Batman: Year One [Includes Batman: Year One Graphic Novel] [Blu-ray] [2011]

This is a nice set for Comic Book fans. It includes a well crafted hard bark Graphic Novel with a DC Comic Animated blu-ray movie. I would love to see more like this.

If you like AND OF the Nolan Batman films, THIS serves as the inspiration! Miller is a true genius! Never has a vigilante story been so grounded!

After spending many years abroad, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to fulfill the vow to rid it of crime that he made to his deceased parents when he was a boy. At the same time, Chicago cop James Gordon moves to Gotham to start with the GCPD. Soon, Bruce adopts the identity of the Batman and makes war on Gotham’s crime families, with James Gordon hot on his tail as the cop tries to take down the vigilante crime fighter. I love origin stories. The mythology of characters, their history, their motivations, the events leading up to the creation of a super identity—all of it’s gold in my book. Batman: Year One is such a story, giving you not only Batman’s origin, but the chance to walk a mile in his shoes during his first year as a crime fighter. You get to see him test the waters, make mistakes, have some wins and losses, and watch as he earns the trust of Gotham’s finest. This movie is a down-to-earth story about Batman and James Gordon, very much a crime story versus a superhero-vs-supervillain tale. Batman deals with real world criminals in real world ways. You also get a glimpse into the hard life he leads, what he gives up to be Batman, and how he balances life as a fool in the public eye so he could be a fear to the criminal underworld at night. You also get to see a different side of James Gordon, the marriage trouble, his humanity, and the plight of being a good cop in a bad town. His portrayal makes him every bit a hero as Batman in this story. This flick is based on the one-shot comic book by comics superstar Frank Millar and matches the book’s style for the most part, really bringing it to life. This is a story of beginnings so the pacing is different than what most people are used to, and instead of having a beginning, middle, big lead up to a climax then end, it has—to me, anyway—more of a beginning, middle and then part of an end because it’s really a prequel to all the other Batman stories that come after it. Which is fine. It works, but I remember going, “Is that it?” when it ended after I first watched it. I’m glad that Batman’s first year was brought to the small screen and I hope more first year stories are made for other heroes. Superman next would be great.

Cool animated movie. I would recommend getting it.

Great combo value. Book great, movie great. Could be happier.

As someone who owns earlier releases of both the Batman Year One comic and animated movie, let me say that this is a great repackaging. Honestly, this is great approach for DC to take. The hardcover comic is printed on slightly higher quality paper than the paperback version without the movie. Also, the discs in this set are identical to the previous release. That means the solid commentary track, the great Catwoman short, and all the other bonus features are present on the disc. The movie itself is a solid adaptation. There are few differences here and there, but that's how an adaptation works. Frankly, the changes are nice and aren't even big changes. They work to help the pacing of the movie. As great as the comic is, some of it wouldn't translate to page as well. The cast is solid. Bryan Cranston is fantastic a Jim Gordon. Eliza Dushku is solid a Selina Kyle. The weakest link is probably Ben McKenzie's Bruce/Batman. He's not bad, but he doesn't shine the way the rest of the cast does. Overall, if you want to see the movie and read the comic, this is the set for you!

How can anyone give this a bad review? First you get one of the greatest graphic novel of all time by the great Frank Miller (I said one of the greatest so please don't get too upset with me.) Secondly you get the blu ray, DVD, and for the people who care (I am not one of them) the digital download. Batman Year one is a great story but it focuses more on LT. Gordon and not Batman himself it looks like the creator of the hit series Gotham might have been inspired by this novel as well. It is a great Pick up, and by the way it also gets points for being in a Hardcover book and not a soft cover book. So Six stars out of 5. Wait I can't do that oh well.

I've been wanting this combo for a while and it magically appeared at my local Best Buy shelf. The movie itself looks great and is a great adaptation of the book which I had never read until now. If you are a batman fan, get it.