Spotlight on the Graphic Novels That Inspired the New Batman Movie

The Batman movie art

The Batman is now in theaters, and while it probably won’t be quite the box office sensation Spider-Man No Way Home was despite releasing at the (hopefully) tail-end of the pandemic, it’s still a massive release.

Wouldn’t you know it? Many of the plot points and set pieces featured in the film can be found in graphic novels Forbidden Planet NYC has in stock! Shocking. I know.

Batman Graphic Novel Spotlight Forbidden Planet NYC

Here’s a look at some of them….

Batman Year- One TP 9781401207526Batman Year One TP In 1986, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli produced this groundbreaking reinterpretation of the origin of Batman–who he is, and how he came to be. Sometimes careless and naive, this Dark Knight is far from the flawless vigilante he is today.

In his first year on the job, Batman feels his way around a Gotham City far darker than the one he left. His solemn vow to extinguish the town’s criminal element is only half the battle; along with Lieutenant James Gordon, the Dark Knight must also fight a police force more corrupt than the scum in the streets.

Batman: Year One stands next to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns on the mantle of greatest Batman graphic novels of all time. Timeless in its appeal, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece would stand apart from the crowded comics field even today.

Written shortly after THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, Miller’s dystopian fable of Batman’s final days, Year One set the stage for a new vision of a legendary character. This edition includes the complete graphic novel, a new introduction by writer Frank Miller and a new illustrated afterword by artist David Mazzucchelli. Completing this collection are over 40 pages of never-before-seen developmental material such as character and layout sketches, sample script pages, sketches, and more that pro-vide a glimpse into the making of this contemporary classic. This volume collects Batman #404-407.

Batman Ego and Other Tails TP – By Darwyn Cooke, Paul Grist and Tim Sale. Collects the late Darwyn Cooke’s greatest Batman stories and includes the complete epics Batman: Ego and Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score, plus tales from Batman Gotham Knights #23 and 33 and Solo #1 and 5.

Batman The Long Halloween TP Tim Sale Jeph LoebBatman The Long Halloween TP – Speaking of Tim Sale…

Christmas. St. Patrick’s Day. Easter. As the calendar’s days stack up, so do the bodies littered in the streets of Gotham City. A murderer is loose, killing only on holidays. The only man that can stop this fiend? The Dark Knight. In a mystery taking place during Batman’s early days of crime fighting, Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the greatest Dark Knight stories ever told.

Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman’s deadly enemy, Two-Face.

The magnificent creative team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale reach their apex in Batman: The Long Halloween. This edition includes original 13-issue series as well as four additional story pages cut from the original series, which are presented fully colored and restored to their place in the story. Also featured are sketches and an introduction by the director and writer of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan and David Goyer.

Batman Dark Victory TPBatman Dark Victory TP – And once you’re on a Jeph Loeb/Tima Sale kick…

Collecting Batman Dark Victory #0-13, this epic continues the story of The Long Halloween. It is early in Batman’s crime-fighting career, when James Gordon, Harvey Dent, and the vigilante himself were all just beginning their roles as Gotham’s protectors. Once a town controlled by organized crime, Gotham City suddenly finds itself being run by lawless freaks, such as Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and the Joker. Witnessing his city’s dark evolution, the Dark Knight completes his transformation into the city’s greatest defender. He faces multiple threats, including the seeming return of a serial killer called Holiday. Who is committing Holiday’s crimes this time? And how many will die before Batman learns the truth?

Batman Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary FrankBatman Earth One TP – And if you’re feeling super gritty…

Batman is not a hero. He is just a man. Fallible, vulnerable, and angry.

In a Gotham City where friend and foe are indistinguishable, Bruce Wayne’s path toward becoming the Dark Knight is riddled with more obstacles than ever before. Focused on punishing his parents’ true killers, and the corrupt police that allowed them to go free, Bruce Wayne’s thirst for vengeance fuels his mad crusade and no one, not even Alfred, can stop him.

In the tradition of the #1 New York Times bestselling Superman: Earth One, writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank re-imagine a new mythology for the Dark Knight, where the familiar is no longer the expected in this long-awaited original graphic novel from DC Comics.

These are all currently available in-store or for domestic mail order (FREE shipping on orders over $50 as of this writing).

See you around the shop.

About Jeff Ayers 584 Articles
Jeff Ayers is a NYC native and the General Manager of Forbidden Planet where he has worked since 1995. Email links, stories, news, tips, gossip, secrets of the universe to: jeff@fpnyc.com Follow him on Twitter (@jeffayers and @fpnyc) or find him on Facebook using the link below.

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