Anybody read Batman Earth One yet?

[madmarva]

**********************This post is fairly spoiler-free, although there's not a lot that could be spoiled*****************

The story was OK. Johns provided a Batman who was finding his way, which hasn't been done a lot other than Batman Year One.

The take on Alfred is quite different and reminds me a bit of Slade (Deathstroke) Wilson and Major Wintergreen. Lucious Fox is more a contemporary of Wayne than in the comics and films, although Johns does lift some from the Nolan films.

The Penguin is a good bit different.

The story takes a lot of cues from Batman Year One and Batman Begins in that Gotham is corrupt to the core and even good men are intimidated.

Gary Frank's art looks great to me, but I'm a fan of his work. I know some don't care for it.

The story overall wasn't anything special. Johns does what he does with all of his origins. He begins to tie some pieces of continuity together that really don't need to be and making the connection doesn't really improve the idea or make it more dramatic, imo.

I don't think anyone who reads its will call it a bad piece of work, particularly on Frank's part. But the story really borrows from past works, the subtleties Johns added that worked so well in his Superman Secret Origin and Green Lantern Secret Origin seem a bit flat here, the changes aren't really anything revolutionary and one change, imo, is really wasted and the shock value of it doesn't really pay off.

Evidently, Johns and Frank are already working on the second graphic novel. Maybe with the setup out of the way, the next story will prove more satisfying.

Thoughts from anyone else?

[Riffster]

I liked it, not worth the money but it was a great read

[The Bat]

I had every intention of buying it, until I looked inside and saw the horrible artwork...then I had to pass.

[BlackKnight]

I didn't know this was out.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I really like Frank's stuff. But I'm kind of origined out at the time.

Chris

[boynightwing]

I don't need another Batman Origin. I'm good with the one we already had. Plus I don't want to pay that kind of money for it.

I didn't much care for the Superman story after I read it either.

[thunderbolt]

don't care for either creator, so I'm passing this line.

[bobws]

Another reboot line, i can do without.
Johns seemed repetitive with Flash Rebirth after the GL one so i don't want to pay for the same story 3 or more times.

[TomStrong]

Just got through reading it and liked it despite myself. It was good to see a villain get it for a change. I liked the origin even though its been rather high profile lately. Having tried my hand at artwork I really appreciated the depth of detail and realism provided by the artist. I thought it was well done but possibly a bit behind the curb. But who am I to gripe about great artwork, great stories. Certainly I prefer it to crazy cosmologically changing stories, had the gritty quality to Gotham I like too.

[The Toyroom]

Just read it last night...not bad...an Elseworldy feel to it. I think if this is the approach they had taken with the DCnU as a separate universe instead of morphing the existing one then I would have been more onboard with the New 52.

[madmarva]

^I think so too. If DC was going to start over, why not just clear the decks totally of past continuity, which it did with some features and others not, and start from Day 1, instead of five years in.

Then they could have retained a reduced classic line of 8 to 10 titles that kept their numbering. Action Classic and Detective Classic could have been anthology titles. I really would have liked to have bought an Action or Detective 1,000. I've been thinking about that since Action 500 came out in the late 70s.

+++++++++++++++++++++SPOILERS+++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Batman Earth One was OK, certainly not bad, but not spectacular. I liked the new Penguin, but what a waste. But then again, if there is only going to be one OGN every year or 18 months then maybe not. Too many other villains to worry about.

The steroided-up serial killer (Bane with a butcher knife) on the mayor's payroll was just too far-fetched. While I like regular Alfred, I liked this take on the character quite a bit.

To me it was unnecessary for Harvey Dent and Bruce to have known each other as kids. Johns really is great at making little bits of continuity work for him and making connections between continuity to squeeze out story ideas, but one of the main aspects of Two-Face is that he was a great DA, a legitimate, legal crimebuster, whom Batman admired before he goes bad. Having him be somewhat of a bully to Wayne as a child, really having Wayne know him at all as a child kind of blows that up. It seems like a different choice, just to make a different choice.

But hey, I really liked the art, and I'll probably buy the second one when/if it comes out.

Evidently, DC's considering Earth One Wonder Woman and Green Lantern OGNs, and if they go that far you know there will ultimately be a Earth One JLA. IF so, that might end up being what I follow.

[The Toyroom]

And Harvey Dent having a sister came outta nowhere...