Customer Reviews

Batman: Year 100

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is not a book about a millionaire's exploits as a masked vigilante. Anyone who begins this book expecting something like Dark Knight Returns or your typical Batman story is looking at the book from the wrong perspective.

What we have here is an amazing portrayal of the Batman as an ideal. A force that can't be stopped by age or oppression. It is not a story about a superhero in the public spotlight, but about a rebel operating in the shadows, trying to obtain justice without being noticed.

All these unanswered questions that people are complaining about - "who is batman?" "is it bruce wayne? how is he alive?" "where are the other super heroes?" - NONE of them matter. You're all missing the point; the "who" doesn't matter - its the idea of the Batman that is important. Did you all have this much of an issue when Mark Millar made Superman a communist?

Paul Pope's art is, as usual, amazing. Jose Villarubia's colors are perfectly suited to the environments. The writing is top-shelf - creating a true sense of realism on the part of the Batman, while still creating a fantastic futuristic setting. Pope's sketches and notes in the back show just how much thought he put into his design of the famous Batman.

This is an amazing take on the Bat-mythos from an amazingly talented creator with a true understanding of the character. Unique, visually stunning, and pure in execution. There is no reason not to own this book.

It is the future and it is not a good one. The government knows everything about everyone. Everyone except the Batman. When a Fed is killed Batman is there and suddenly the Batman is more than rumor and urban legend. He is an anomaly to the system that cannot be allowed to continue. Police Commissioner Gordon has been locked out of the murder investigation and railroaded into providing all files pertaining to the Batman. But while Gordon finds the few scraps the department has, the Batman is trying to solve the fed's murder, and the Feds are trying to corral the Batman. It all comes together in the end in a satisfying way.

This is a very interesting story. It is part Elseworlds as we have a Batman with a young Protege named Robin. He contacts Commissioner Gordon, an honest cop. Robin makes noises about becoming Nightwing. But it is also part Dark Night as events of Frank Miller's book are referred to. Finally it is canonical as it ties in to the earliest Batman stories. Somehow all three aspects are made to fit as a whole. I was not completely pleased with the art. Batman has a tendency to look Asian and his head often ends right above his eyes (no forehead). But the art has a gritty style that complements the dark nature of the future and the story being told.

My only real disappointment is that there were too many unanswered questions. There may be a sequel in the works that answers these questions. Not least of these is the idea that Batman has been around for a hundred years. The traditional Batman has no physical super powers but there must be something here like science that has kept him young and able. We will have to wait and see. Check it out.

This isn't as deep as Pope's usual work on THB or HEAVY LIQUID and the like. It is his version of Batman, and that's fun to see. A little grittier and earthier than the classic portrayal of the Dark Knight. And it's in the future so you get to see Pope's use of futuristic gadgets and plot devices, as in THB. The Paul Pope reboot of Batman.

The reviewer who said the negative reviews don't get it was exactly right.

I just had to write my own review because this deserves another 5-star rating.

The action scenes bring home Batman as a very human, yet unstoppable, fighting force.

The art took me a while to get used to, but it fits the story perfectly.

This comic makes a great comment on the mythos of Batman while grounding it in gritty realism, which is a hard balance to strike.

Paul Pope's "Batman Year 100" is brilliant. Pope re-imagines Batman's mask as the ultimate rebellion in a world devoid of privacy. His "message" is not heavy-handed, however; it fits in perfectly with Pope's re-imagining of Gotham as a Blade-Runner-esque metropolis, populated by police gangs (who have taken on the trappings of sports-teams), cyborg-dogs, teenage computer geniuses, and shadowy government operatives. Even Gordon (grandson of the commissioner) looks & dresses an awful lot like a young Harrison Ford/Rick Deckard (but w/ that trademark Gordon moustache.)
For fans of Batman comics there are sharp references to earlier works--sightings of the Batman coincide with the dates and events of previous issues & stories, and the structure of the story mirrors that of Frank Miller's Batman Year One. And Pope's re-designed Batman costume, although initially jarring, quickly becomes one of the best parts of the book.
Finally, a previous reviewer commented that the story leaves too many unanswered questions--But that's the point. In a future where everything must be known, it is an act of civil disobedience to leave questions unanswered. And so, in Year 100, demanding to know all the answers puts you on the same side as the bad guys . . . .

Set in 2039, a century after Batman first appeared this story pits Batman against a government that is out of control eager to shred every last bit of privacy. Including the true identity of certain vigilante.

Creator Paul Pope lavishes attention on Batman's costume and equipment putting real thought into what he might wear and how it might work. The sketchbook pages are a real treat and should be required reading for future Batman artists.

The story itself is fairly linear, but the storytelling is excellent. You really feel that Batman is in danger throughout.

Paul Pope really brings Batman alive in his depiction of Batman 100 years after his origin. Pope's artwork almost jumps off the page as he has a way of depicting a stunning sense of energy even in still shots with his ink brush. The feel is raw and gritty, just as Batman should be. In fact, you'll see about the coolest idea for the batmobile ever. The artwork isn't the only great thing about this graphic novel though. The story takes Batman back to his roots as a detective, which is how Batman should be portrayed--a man who also happens to be a hero. In this two-fisted story, Batman gets shot, chased by dogs and dragged through the mud as he is trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious exchange between federal agents and a known terrorist organization. If you're a real Batman fan, I definitely recommend that you give this a try.

In "batman year 100", we find batman set in the future. 40 years after "the dark knight returns" perhaps. The reason why i refer to "the dark knight returns" is because "batman year 100" is just as iconic and remarkable as "the dark knight returns." I would much rather consider this a sequel more than "the dark knight strikes again." Its gritty and the artwork is outstanding. i love how batman looks grimey and old. The addition of fangs to instill fear in his enemies was a great concept that made him even more satisfyingly morbid. i like the whole concept of a future police state where privacy is outlawed and the government is always watching you. this made batman the only unknown in the country. WE MUST FIND WHO IS BATMAN! this was a brilliant story that felt down to earth and massive at the same time. its not too futuristic as well. the best way i can describe is like this: take "batman year one" and mix it with "the dark knight returns" and you got this. the only thing is that there is no iconic villians but rather a looming doomsday plot veiled by a murder mystery. its batman back to his detective work. i love the way the author ponders over the batman mythology. is he 100? how so? is it a title that is passed down? none of these get answered but its obvious that it was to fuel the wonder and awe about the whole spectacle. maybe he is one of the bat soldiers from the end of "the dark knight returns!!" the author does acknowledge "the dark knight returns" too in one scene. If you didnt like the sequel to "the dark knight returns" check this out, its a excellent read if you want to see batman get banged up real good. i love the bike chase with the new "robin" too. he doesn't wear the corny red and green tights, he wears a batman costume also. Two batman's!!!

Being a huge Batman fan, I found this read a bit disappointing. Honestly, it didn't take much time to get into it, but towards the end, you find yourself asking a great deal of questions. Which, honestly, is usually the mark of a well written literary work. Great literature and great comic books should always leaving you pondering and leave you with questions. Mental stimulation is always a plus.

However, thats not what Batman Year 100 left me with. I was left with nagging questions in regards to the plot. Certain things just don't make sense (not talking about the slight twist at the end, although an answer to the endings question would have been kind of nice). Regardless, it was an entertaining read, but certainly not a must.

It's been over twenty years, and still to this day no one has been able to match the thunder from Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. As to why, that's open to debate... perhaps it's because when Miller took up Batman he was at his lowest point, and with nothing to lose, bet it all on black and won. Miller managed to not only push Batman forward (in both time and storytelling) but pull him back from the brink as well - like Batman does time and time again on the page, death gets but a taste, but never it's fill of Batman. And because of that, anything anyone tries with Batman tends to suffer from the echo of that thunder.

Paul Pope's BATMAN: YEAR 100 tries to have it both ways - borrowing the dystopian view from DARK KNIGHT, while lifting the origin style from BATMAN: YEAR ONE and tries to fuse them together into one book and have it, somehow, make some kind of sense... it doesn't. The story is cardboard (and often cheap), the characters are pale copies (or distant relations) of their originals (all of whom occupy the same roles or positions of power or importance within the BATMAN UNIVESE for no other reason than that's the way it's always been - luckluster and unimaginative), and while Pope tries to sell us on the mystery as to who this Batman really is - you end up not caring. It's just a tepid 24 set within the BATMAN world. You'll have a hundred questions by the time you reach the final page - but forget getting any answers, there's none to be found.

As for the art - it's a TWO FACE coin toss here - you'll either love it or hate it. I happened to have loved it. Pope really knows how to pace his action, and when Batman is on the go here - this book zips (in fact, it almost zips too fast - you'll quickly come to realize how thin the story is after you sail through all the action, only for the book to come to a dead stop when it comes to the talk), and some of his action poses for Batman are wonderful... but it doesn't save the book.

For the curious, give it a try, enjoy the art - but for the die-hard fans... we're still children of the thunder and BATMAN: YEAR 100 is just a pale shadow.