Batman: Year One - Part 1

[history79]

The A.V. Club: So you actually consciously set out to change things in the comics industry?

Frank Miller: Well, I set out to remark upon them. And seeing how all these heroes had been castrated since the 1950s, and just how pointless they seemed to be... In this perfect world of comic books, which was what it was back then, why would people dress up in tights to fight crime?

The A.V. Club: Because there wasn't anything bad enough going on back then to justify that extremism?

Frank Miller: It was just a bunch of goofy villains. It was 1985 when I started working on this, and I thought, "What kind of world would be scary enough for Batman?" And I looked out my window.

Comments

[jeremyp]

I appreciate that the Wayne Foundation has often been presented as a huge charitable organization in the city.

I think it is really just my issue - at some point, the idea of superheroes, especially nonpowered or low powered superheroes, fighting street crime just stopped making sense to me - it seems like such an impractical approach.

I seem to remember a Spider Man comic where he is teaching younger characters about going on "patrol", and they point out all the flaws in that approach, which I thought was entertaining.

Of course, that's really my problem, not the comics, since it has long been a staple of the superhero genre!

[silverhammerman]

I remember that scene being posted here, and I actually found it a little annoying because it's nitpicking something which is, as you said, a staple of the superhero genre. And honestly I prefer seeing (certain) superheroes out on patrol taking on semi-real problems or thinly veiled allegories to the alternative that we've seen in recent years, of having all the superpeople only ever hang out, interact, or fight with other superpeople, which sets up a creepy little elitist community that plays by its own rules.

I'd actually disagree with your point about more street level superheroes, because as the most recent Mighty Avengers series argued, what else are they going to do? Sure a character like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne can help through financial and other means (and are frequently shown doing so) but for characters who are just sorta tough and/or good at punching things, their skills aren't really useful for anything other than punching things, so they might as well just punch the people who deserve it.

[laughing_tree]

Interestingly, I believe Spider-Man under Stan Lee pretty much never went on patrol. He'd always just be minding his own business until he heard of a situation on the news or a situation erupted right in front of him, or he'd swing around to blow off steam or because he had a specific goal. Folks like Tom Brevoort have talked about how it always feels somehow off when Spider-Man is seen genuinely just swinging around looking for crime, like there's something about that doesn't quite fit the character.

[janegray]

To be fair, superheroes don't just fight "street crime," they also fight insanely dangerous supervillains that cops can't deal with.

Heck, in their first confrontation Joker was about to poison Gotham's water supply. Wayne Foundation can't help the city if everybody is dead.

[jeremyp]

I totally agree that when super villians are introduced, super heroes make more sense.The interesting thing for me is that, usually, Bruce Wayne's decision to become batman isn't about super villians, its a response to his parents being killed in a random murder. So he wasn't thinking "I need all this training and equipment to fight super villians." He was thinking he needed it to address street crime. This story follows that same idea - he's not thinking about fighting super villians, he's just  walking around beating up criminals.  Of course, it leads to stories that people enjoy reading, but it always seems odd to me.