Paul Pope is a stunning artist. Batman: Year 100 is a stunning work. It really is a shame that Frank Miller already did a story about Batman showing up in the future after not being around for awhile, and did it well, because for as amazing as Year 100 is, it always has to live with the thoughts of Dark Knight Returns flickering in the back of our minds, which is really a shame because Year 100 deserves to stand alone as a remarkable comic work. However, it may still be the best Batman comic SINCE Dark Knight Returns' follow-up (and the name inspiration for Year 100), Batman: Year One, so that's something going for it, no?
As a quick aside, to BE the "best Batman comic since Year One," exactly what would Pope's competition be? I don't want to appear to be damning with faint praise, as I highly enjoyed the comic book. It's better than Grant/Breyfogle, Dark Knight Srikes Again, Moench/Jones, Rucka's run, Brubaker's run, Milligan's run, Gotham by Gaslight and I think even Mad Love, but I could see someone making a good case for Mad Love being better...so maybe it's not better than Mad Love, but that's not an insult...am I missing anything of note?
I don't believe so. On, though, to the comic itself!
The basic gist of the comic, the "high concept," as it were, is as follows: It is the year 2039 (one hundred years since Batman was created, wink wink nudge nudge), and technology is so pervasive that nothing is unknown by the government...nothing except for this mysterious "Batman" who has sprung out of seemingly nothingness. Now, a federal agent is dead, and this "Batman" is wanted for the crime. James Gordon (you-know-who's grandson) tries to maintain order in Gotham and find the REAL killer, while the feds are just obsessed with finding this Batman, and why he can exist off the screen.
That's the great high concept that forms the basis of the comic, and it is going to be quite a thrill watching it all unfold over the next three issues.
Pope, along with coloring visionary Jose Villarrubia, create a staggering world of the future, where technology is everywhere, yet, rather than being a gleamy Epcot Center-esque look, Gotham City looks even grungier than ever. Blade Runner would be the closest comparison, but I think Pope does a great job of making it look even more realistic than that. Basically the worst case scenario of what our actual world will look like in thirty-three years.
And inside this dystopian future landscape, Pope populates the world with characters familiar to anyone who has ever read any of Pope's previous works. Characters of real flesh and blood, whose very "realness" leaps out from the pages. It is when Pope uses this take on the very UNreal Batman that the work really leaps from the pages. Imagine Batman's feats in the real world - that is what Pope achieves here, and it's every bit as amazing as you would think if you saw a man leap from one rooftop to another, or any one of the feats achieved in this issue.
It's awfully good fun watching the government freak out over the sheer impossibility of what is going on in the comic (especially the agent who takes a bathroom break to compose himself - classic). At the same time, Pope introduces new characters who we will learn more about in the future, and rightfully so, as they are intriguing. Like the mother and daughter who care for Batman and the top agent sent to track him down.
Year 100 is impressive.
You should give it a try.Read More