Batman: Year One

Hey all! So, I was planning on sharing some of my favorite Batman story arcs with you when I realized...Batman is some thick stuff. The whole goal of this blog is to de-mystify comics as a medium and help you find some comics you love, or figure out where to pick up a long running comic like The Batman.
With that in mind I would like to give you a great place to start with Batman. Hopefully you all had a chance to look at the post I did about Hush! While he is probably my favorite Batman villain of all time, and is a great place to figure out whether or not you might like Batman, he isn’t necessarily the best place to begin your journey into the Batcave.
If you would like to cut through the comic chaos and start anew with the Caped Crusader I would recommend picking up Batman: Year One.
Year One is without a doubt the very best origin story every told of Bruce Wayne and the Batman. Though this comic is really more of a double origin story because we spend just as much time with Jim Gordon as we do with Batman.
In this amazing story we see the Yin and Yang of Gotham’s precarious situation. On the one hand we have Jim Gordon. Jim is the definition of a good cop. His one goal is to make the city safe one crook behind bars at a time. He is smart and capable of using the system to bind criminals hands behind their backs. But, to really meet the city’s needs he does have to get his hands a little dirty. On the other hand we have Bruce Wayne, the Batman. We watch as he makes his first attempts to strike fear into the heart of the criminal underworld that rules Gotham’s streets. We also watch him strike out in some of his first attempts to ward off evil. Not to mention watching Bruce learn how to keep his identity a secret.
What makes this story great though is Frank Miller’s enveloping writing. It is impossible to read through this story without feeling the weight and grit, the blood sweat and tears that go into making Gotham safe. In the end you personally feel a new understanding for the need of the Batman as well as the need of Jim Gordon in a way that no other story will.
If look at the giant wall of comics that is Batman, with endless story arcs and characters from days yonder to today and onward and think “WHERE DO I START?” Year One is your backstage pass to comic fulfillment.