window. He also brings a realism to the mythos, brought to life with the easy realization that the richest man in town with the traumatic background is the most likely suspect for the costumed vigilante. Miller's Batman has a grim and wry sense of humour that is often self-deprecating and fits the character like a glove. His Gordon is the prime everyman, and little details like his depressing commute to work in the rain and his "World's Greatest Dad" coffee mug help this shine through. However, Miller does grant Batman his classic moments of Wagnerian melodrama, like his dramatic entrace at the mayor's mansion. Overall, Miller is giving us the pieces we'll need for the next two issues here, and roping us in with a classic serial-style cliffhanger ending.
Notes and Trivia: First Appearance of Post-Crisis Batman and Harvey Dent. First Appearance of Stan Merkel, Sgt. Braden, Jefferson Skeevers, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and Sarah Essen.
I was so enamoured of Miller/Mazzuchelli's depiction of the debut of the Post-Crisis Batman that I partially adapted it into a short film starring Robbie Adams as Batman, which you can dowload from this link: http://www.mediafire.com/?5yj42z4yzeu
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