Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Significant events not handled well enough, 18 April 2003
Given the seminal "Year One" by Frank Millar I was slightly dubious about the decision to have a "Year Two" work set immediately after it.This story revolves around the return of Gotham's previous terrifying vigilante "The Reaper" and takes in major events concerning both Wayne and the Batman, such as his parent's murderer and new-found love. The Reaper provides a challenging enemy and an interesting comparison given his means over the Batman's. I found his rhetoric a touch repetitive so it was hard to become as easily involved and interested in such a character as is it with The Joker or Two-Face. What I didn't like about the approach of the story was how lightly it handled the hugely important issues in Wayne's life. The meeting with (and unexpected partnership with) his parent's murderer, Joe Chill. Batman's taking up of firing arms, a huge taboo given the history of his fighting style, and of course his hatred for them given the trauma of his childhood. The love interest, which drives Wayne to give up fighting crime. The eventual showdown between Wayne and Chill. I feel it's all handled too lightly and given neither enough thought nor suspence. The artwork works well with the Reaper's daunting appearance and acts of savage brutality, and Batman has still to quite refine all of his supreme skills in crime fighting (witness his first contest with The Reaper) which reflects the setting and timing of Year Two. However faithful fans may be slightly disappointed and may prefer to read the follow-ups by Loeb, Sale, Kane and Godfrey; "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory", both of which evoke the darker sterner tone which suits the Batman so well.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
don't expect year 1: part deux, 13 Mar 2006
After reading Frank Miller's seminal pieces on the dark knight (DKR, Year 1), i was not immune to the possibility that i set the bar too high for this book, but the character flaws seem too wide to be just my over-cynicism. Allying yourself with the man you've loathed the most for 20 years...using a gun to wantonly kill someone who's only difference from yourself is that he wantonly kills people (using among other weapons, a gun). This book could do with being about twice as long, if just to fill out the characters a bit more (Bruce's romance with Rachel is whirlwind in the least). Todd McFarlane's Reaper artwork has a spawnesque quality which is impressive. (he should have done the whole book) but the patchy writing is slightly too patchy to let pass. All in all it adds up to a readable piece, but after one read, i picked up year 1 again just to remind myself how good the DK can be.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Never Going to live up to 'Year One' but not as Bad as People Make out - read on to find out why!, 15 Oct 2009
This Batman graphic novel is unfortunately named 'Year Two' and therefore has to be compared to the vastly superior Year One by Frank Miller. But this was actually never intended to be a sequel - it was originally going to be titled 'Batman 1980' but was shelved. Then the success of Frank Miller's re-imagining of the origin story in 'Year One' hit the stands and was a huge success so Dc tried to cash in on it by doing a follow up using Barr's initial idea as a template.
So in a lot of ways it is unfair to compare this with Year One, but it has to be because of a/ it's title and b/ it is trying to cash in on the success of Year One.
As other people have said, there are some serious flaws with this story. Firstly, the alliance with Joe Chill (his parents' murderer) and Batman resorting to using a gun to combat the Reaper ( a vigilante lacking Batman's ruling tenet - it is wrong to kill. The Reaper is more of an avenger, than a hero) feel seriously out of kilter with the legend of Batman.
The other aspect to note is that the style of the artwork is very, very different - Batman is in his blue and grey outfit, rather than the gritty, terror-inducing black outfit in Year One. That said, i did like Todd Macfarlane's work - and you can see where the style for his comic of Spawn, came from.
Another let down is the Bruce Wayne storyline, but as i am writing this, twenty years plus since it's publication, that is not really the fault of this work - mainly because this was the style of comics at the time. It is only in the last ten to fifteen years that comics have really changed and given us more depth, more story arcs, more character facets and bigger collections.
If you bear in mind the fact this was never really intended as a sequel to Year One, and is of a different era then you look at this graphic novel in a better light.
I don't think it is the best Batman story of all time, by a long, long way! However, it isn't the worst either - Batman :The Scottish Connection, i am looking at you! This graphic novel will never live up to Year One, or the Dark Knight Returns, or Devil's Advocate or the Killing Joke (all worthy of your cash) or the recent Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader. But if you buy this and take the graphic novel for what it is, then you won't be too disappointed. Plus, you can get it at a reasonable price now, so what harm can it do?
Average, but not as bad as a lot of people say it is! (In my opinion!)
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