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DC Comics announces 'Batman: Zero Year'

By

Chris Begley

·

on DC Comics announces 'Batman: Zero Year'
Greg Capullo’s cover for BATMAN #21, courtesy of DC Entertainment.


With "Death of the Family" wrapping up last month, fans have been wondering what the next big Batman event would be. Today, DC Comics has the answer. Batman: Zero Year is an 11-issue arc that chronicles the untold details of the Dark Knight’s origin story within The New 52. Check out the full press release below for all the details.

For months now, fans have wondered what the next big BATMAN event following the acclaimed “Death of the Family” would be.

This morning, DC Comics answered their question. Kicking off this spring, BATMAN: ZERO YEAR is an epic and grand 11-issue arc that chronicles the untold details of the Dark Knight’s origin story within DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.

“It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin.’ It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in the New 52,” series writer Scott Snyder explained. “We tried to preserve as much of Batman’s history as we could and keep what we could of this history intact. It’s ‘The Zero Year,’ the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain … It’s time for a new story showing how Batman became who he is in The New 52. It builds up the mythology.”

Illustrated by series artist Greg Capullo, BATMAN: ZERO YEAR begins in June’s BATMAN #21. For more information, please visit DC Comics’ official blog, THE SOURCE.

Greg Capullo's cover for BATMAN #21 (above), courtesy of DC Entertainment.

This is an archive of Batman-News.com from 2010 to 2025. For the latest news, check out BatmanNews.com

33 comments

  1. AgustinRodriguez Avatar
    AgustinRodriguez

    Count me excited.

  2. lethargicj Avatar
    lethargicj

    I always love when they claim "we're doing a story nobody has done before" when in fact it's been done a dozen times. haha

    I'm pretty sure Scott Snyder is a masochist. He invites the comparison to Death in the Family in one arc and the next arc he invites comparisons to Batman Year One. Come on, even if it's good, you're not going to win that war. BYO is in our DNA at this point.

    1. Benjamin Avery Avatar
      Benjamin Avery

      Scott Snyder has made the strong point in every interview that it is not a retelling of year one, but what happens after year one, which us bat fans have never gotten before. I for one and extremely excited for it. It's going to fill in all the gaps of what happened after year one.

      1. lethargicj Avatar
        lethargicj

        Sure we have. The original Legends of the Dark Knight series covered that ground. Some of those early stories were completely meant to be the continuation of Year One. Matt Wagner's Monster Men and Mad Monk series covered Batman's first dealings with super villains. And then there's Batman Year Two and Year Three. There's literally dozens of books that deal with this stuff.

        1. guest Avatar
          guest

          But in these stories he is telling the origin of batman, his fight with the red hood gang and also the first fight with riddler which was never told before

  3. The Red Hood Avatar
    The Red Hood

    This sounds pretty interesting and I look forward to it. But it does make me wonder what happened to the Riddler arc he's been talking about.

    1. Red Robin...Yum Avatar
      Red Robin...Yum

      I've been wondering the same thing. Maybe he's only doing a quick Riddler arc in between? Because I really want a Riddler arc

      1. Drew Douglas Avatar
        Drew Douglas

        Just saw an interview with Scott. He said Riddler was in it a lot and other villains as well.

        1. Red Robin...Yum Avatar
          Red Robin...Yum

          So does that mean that Riddler showed up early in Batman's career? Because I always felt that he should show up later in Batman's career because he sees that Batman is the only one that can challenge him mentally. Idk I just hope they treat the Riddler well because I really want a good Riddler arc.

          1. Drew Douglas Avatar
            Drew Douglas

            I have no idea. I guess we'll find out. I've been looking forward to his arc since I first heard about it at the beginning of Death of the Family. Riddler is my top Batman villain so I'm hoping it's good as well.

            The short two-issue Clayface arc should be fun next month.

    2. Benjamin Avery Avatar
      Benjamin Avery

      I'm pretty sure that batman zero year IS going to be the riddler arc, even though he won't give any information on it.

  4. Atsarnecky Avatar
    Atsarnecky

    Sounds like Andrew is sorta getting what he wants. This should be a good opportunity to explore Batman's training. Still not really a replacement for Year One, since it's Zero Year. Still exciting though.

  5. Drew Douglas Avatar
    Drew Douglas

    If this isn't a Riddler arc, I'm going to be so disappointed.

  6. Ratman Avatar
    Ratman

    This is awesome. Really excited. Scott Snyder FTW!

  7. Emperor Joker Avatar
    Emperor Joker

    makes me wonder if riddler will be the main villain of the tail or if that entire plot line has been scrapped

  8. Emperor Joker Avatar
    Emperor Joker

    Also what's Snyder's obsession with 11 issue runs?

  9. Daniel Avatar
    Daniel

    I am excited but I also am not the biggest fan of Year one... sorry I know I own both the graphic novel and film and have read the graphic novel a few times and I still just don't enjoy it that much.

  10. Nick Gonzalez Avatar
    Nick Gonzalez

    I really hope this ends up focusing the events the surround Year One. Training after his parent's death, creation of the cave. Things of that nature, like he said. But my biggest hope is that they stay away from things established in Year One. It'd be a waste of time and I'm assuming it won't be very well received.

  11. jarod Avatar
    jarod

    Can I just say I'm a bit over this continual hype around a big massive event. Give or take the New 52 "events" have been duds and ineffectual (aside from the occasional outstanding issue). This could be good but I don't have a lot of faith anymore in Snyder's over arching stories.

  12. Josh Avatar
    Josh

    I'm scared. Don't get me wrong, I love everything snyder has written so far (DOTF, Court of Owls, Black Mirror, his non-bat series American vampire), but I'm not sure if I can trust scott snyder to do this. Year 1 was THE story that got me into batman. The most beautiful moment in comics to me was the bat flying as a symbol of fear and Bruce finally accepting help by ringing the bell. I see a lot of potential, but I also see things that could go wrong. But maybe I'm being too harsh. There's a part in court of owls that confirms the events in year 1 canon in the new 52, and snyder said his favorite batman stories were Frank Miller's work. I also admit, as nervous as I am for this, I'm also excited

  13. Dalla Avatar
    Dalla

    "We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his first super villain"

    Yep, never seen ANY of these things before. Also super excited that we are going to have to endure 11 issues of this nonsense. What was the point of doing the zero issues? We had how many of them for Batman? Ugh.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    I want to be excited about this story arc...but the past two story arcs that Snyder has done have been okay. Court of Owls was really good till a certain point. The Death in the Family story arc was a major let down to me. It is also sad that Grant Morrison trumps The Death in the Family story arc with the recent death of Damian. I personal felt it was a little unfair and selfish on Morrison's part...he basically said screw the new 52 and I'll continue my story from the old continuity. Which to me, results in Damian's death overshadowing the events of The Death in the Family. Not a nice way to play with others Morrison.

    As certain people have stated in previous comments...It is also interesting that certain writers claim this hasn't been done before...when the reality is it has been done before...several times over and over. Snyder is a great writer for Batman and has done some interesting things with the characters. He has a great way of getting into the psychological aspects of Batman and pushing his boundaries and limits. But, to claim this will be new...not likely...there have been several stories told that have shown Batman and how he came to be who he his today. There have been comments regarding Batman Year One and how this will work together...I'm sorry but I'm not buying that either.

    What could have been interesting is the story with the Riddler. There hasn't been a great Riddler story since Hush. I'll keep my fingers crossed for this one.

    All in all the new 52 has started to become the one trick pony...what seemed like a great idea has turned into a huge mess with continuity and disappointing story arcs. There have been some great books that have come out of the new 52...Swamp Thing and Animal being two of the best in my opinion. Surprisingly Aquaman has been awesome too...with the recent Throne of Atlantis been great! It would not surprise me if DC hits the reset button again... in a year or so. Which in turn can lead writers to believe that they have something new and different to say about characters.

  15. Andrew Hegele Avatar
    Andrew Hegele

    i'm exited for anything when Snyder, Capullo and Batman are together but this is getting a bit odd. First it's a take on Death in the Family with Death of the Family, now it's a take on Year One with Zero Year...

    What's next? A take on Long Halloween called "The Extended All Hallows Eve"?

    Also, when DC resorts to restarting Batman with issue 1, followed by issue 0, THEN Zero Year all within two years of each other, you know they are getting a bit desperate.

    1. AndrewBatReview Avatar
      AndrewBatReview

      The titles of these last two arcs are kind of annoying, you're right. For the first few months of the recent Joker story I was always confusing "Death in" with "Death of" and now with this new arc I know I'm going to accidentally call it "Year Zero" instead of "Zero Year"

      And the Long Halloween joke you made cracked me up. Thanks for that!

  16. Michael John Petty Avatar
    Michael John Petty

    Very excited about Zero Year actually. I'm glad that Year One is still (kinda) continuity, but I love Snyder so much that I am happy to see his take on Bruce's first year or so as Batman, and obviously some of his training to become Gotham's Dark Knight Detective.

  17. Javon Cooper Avatar
    Javon Cooper

    Hmmmmmm.... They need to first finish the earth one arch and then give us ZERO. And another origin story of how he became the dark knight is getting alittle old.

  18. Javon Cooper Avatar
    Javon Cooper

    CATWOMAN AND THE Riddler ARCH OR REMEMBER THAT NINJA HERE TRAINED WITH, THAT ALWAYS WANTED TO BE BETTER THEN HM. ;)

  19. Javon Cooper Avatar
    Javon Cooper

    I'm really excited about this !!!! # SUPER PUMPED!!! BATMAN FOREVER .. I think that he should only touch basics with past characters in year one, only as seen how they got to their present future in year one. .. Catwoman much younger as she was featured in year one. Crime families on the rise. I say he should do a early version of the riddler as wel. And the cave being built and blah blah everything will be ok ..I have strong hope he will deliver !!

  20. Gavin Cross Avatar
    Gavin Cross

    Pretty excited for sure. I mean, do I really want a flashback immediately after the events of requiem? Probably not. But for fans coming on 10 years from now, it'll be good to have Batman's origin told fairly early on in New 52.

    By the way, you have the best Batman blog around. Congrats on that. Any way to subscribe via email instead of rss?

    http://www.dustonthepiano.com (Blaine is obsessed with Batman)

    1. BatmanNewsChris Avatar
      BatmanNewsChris

      Thanks! Unfortunately there isn't a way to subscribe to new posts via email. You could follow @BatmanNewsCom on Twitter for every post, or @AndrewBatReview for just the comic related stuff. Or just set Batman-News.com as your homepage and visit every day! :)

  21. John Meddle Avatar
    John Meddle

    I'm very excited for this. Sure it was good (at the time) but I think Year One sucked because we hardly got any insight of Batman or truly see how everything began. I can't wait.

  22. Javon Cooper Avatar
    Javon Cooper

    I really want a young catwoman In here. Just another glimpse into her as a villain , along with others in the mix would be awesome. But at the same time, that would make her 17 to his 27. Or something like that, I say joker

    1. Javon Cooper Avatar
      Javon Cooper

      Riddler, catwoman combo.

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This is an archive of Batman-News.com from 2010 to 2025. For the latest news, check out BatmanNews.com