Countdown to Batman v Superman – Batman: Earth One
As we are coming closer and closer to the release of Batman v Superman, it is always important to pay homage to where these two caped heroes came from. No, I’m not talking about Krypton and Gotham, but the comic book pages from which they were spawned. Before they were in on screen in a $250 million film, they were in 25-cent comics (or $3.99 today) duking it out with armed thugs determined to thwart the justice and the American way. The next few days a few of us writers here at Why So Blu are taking a look at some of our favorite titles from either character.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t read a lot of Superman. While the character himself is cool (and only the most popular super hero of all time), I’ve just never been enthralled by many of his storylines or his villains, especially not Lex Luthor. With Batman, however, the colorful villains and the attention-grabbing stories have been numerous with my favorite being The Long Halloween. Flipping through the pages, the artwork did little for me, but as the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover…or the fact that the artist gave Catwoman whiskers. Reading through it, oh my, was one gripping tale where the noir-style artwork brilliantly fit the dark and gloomy mood of the book. In short, a mystery killer is enacting one murder after another on the various holidays of the year. That leaves it up to Batman and city officials to nail down who’s leaving the trail of bodies…but that’s not the story this article about. It’s also not about Hush, another grand tale of the Caped Crusader. It is about Earth One.
Providing an alternate telling of a hero’s origin, the Earth One concept started with a very successful Superman book, followed by two more. This spring Wonder Woman: Earth One will be making its arrival on store shelves. Between those two arrived Batman: Earth One. When I saw Geoff Johns was writing, I was immediately onboard. The guy is the Chief Creative Officer for DC Comics and exceptionally revived the Aquaman series when The New 52 debuted. Those are merely two things on a rather lengthy impressive resume’ and he did not disappoint with the Dark Knight in his own Earth One format. But what is it exactly about?
As it is an alternative universe, imagine a more realistic Batman where his gadgets don’t always work, where his grapple gun misfires half the time, where his father once ran for mayor of Gotham and where the Penguin is the city’s main threat, not the Joker. The backstories on Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth are engaging, the suspense builds at just the right time and the artwork, courtesy of Gary Frank, was nothing short of masterful. The little nuances that pop up throughout the story are superb accents that just elevate the story in addition to all its other attributes. The book came out in 2012 followed by volume 2 in 2015 with a third volume in the works as we speak (though no release date is on the map just yet). If you are thinking that was a vague description, good. I’m leaving the rest for you to read, and an enjoyable read it is.
