BATMAN: YEAR 100
April 19th 2009 23:36
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Batman created by Bob Kane
Publisher: DC Comics
Production Team: Paul Pope – story/artwork, Jose Villarrubia – colours, Jared K Fletcher & John Workman - letters
Cost: AU $23.63/US $19.99
If there is a flaw with this particular comic it is that there is not the clarity that one would expect in a well developed story which this has in spades but there is a degree of vagueness that seems to spoil all the good work that Mr Pope and his team have done in producing this. Perhaps I am not getting the point; there is something to that as well, sometimes our own preconceptions interfere with how we perceive a tale, preventing us from getting to the ‘truth’ of the matter, whatever it is. So what is going on the pages of this particular incarnation of the Caped Crusader? Well it seems that the story of this iconic character has been moved on into the not to distant future, but for the career of the Batman it is one hundred years since the enterprise began, the one where he attempts to clean up the mean streets of Gotham City of criminals and corruption at all levels, hence the Year 100.
Hang on I hear you say, one hundred years, Batman must be getting around in a Zimmer frame or else it’s someone else doing the work whilst he coordinates things from the shadows of stately Wayne manor. This is one of several areas where the story seems to drift into the territory of vagueness I mentioned in my opening lines. According to Captain Gordon, grandson of the late Commissioner Gordon, the Batman would have to be one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty if it’s the same person. It seems that the Caped Crusader has been operating in Gotham since 1939 and the story is set Gotham in 2039, a century later. Is it the same guy? Has he discovered the secret of eternal youth? Certainly it seems to indicate that it is the same individual but then again who knows?
The drama unfolds with the Dark Knight bolting across the rooftops of night time Gotham City with a pack of very vicious dogs chasing after him. Now these aren’t your usual run of the mill dogs, they’re heavily modified carrying cameras and other sensory applications to aid them in the tracking of ‘criminals’ and recidivists. The world into which we, the audience, are peering is a dystopian one, to borrow an overused term. Actually a better term to use would be bleak or even stagnant – still personal preferences aside this is not a place that seems to promote any degree of hope or creativity. It is the US as a police state, where a Federal Police Corps has been established to oversee law enforcement under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security. Of course the FPC are not exactly paragons of virtue and the current regime in Washington DC whom they work for seems to have very similar hall marks to that of the former Third Reich in more than just central authority. Captain Gordon speaks of how when he used to be a warden in Arkham Asylum the regime removed every single inmate in the space of one day – the implication being that they murdered every single one of them in an agenda that seems to echo the Nazi ‘Final Solution’.
Consequently the sudden appearance of Batman amidst the mean streets of an authoritarian regime in the heart of one of its major metropolises is not a good sign, at least not for the central authorities, the FPC and its bosses in Homeland Security – another Nazi like throwback if ever there was one. Does this make Batman: Year 100 something of a political manifesto? Certainly it seems to be pointing at how bad an overtly centralised regime could be to the freedoms of the US, although being published two years prior to the global financial crisis perhaps the notion of central authority and regulation being bad for all concerned is perhaps waste rhetoric, especially if you’re someone who lost money and or a home to the unregulated vagaries of financial institutions schemes and agendas. A libertarian Batman championing personal freedom and deregulation – perhaps fighting crime and fighting for the underdog is a better use of the Dark Knights energies.
Stepping down from my soapbox it seems that all is not well in this authoritarian US, this US where there are no longer any heroes, even the common ordinary everyday kind let alone masked individuals fighting against various menaces both supernatural and mundane. When Batman is captured on camera running across the rooftop from the dogs he is referred to as the last mask, as unidentified and unknowable, he is a quantity that is not wanted by the FPC and they intend to do something about him. Now we begin to get into some more murky territory with trying to work out who exactly are the villains in this little scenario. Sure Agents Tibble, Mercer and Pravdzka are the visual face of the evil but who exactly are they working for? Who are the real movers and shakers behind what is going on in this world of mistrust, double dealing and bleakness?
The answer is we don’t know, certainly there is the implication that the three FPC goons are involved in a coup d’etat conspiracy and there is a weapon known as ‘Fleshkiller’ involved, a viral agent that makes the Black Death look like a walk in the park. There is also mention of Ahmbra, though the nature of Ahmbra is never precisely revealed only hinted at – a conspiracy that seems to have its fingers in all manner of misery and vileness currently besmirching the world, kind of like reality television. But is Ahmbra involved in the conspiracy to establish a coup d’etat in the good old US of A, that is something which is never specifically revealed. It seems that Batman: Year 100 is very big on building up all kinds of conspiracies but not in showing where the heart of these conspiracies lie, almost like real life, you never quite get the full picture about events which is all very fine for the real world but frankly sucks in terms of storytelling. If anything it’s a bit of a cop out. Frankly don’t include a conspiracy as part of the story if you have no intention in letting that conspiracy be revealed in the unfolding of the drama, it just makes the tale seem rather stale and effectively reduces what might be a major plot element to mere window dressing.
The concept behind Batman: Year 100 is certainly interesting although unfortunately it is spoiled by the fact that there are all these elements that are vague and seem to have some significant bearing on events but the audience just don’t know anything about them. It’s almost as if there is some assumption of prior knowledge which is not good if you are someone who has only been exposed to the adventures of the Dark Knight for the first time via this particular work. My advice is that Batman: Year 100 should hang up the cape, dust off the boots and head for the retirement home for a well deserved rest…
Publisher: DC Comics
Production Team: Paul Pope – story/artwork, Jose Villarrubia – colours, Jared K Fletcher & John Workman - letters
Cost: AU $23.63/US $19.99
If there is a flaw with this particular comic it is that there is not the clarity that one would expect in a well developed story which this has in spades but there is a degree of vagueness that seems to spoil all the good work that Mr Pope and his team have done in producing this. Perhaps I am not getting the point; there is something to that as well, sometimes our own preconceptions interfere with how we perceive a tale, preventing us from getting to the ‘truth’ of the matter, whatever it is. So what is going on the pages of this particular incarnation of the Caped Crusader? Well it seems that the story of this iconic character has been moved on into the not to distant future, but for the career of the Batman it is one hundred years since the enterprise began, the one where he attempts to clean up the mean streets of Gotham City of criminals and corruption at all levels, hence the Year 100.
Consequently the sudden appearance of Batman amidst the mean streets of an authoritarian regime in the heart of one of its major metropolises is not a good sign, at least not for the central authorities, the FPC and its bosses in Homeland Security – another Nazi like throwback if ever there was one. Does this make Batman: Year 100 something of a political manifesto? Certainly it seems to be pointing at how bad an overtly centralised regime could be to the freedoms of the US, although being published two years prior to the global financial crisis perhaps the notion of central authority and regulation being bad for all concerned is perhaps waste rhetoric, especially if you’re someone who lost money and or a home to the unregulated vagaries of financial institutions schemes and agendas. A libertarian Batman championing personal freedom and deregulation – perhaps fighting crime and fighting for the underdog is a better use of the Dark Knights energies.
Stepping down from my soapbox it seems that all is not well in this authoritarian US, this US where there are no longer any heroes, even the common ordinary everyday kind let alone masked individuals fighting against various menaces both supernatural and mundane. When Batman is captured on camera running across the rooftop from the dogs he is referred to as the last mask, as unidentified and unknowable, he is a quantity that is not wanted by the FPC and they intend to do something about him. Now we begin to get into some more murky territory with trying to work out who exactly are the villains in this little scenario. Sure Agents Tibble, Mercer and Pravdzka are the visual face of the evil but who exactly are they working for? Who are the real movers and shakers behind what is going on in this world of mistrust, double dealing and bleakness?
The answer is we don’t know, certainly there is the implication that the three FPC goons are involved in a coup d’etat conspiracy and there is a weapon known as ‘Fleshkiller’ involved, a viral agent that makes the Black Death look like a walk in the park. There is also mention of Ahmbra, though the nature of Ahmbra is never precisely revealed only hinted at – a conspiracy that seems to have its fingers in all manner of misery and vileness currently besmirching the world, kind of like reality television. But is Ahmbra involved in the conspiracy to establish a coup d’etat in the good old US of A, that is something which is never specifically revealed. It seems that Batman: Year 100 is very big on building up all kinds of conspiracies but not in showing where the heart of these conspiracies lie, almost like real life, you never quite get the full picture about events which is all very fine for the real world but frankly sucks in terms of storytelling. If anything it’s a bit of a cop out. Frankly don’t include a conspiracy as part of the story if you have no intention in letting that conspiracy be revealed in the unfolding of the drama, it just makes the tale seem rather stale and effectively reduces what might be a major plot element to mere window dressing.
The concept behind Batman: Year 100 is certainly interesting although unfortunately it is spoiled by the fact that there are all these elements that are vague and seem to have some significant bearing on events but the audience just don’t know anything about them. It’s almost as if there is some assumption of prior knowledge which is not good if you are someone who has only been exposed to the adventures of the Dark Knight for the first time via this particular work. My advice is that Batman: Year 100 should hang up the cape, dust off the boots and head for the retirement home for a well deserved rest…
| 25 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
