Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780930289492
ISBN number: 0930289498
Label: DC Comics
Manufacturer: DC Comics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 104
Printing Date: 1990-01
Publishing house: DC Comics
Sale Popularity Level: 121745
Studio: DC Comics
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Rated by buyers 
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I give one star for Todd's artwork, but this comic stinks. Maybe it's unfair to compare this with Frank Miller's brilliant Year One. So I won't. All things being equal, this is just a bad comic. For some reason they seek to answer the question: why doesn't Batman use guns? The answer: who cares? This is just a series of bad ideas wrapping up with an ending that makes you wonder why you bothered with this in the very first place. One of the worst Batman books I've read.
Rated by buyers 
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A tale where the interest is in the unmasking of the antagonist, who is of the Foolkiller variety. Batman, a little bit further into his career than in Year One (naturally) is up against an extremely formidable opponent, and he must find out his secret before it is too late. Otherwise, death will result, and quite possibly his own.
Rated by buyers 
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First, this is the standard info that I would be hard pressed to give any graphic novel five stars as those are reserved for books by people like Hemmingway, Twain, Fitzgerald, ect.
With that said, I will agree with other reviewers that you cannot call something Batman Year Two and not get comparisons to Batman Year One. This does not compare. The Reaper story is decent though and I will give kudos to the artwork; however there are a lot of negatives.
First, and foremost, Batman uses a gun. I don't know how DC approved this. It is totally against Batman.
Second, the demise of Joe Chill would just seem to detract from the entire Batman psyche as to why he is out night after night. However, the combination of this, along with a love interest, does have a good tone in that if things may have ended differently, Batman would have ended being Batman right there and been in love. So, that adds to the Batman mystic. I mean if Joe Chill is dead, and Bruce Wayne is in love, so early in the Batman crusade, does Batman just fade away and Bruce Wayne take back his life?
The origins of the Reaper are similar to Batman. The Reaper is just a more violent vigilante than Batman and the line as to what is helping v. fighting crime is much different. I wish we knew more about how the Reaper became so powerful.
I may be a bit hard with only two stars, but it isn't like a Miller story (four stars), and the story itself is not as good as something like Dark Victory (three stars) and there isn't as much Batman significance like the Killing Joke. So, it was hard to place.
Rated by buyers -
Let me start off by saying, Year Two was not high on my list of must read Batman novels. But at this point I've read a fair share of them, and I eventually got around to it. It will never be considered one of the great groundbreaking Batman storylines, but that's not to say that it is unreadable.
What enticed me to read this was the fact that Mask of the Phantasm, one of the best Batman movies ever made, is loosely based on this. I believe MOTP not only improves upon this story in many ways, but helps me appreciate Phantasm even more for adding a better twist and a well executed finale.
The worst part about Year Two is Batman carries a gun. When I opened it up for the very first time and I saw on the inside cover an illustration of him wearing a gun holster, it really threw me off. I don't think the way they rationalized it either (the Reaper utilizes a gun, so I'll fight him with his own weapon) was very convincing. It made Batman feel very out of character for a lot of it. And I won't even bother telling you who Bats teams up with and how much that bothered me.
Overall, not the worst, but it will never stand shoulder to shoulder with Year One, The Long Halloween, Dark Knight Returns, or any of the other defining Batman stories we've come to admire over the years.
Rated by buyers -
While the Batman: Year Two storyline from 1987 is not tied to Batman: Year One in any way other than chronologically, it is hard not to compare it to Year One. Released earlier that year, Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's Year One storyline was nothing short of a masterpiece, and redefined the origin of the Batman. Following in those footsteps could not have been easy for the folks behind Year Two.
Writer Mike Barr crafts a tale in which a young Batman encounters the Reaper, a vigilante killer who terrorized Gotham's criminals decades earlier. Meanwhile Bruce Wayne begins a romantic relationship with a woman who turns out to be the Reaper's daughter. In his quest to end the Reaper's comeback, Batman chooses to work with the mafia, who assign one of their top hitmen to work with Batman. The man is none other than Joe Chill, the mugger who killed Bruce Wayne's parents!
There's enough going for the story that it could have been a real winner. Unfortunately the handling is a bit sloppy. The dialogue is over the top at times, even by comic book standards, and coming so soon after Year One, Batman fans couldn't help but expect better. There are also some plot points that defy logic. Batman resorting to using the very gun that killed his parents is perhaps believable, but to do so after a single loss to the Reaper? Is Batman that much of a quitter? Since when does a single loss make the most driven character in all of comics take the easy way out? Bruce Wayne's sudden willingness to abandon his war on crime in favor of marriage to a woman he just met also stretches belief.
The artwork is better than average, and helps redeem Year Two somewhat. The very first part was drawn by Alan Davis, who would go on to successful runs on Excalibur and Uncanny X-Men. The final three issues feature artwork from a young Todd McFarlane. Remember way back when he used to draw comic books? His work here isn't as good as his later Spider-Man work, but it is still pretty dynamic, particularly when it comes to Batman and the Reaper's huge flowing capes. Unfortunately his pencils were hampered by sub-par inking until the final issue, when he inked his own work. Still, when compared to David Mazzuchelli's unique take on Batman and Gotham City, both artists fall short.
In 1991, Barr and Davis revisited the Year Two storyline in a prestige format one-shot called Full Circle, which is also included in this trade paperback. The story took a look at the legacy left by the events of Year Two. It suffered from many of the same weaknesses as the original story, but Alan Davis's more mature artwork was a big improvement.
On its own merits, Batman: Year Two is a decent Batman story. The problem is that it brings to mind Batman: Year One, which is superior in every possible way.
NOTE: While Year Two was something of a disappointment, some of the better elements of the story were incorporated into the excellent animated movie Batman - Mask of the Phantasm (Keepcase).
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