I think they gave too much away last time

Batman: Earth One Vol. 3
DC Comics
Creators: Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Jon Sibal and Brad Anderson
Release date: June 2021

I bought and enjoyed the first two volumes of the Batman: Earth One series. The twists and turns these creators took with the familiar Batman origin tale kept me guessing a little bit, entertained even when I saw twists coming, and left me feeling satisfied with the final product. This third and final chapter is still a good read. But something feels just a little bit off or not quite as good as the first two installments.

I’m not a fan of the Earth One idea, in general. I tried the first two volumes of Superman: Earth One, and while I found them — especially the first one — entertaining, the stories just didn’t quite feel like "my" Superman. They didn’t feel quite right. Your specific reaction might have been different. That’s part of the fun of comics. Not every comic is every reader’s cup of tea. But for me and Superman: Earth One, something was off.

I tried Teen Titans: Earth One and hated it. Several of my favorite characters were excluded, and the story was so different, that I didn’t recognize the characters that were “included.” Based on those two experiences, I’ve never even tried Wonder Woman: Earth One or Green Lantern: Earth One. Flash: Earth One and Aquaman Earth One graphic novels were planned at one point, but neither has been printed to date.

But when I decided to give Batman: Earth One Volume 1 a try, I was pleasantly surprised.

First, the creators wisely opted to ignore the Joker right out of the gate. Too many similar projects feel a need to make the Joker the premier Bat villain, and that has led to the Joker being way overused. He’s no longer exciting if he’s everywhere and in every story.

Second, this Gotham was different from previous iterations of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne was different from previous iterations. And Alfred was introduced in a different way. That set the stage for many great changes to come — changes to heroes, to villains and to supporting cast members.

I normally try to keep spoilers to a minimum on this blog, but there will be a few here, especially for the earlier volumes of Batman: Earth One. Stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers, and just know that I liked the series overall, but the most recent chapter a little less than the others.

******** SPOILER WARNING! ********

You’ve been warned.

The first volume of Batman: Earth One begins with Thomas Wayne running for mayor against a corrupt opponent. His campaign staffers are celebrating some early polling victories when Alred Pennyworth arrives at Wayne Manor. Alfred is a former member of the Royal Marines. He and Thomas Wayne served together or worked together in some unspecific capacity. They forged a friendship, and Thomas has sent for Alfred to head up his campaign security team. But first, Thomas and Martha have promised their young son a night at the movies.

That sense of foreboding you now feel is well-deserved as Bruce’s parents never make it back home from the theater. But rather than being killed by Joe Chill or a random mugger after seeing “The Mark of Zorro,” the Waynes never even see the film they planned to see. Instead, the theater’s electricity is cut before the movie begins, and the Waynes are attacked as they exit the theater through an emergency exit.

Bruce is left an orphan. Alfred, who wasn’t even certain he wanted the security job, now finds out that the Waynes have entrusted Bruce’s care to him in their wills. He feels honor-bound to accept the responsibility to keep the boy from becoming a ward of the state, but he has no real interest or knowledge of caring for a child.

Bruce vows vengeance as readers expect and is firmly convinced that the corrupt mayor was behind the hit on his parents. That mayor — Oswald Cobblepot — wins re-election, at least a couple more times, as he is still the mayor of Gotham when Bruce returns from boarding school a young man with a plan built on revenge.

The Batman that begins his career in this tale is new and inexperienced. He makes some mistakes. He has very few detective skills to draw upon, but he is smart. Alfred thinks the entire idea is ludicrous and tries to talk Bruce out of his plans. When that tactic repeatedly fails, he insists on training Bruce in a number of fighting techniques.

The big bads of that first volume are a new creation called The Birthday Boy and Cobblepot, who I don’t believe is ever referred to as Penguin in the story at all. But there are a number of other familiar names with not-so-familiar backgrounds and roles. Some of these include Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Lucius Fox, Harvey and Jessica Dent and Killer Croc.

The second volume continues the trend of giving readers familiar names and faces, but often throwing them into the mix in unfamiliar ways. For instance, I strongly suspected that Barbara Gordon might become Batgirl in the second volume of the series. She was introduced in Volume 1 and was shown to have a keen interest in the Batman’s activities. Instead, the creative team sidelines her throughout this second story with an educational trip abroad.

The villain of this second installment is the Riddler, but he sets himself up as a punisher of Gotham’s ongoing corruption. Mayor Cobblepot is no longer in the picture, but others have taken his seat of power and continue to benefit off the citizens of the city.

Batman faces off against the Riddler, but he does not do so alone. He continues to grow his team of misfits, or Outsiders, as more familiar names and faces are added to the mix. And along the way, the creators do a bit of foreshadowing that easily telegraphs the villain for the third installment, at least in my mind.

The third and final original graphic novel under the Batman: Earth One banner begins with a new “mystery” villain supplying weapons and materials to all the criminals of Gotham. No secret is made about this being Two-Face; but who is Two-Face? That is the question the characters in this story face. But most any reader who read Volume 2 already knows the answer to this question. There’s no mystery here.

Johns, Franks and the crew try to mask that fact by also adding a long-lost relative of Bruce’s and some Wayne/Arkham family history into the mix. But ultimately, while this is still an engaging read, this third installment in the series feels weaker, in my opinion, because of the too-early reveal.

As I said at the top of this post, this is still a worthwhile read. More familiar faces make an appearance, including some not usually associated with the Batman family of titles. More characters are introduced or fleshed out within the story itself. The wrap-up also shows where the story would likely head next, further expanding Batman’s team of Outsiders and finally bringing the Joker into the mix.

Overall, this is a good series, and the best of the Earth One titles I’ve read. But if I’m being honest, this third installment is the weakest of the Batman series.

It's Really Not Bad; I'm Just Not Feeling It

Superman: Earth One tpb
DC Comics
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Shane Davis, artist

A couple weeks ago, I talked about finally giving Batman: Earth One a try after finding the hardcover for a price I couldn't pass up. The Earth One original graphic novel concept is to re-tell origins of iconic DC characters as if the events were happening today, in the modern era, instead of 20, 30 or 75 years ago. If done well, it's not a terrible concept, and in my opinion, Batman: Earth One was done exceptionally well.

Enjoying that story prompted me to try the first such Earth One OGN re-imagining Superman for the modern era. The trade version of that book is available now, so I picked it up and gave it a whirl. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the experience was definitely not the same.

I didn't hate the story or the re-imagining that these two creators came up with. I really just had trouble getting into the story.

I have friends who will see a movie in the theater, and if they like it, I mean really like it, they will swear that to fully appreciate the film, one has to see it on the big screen. I never quite understand that caveat. For me, it truly doesn't matter if I'm in a large theater with a giant screen or simply sitting in my own living room watching something on our modest-sized TV. If I'm into what I'm watching, really enjoying it, I am immersed in the experience to the point that the size of the screen doesn't matter; my surroundings kind of vanish to the background, and I'm "in" the film or program.

It's the same with a really great read. I literally lost myself in the pages of Batman: Earth One while I was exploring that reality. But with Superman: Earth One, I was very aware of the fact that I was sitting in the breakroom on my dinner break at work reading this book. Several times I looked up noticing the time so I wouldn't be late getting back; the narrative just wasn't holding my interest as well. Several times some action by a character seemed just a bit off, taking me out of the story, puzzling over the perceived inconsistency. And a few times, my focus actually wandered a bit, forcing me to back up and re-read something I'd "missed."

The charge that a character's action seemed off might seem odd when applied to an Elseworlds-style story where the characters are not exactly the ones we know. I'll admit, seeing characters changed or altered is part of the draw of an Elseworlds story. But even in that type of setting, you expect certain things to be constants. Maybe it's just a matter of personal taste. For instance, this version of Jimmy Olsen is a take-charge daredevil willing to do whatever it takes to get the best photos possible. That's a little more devil-may-care than Jimmy is usually portrayed, but it works here. I like it. But Lois Lane's character is just the opposite. In every iteration of the character I have ever seen she is a gutsy, barge-right-in kind of reporter. In some ways, she still is that in this story. But she also tries several times early on in the story to pull Jimmy back from danger, not so much out of concern for his safety although I'm sure that was a factor, but because she seemed to be afraid for herself. And she wasn't obviously doing any reporting or observing, really, during the action of the story.

Another major problem here, for me at least, was the villain of the piece. I can buy into the history that pits this villain against the last surviving son of Krypton. But I never completely got the threat this guy posed or understood how he operated. There is an entire armada of ships, but we only ever see one guy. Is this just the leader or is this one person in control of all these ships? He refers to a collective "we" at times, while also seeming to challenge Superman one-on-one a lot. I have no problem with creating an entirely new villain, but it seems odd in a one-shot like this not to use an established character. This Tyrell's appearance is very similar, though, to Silver Banshee's in the regular Superman books. Is that coincidence, which seems odd, or is there a reason for that similarity because none is given? If you're going to use an original character, make it a completely original one.

Even Clark's action and motivations seem inconsistent. He comes to Metropolis not sure what he wants to do with his life and abilities or how best to use them to benefit mankind. He applies to a number of sports teams and companies, quickly impressing almost all of them with his prowess at whatever skills they need from him. First off, that seems like a huge secret identity risk as all of these firms have Clark Kent's name and address on resumes; it doesn't seem like it would take a genius to figure out when Superman shows up shortly after this wunderkind impresses the hell out of you and several other leaders of the community that they might be connected. They even look alike. Then, Clark's rationale for joining the Planet staff at the end seems a bit contrived, based on the actions of only three people at two of the many, many places to which Clark applied for work.

I admit, this is a minor quibble, but another point that bothered me about Superman: Earth One was the inclusion at the end of Clark Kent's and Lois Lane's Daily Planet articles concerning the debut of Superman. I'm a journalist. I work for a newspaper. That doesn't make me an infallible authority, by any means, but whenever a Superman story includes "actual" articles written by Daily Planet reporters, they always yank me out of the story because they are seldom ever written like real news stories turned in by actual reporters. Typically, these devices are used to convey additional story points, I know, but it bugs me nonetheless.

Bottom line, I was pretty underwhelmed by this tale.

I'm Not Too Old Yet

Batman: Earth One hardcover
DC Comics
Geoff Johns, writer
Gary Frank, artist

I have "known" some comic-fans who have stopped keeping up with the current slate of comic books and continuity developments. They often are still actively re-reading books from their respective collections, just not reading the new stuff. They are still fans of the medium and often dabble by remaining a part of online communities that by their nature are most concerned with the current stuff, but such fans have found their own personal golden age of comics and prefer to stop reading the more recent books that aren't doing anything for them anymore.

The older I get, the more I understand those feelings; many of my favorite books were ones published in the 1970s. But I don't know that I'm quite ready to label that era my personal golden age yet. I also have favorite comic stories from each of the subsequent decades, and more modern times have truly been great with regards to comics turned into animation and film.

Having said that, I don't try as many new comic and graphic novel titles as I once did. When Marvel announced the Ultimate line, I half-heartedly picked up the Ultimate version of Spider-Man and X-Men, but I didn't stick with either long. I had more of an interest in the New 52 when DC launched that project, but those books were replacing, not running along side of, the already established continuity. I stuck with my favorites but didn't stay long with many of the newer titles and characters. So my reaction when DC announced their "Earth One" line of stand-alone graphic novels re-inventing their heroes for a modern era, my reaction was, "Good luck and I hope it brings new readers in as created to do, but I think I'll just pass." Not worth the price of admission for me; I already know the origin of Superman and Batman, so far the only two characters to get the Earth One treatment.

Then I went in search of a copy of the trade collection Superman: Exile, and found a nicely priced copy for sale online. That particular seller also had a copy of the Superman: Panic In the Sky trade, which I decided to pick up. And also for sale by this individual was a $5 copy of the Batman: Earth One hardcover. That's the hardcover. In nice shape. For $5. I'm not as interested in trying this book for the initial hardcover price tag, but I'm not going to turn down a chance to try it for a fraction of the cover price, either.

And I'm glad I took the chance!

This volume is a great example of what the old Elseworlds and What If ... ? series could be at their best. I don't want to ruin some of the many story surprises Geoff Johns and Gary Frank have crafted in this volume; a large part of my enjoyment reading this graphic novel was in discovering these gems on my own. But these men have created a powerful story that changes the established facts longtime readers know about the Wayne family and gives a satisfying read. There are many familiar faces such as Bruce, Thomas and Martha Wayne and Barbara Gordon. There are familiar names like Oswald Cobblepot, Alfred Pennyworth and Harvey Bullock that are used in brand new, fascinating ways. And there are more subtle changes to familiar characters like James Gordon and Gotham District Attorney Dent that add to the tapestry of this story. Johns has written a powerful origin story for this not-quite-the-Batman-we-know that lives up to the high standard set by his other writing. Gary Frank's artwork is crisp and adds visual nuances to Johns' script, as usual. Well done! Very well done, indeed!