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- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenesMeant to be a graphic novel
Year One was conceived as a graphic novel. Editor Dennis O'Neil talked Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli into serializing it in issues #404–407 of the monthly Batman title.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Aronofsky film that never was
Warner Bros. hired Darren Aronofsky to write and direct a Batman: Year One film. The project was shelved in 2001.
source ↗ - ReferenceGary Oldman's Gordon
Batman Begins' Gordon comes from here. Writer David S. Goyer said Gary Oldman looked just like Mazzucchelli's Gordon, and the corrupt-police plot device also comes from the comic.
source ↗ - ReferenceOn Matt Reeves's reading list
Matt Reeves named Year One among the comics he drew on for The Batman, which shows the hero early in his career.
source ↗ - SetupA teaser at the end
The last page teases the next foe: Gordon, now a captain, tells Batman about a criminal calling himself the Joker.
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- Behind the scenesOne year, 13 issues
The structure was writer Mike Friedrich's idea: tell it over 13 issues, from one Halloween to the next. Editor Archie Goodwin named the series after it.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA Comic-Con pitch
It started at San Diego Comic-Con, when Archie Goodwin asked Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale if they wanted to do more Batman.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe Dark Knight's pact
The Batman–Harvey Dent–Gordon alliance against the mob at the heart of The Dark Knight comes from this comic. It also shaped Goyer's Batman Begins script.
source ↗ - ReferenceA pillar of The Batman
Matt Reeves cited The Long Halloween as one of the main influences on The Batman, along with Year One and Ego.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA two-part animated film
In 2021 it became a two-part animated film that closely follows the comic's plot and themes.
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- Behind the scenesTim Sale didn't want Robin
Artist Tim Sale didn't care for Robin, who clashed with his take on Batman. Jeph Loeb insisted the pairing was essential to the story.
source ↗ - Behind the scenes14 parts, counting a #0
The miniseries runs 14 parts because it opens with a #0 issue before #1.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCatwoman in Italy
In 2004 Loeb and Sale released Catwoman: When in Rome, which follows Catwoman in Italy during the events of Dark Victory.
source ↗ - ReferenceIn Bale's and Pattinson's DNA
Dark Victory was a minor influence on Batman Begins and one of the sources for The Batman, per the films' Wikipedia pages.
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- Behind the scenesBolland and the colors
Brian Bolland wanted the flashbacks in "muted November colors" and was unhappy with John Higgins's colors. He later recolored the story himself, the version in this Deluxe Edition.
source ↗ - ReferenceTim Burton's favorite comic
Tim Burton said of The Killing Joke: "It's the first comic I've ever loved." Its dark tone shaped the 1989 Batman.
source ↗ - ReferenceMadness is like gravity
Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight echoes the comic's idea that it only takes a push to go mad: "Madness is like gravity."
source ↗ - ReferenceThe seed of Joker
Joker (2019)'s premise, a failed comedian who becomes the Joker, was inspired by The Killing Joke.
source ↗ - SetupThe ending nobody agrees on
The last scene is ambiguous. Grant Morrison suggested Batman kills the Joker there; Alan Moore said he meant only a moment of lucidity before the cycle resumes.
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- Behind the scenesDecided by phone
Readers voted by phone on whether Jason Todd lived or died. Of 10,614 votes, 5,343 chose death and 5,271 survival.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesAn idea borrowed from SNL
The vote was inspired by a 1982 Saturday Night Live sketch. Writer Jim Starlin never liked Robin and played on that in the story.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSold out fast
The first three issues sold out so fast that DC rushed out the collection in time for the holidays.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe suit in the Batcave
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows a damaged Robin suit on display in the Batcave, a nod to this story.
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- Behind the scenesMorrison's first Batman
It was Grant Morrison's first Batman work. Morrison pictured traditional comic art, and Dave McKean went another way, with paint and collage.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA sales record
Per editor Karen Berger, it became the best-selling original graphic novel in American superhero comics.
source ↗ - ReferenceOn Heath Ledger's shelf
Heath Ledger cited the book as an inspiration for his Dark Knight Joker. The film's marketing campaign drew on it too.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe 2009 game
The video game Batman: Arkham Asylum is loosely based on the comic and follows a similar premise.
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- Behind the scenesA swipe at violent heroes
The writers wanted to push back against the violent heroes in vogue in the '90s, which is why Batman is replaced by a far more brutal stand-in.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA writers' summit
Editor Dennis O'Neil gathered the Batman writers over a long weekend to plan it. It was the first time since Crisis on Infinite Earths that multiple Batman titles shared one story for so long.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBane, the anti-Bruce
Bane was built as Batman's opposite: an orphan born and raised in a Central American island prison.
source ↗ - ReferenceTom Hardy's Bane
Christopher Nolan drew on Bane's Knightfall debut for The Dark Knight Rises. DC reissued the collections alongside the film in 2012.
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- Behind the scenesTop of the charts
The first part was the best-selling comic in the US in October 2002.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesJim Lee in pencils only
Jim Lee's art was so popular it got a deluxe hardcover in pencils only, without inks.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe sequel that never came
Lee and Loeb were slated to follow it with six more issues, but the project never happened.
source ↗ - SetupA different culprit in the cartoon
The 2019 animated film changed the ending: there, Hush is the Riddler, who killed Thomas Elliot.
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- Behind the scenesA thread from Hush
Judd Winick tied Jason Todd's return to his appearance in Jeph Loeb's Hush.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA break in the middle
The arc ran in two stretches, with the series taking a short hiatus after August 2005. Doug Mahnke drew most of it.
source ↗ - ReferenceA top animated film
The 2010 animated adaptation, with Bruce Greenwood voicing Batman, earned wide acclaim from critics and fans.
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- Behind the scenesThe end of an era
It was the last Batman story of the old continuity before The New 52 reboot in 2011.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSnyder's springboard
Praise for The Black Mirror led DC to hand Scott Snyder the main Batman title in The New 52.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo artists, two threads
The art is split between Jock and Francesco Francavilla across Detective Comics #871–881.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHigh marks
On Comicbook Roundup it averages 8.7 out of 10, and IGN called it a must-own piece of Dark Knight history.
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- Behind the scenesNew villains for a fresh start
The Court of Owls was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo as the main threat of Batman's first two New 52 arcs.
source ↗ - SetupA nursery rhyme
The Court starts as a Gotham legend, remembered through a nursery rhyme. It only shows up in full in issue #6.
source ↗ - ReferenceFrom Gotham to video games
The Court appeared in live action on Gotham and drives the story of the 2022 game Gotham Knights.
source ↗ - SetupContinued in Night of the Owls
The arc ends with the Court unleashing an army of assassins on Gotham, leading straight into Night of the Owls.
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- ReferencePaul Dano's Riddler
Matt Reeves's The Batman borrows elements from Zero Year, including the Riddler as the main villain.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe skipped issue
Scott Snyder pulled issue #28 from the event because it felt too cramped, and the story moved to #29.
source ↗ - SetupThe name gives it away
An IGN reviewer noted that Edward's surname, Nygma, phonetically spells out "enigma": a hint at the villain he becomes.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBackup stories
While Snyder wrote the main story, James Tynion IV handled the backups. The whole event drew critical acclaim.
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- Behind the scenesSaved from the trash
DC art director Mark Chiarello found Darwyn Cooke's old pitch while throwing out old proposals and hired him. It was Cooke's permanent move from animation to comics.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesMy Dinner with Batman
Cooke summed it up: "What if Batman and Bruce Wayne were able to sit down and talk about what it is they do?" The dialogue was inspired by the 1981 film My Dinner with Andre.
source ↗ - ReferenceReeves's conflicted Batman
Matt Reeves cited Ego, along with Year One and The Long Halloween, as a basis for The Batman.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSelina steals the show
The longest story in the book is Selina's Big Score, a Catwoman heist against the Mob in which Batman appears in a single panel.
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- Behind the scenesAfter Superman: Earth One
It was Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's first Batman story together, after their Superman work.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTimed to Nolan's film
Planned for 2010, it was held back to come out in July 2012 alongside The Dark Knight Rises. It peaked at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list.
source ↗ - ReferenceAlfred the Marine
This Alfred, an ex-soldier who trains Bruce to fight, influenced The Batman (2022)'s Alfred, a former Royal Marine.
source ↗ - SetupSomeone is watching
The last page shows a mystery figure poring over Batman files. It's the Riddler, setting up the next volume.
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- Behind the scenesA girl Robin
Frank Miller took John Byrne's suggestion: "Robin must be a girl." That's how Carrie Kelley was born.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesPrestige format
Each issue came with extra pages, square binding, card-stock covers and glossy paper, to show off colorist Lynn Varley's watercolors.
source ↗ - ReferenceKeaton's homework
Michael Keaton studied The Dark Knight Returns for the 1989 Batman, and composer Danny Elfman was handed it for inspiration.
source ↗ - ReferenceJoker's talk show host
Talk show host David Endochrine inspired Murray Franklin, Robert De Niro's character in Joker (2019). In both, the Joker kills on the set.
source ↗ - ReferenceNolan's retired Batman
The Dark Knight Rises was compared to The Dark Knight Returns: both show a Bruce Wayne retired for years coming back.
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- Behind the scenesA childhood idea
Sean Murphy came up with the idea for White Knight when he was 12.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBlack Label's first book
The collection was the first graphic novel published under DC Black Label, and it debuted at #1 on BookScan's bestseller list.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Murphyverse is born
Its success led to Murphy sequels and a shared Murphyverse with series by other creators too.
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