Batman: Earth One is a series of American graphic novels written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Gary Frank. The series is a modernized re-imagining of DC Comics' long-running Batman comic book franchise as part of the company's Earth One imprint. Earth One's Batman exists alongside other revamped DC characters in Earth One titles, including Superman: Earth One and Wonder Woman: Earth One, as well as other graphic novels.
Batman: Earth One takes place in the alternate continuity of the Earth One universe, which features a reinterpretation of Batman's story. The characters presented are vastly different from the depiction they are usually associated with. For instance: Batman himself, who is usually depicted as a near-perfect crimefighter in the comic books, is portrayed in the novels as inexperienced and prone to mistakes, although he gains practice and becomes more competent as the volumes go by.
Announced in 2009, the Batman: Earth One series was launched with the publication of its Volume One on July 4, 2012. Volume Two was originally scheduled for release in 2013, but was postponed and debuted on May 6, 2015. Originally scheduled for a release in 2018, Volume Three had been pushed back for three years until published on June 8, 2021. The series received a positive response from both critics and readers, with Frank's artwork being singled out for praise.
Plot summary
Volume One Bruce Wayne is the eight-year-old son of Dr. Thomas Wayne, a mayoral candidate for Gotham City, and Martha Wayne ( Arkham). After receiving death threats, Thomas contacts his friend from his military service, Alfred Pennyworth, to become the head of security at Wayne Manor. During an outing with his parents, Bruce is taken hostage by a mugger. He demands that the Waynes pay a ransom for the return of their son and attempts to remove Martha's pearl necklace. Thomas tries to intervene and the criminal shoots them both in front of Bruce. Following Bruce's return to Wayne Manor, Alfred learns that he has been named as Bruce's legal guardian by the Wayne parents in the event of their absence. Alfred reluctantly agrees and presents himself to Bruce as his butler.
As a teenager, Bruce befriends his classmate, Jessica Dent, and develops a rivalry with her twin brother, Harvey. He also learns about Arkham Manor, where Martha lived as a child; her mother suffered a mental breakdown when Martha was 12 years old, murdering her husband and then committing suicide. Arkham Manor is believed to be cursed due to the actions of Martha's mother, causing all members of the Arkham bloodline to become insane. Bruce convinces Alfred to train him in various forms of martial arts and acrobatics, and also learns investigative techniques. Following this training, he discovers evidence that Mayor Oswald Cobblepot was involved in his parents' assassination.
Years later, Bruce's investigation leads him to Jacob Weaver, a police detective who was the first to arrive at the Wayne murder scene and later left the police to work in the mayor's office. Bruce dons a bat-themed costume as a disguise to frighten his parents' alleged killers. He attacks Weaver, but the grapple gun he developed malfunctions and Weaver escapes. Bruce then seeks the help of Lucius Fox, a 22-year-old intern at Wayne Medical, who agrees to repair his equipment in exchange for funding for a project to develop artificial limbs for amputees, which Fox wants to use to give his five-year-old niece a new arm.
Meanwhile, Detective James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department meets his new partner, Harvey Bullock, an experienced LAPD detective who has come to Gotham to solve the Wayne murders and revive his fading career. Following an altercation between Bruce and Cobblepot's bodyguards at a function organized by the mayor, Bruce's alter ego is named "Batman" by the press and becomes a public sensation. Cobblepot, infuriated by Batman's actions, orders one of his henchmen, a serial killer named "Birthday Boy", to kill Weaver. Batman's investigation takes him to Arkham Manor, where Birthday Boy had been placing his victims.
A chain of events leads to the kidnapping of Gordon's 17-year-old daughter, Barbara, by Axe, a petty thug working for Cobblepot. Gordon learns that Bullock is indirectly responsible for the kidnapping, since he checked out the Wayne murder files under Gordon's name, and Gordon was threatened by Cobblepot to stay out of the archives to keep him from discovering his complicity in the murders. Gordon, angry, but also terrified about what Bullock did, explains to him that he was once as fearless and resistant to Gotham's corruption as Bullock, but became afraid and compliant and lets criminals do their business so that he can protect Barbara from their wrath following his wife's death in an automobile accident, which he believes was arranged by Gotham's corrupt elite. An apologetic Bullock helps Gordon find Axe, who is violently forced to reveal Barbara's location. While she struggles against Birthday Boy, Batman, Gordon and Bullock unite in the search for her. Batman eventually intercepts Birthday Boy while Gordon rescues Barbara; Batman overpowers the serial killer, who is then arrested by Gordon and Bullock.
In a subsequent confrontation between Batman and Cobblepot, the mayor reveals his intention was for Weaver to murder Thomas, but he and his wife ran into the mugger instead. Cobblepot then prepares to kill an unmasked Bruce but is fatally shot by Alfred. Axe is arrested and Birthday Boy, whose identity is revealed as Ray Salinger, is transferred to the Crane Institute for the Criminally Insane, run by Dr. Jonathan Crane, from which Salinger originally escaped.
Barbara begins to idolize Batman, studying martial arts and criminology, and sketching potential "Batgirl" costumes. Bullock, on the other hand, is traumatized by his experiences and succumbs to alcoholism. After Cobblepot's crimes are posthumously outed, he is replaced by Jessica as the mayor of Gotham. Fox, after seeing Batman uses the grapple gun he repaired for Bruce on the news, deduces that the young billionaire is the vigilante and begins building a bat-themed arsenal for him, hoping to become a part of the action. Bruce is left disappointed by the truth behind his parents' death, but with Alfred's encouragement, decides that he will continue on to refine his new persona as Batman. The story concludes with the depiction of an enigmatic man reviewing information on Batman.
Volume Two
The events depicted in Volume Two occur six months after those of Volume One. A mysterious serial killer, who calls himself "The Riddler", is murdering people in Gotham, hoping to get Batman's attention. Elsewhere, after losing track of one of the drug dealers he fought during a car chase, Bruce has Fox (who is promoted as the Head of Wayne Enterprises' Research and Development department) build him a custom-made race car. Bullock remains traumatized over the travesties that occurred in Arkham Manor, and Gordon tries to help him to combat his alcoholism, as he needs Bullock as an ally in order to combat corruption in Gotham.
Jessica comes to Wayne Manor to visit Bruce in the hopes that, as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, he could help her find five of the remaining members of Cobblepot's criminal organization within the city's legislature. Despite Cobblepot's death, his criminal empire remains active because of these five members, corrupt officials who have taken over the city's police department, housing commission, public works, city council and the state court. Along with her brother Harvey, Jessica is desperate to find the officials in order to destroy Cobblepot's legacy once and for all. Batman seeks Gordon's help in aiding her efforts.
After bombing the city museum, the Riddler is chased by Batman. The Riddler knocks Batman out from behind, causing him to fall off a building and onto a balcony. He wakes up the next day to find himself inside the apartment of an attractive woman who has tended to his injuries. Later, Batman asks Gordon to train him in forensics and deduction, with Gordon noting that Batman has a gifted investigative mind. As they track the Riddler to the sewers, Batman encounters Waylon Jones, a benign but mutated man whom the media dubbed "Killer Croc", who is seeking refuge underground out of fear of society's discrimination over his reptilian appearance. With Jones' help, Batman discovers the Riddler's hideout, but fails to stop him from bombing a rapid transit train. Using clues, Batman deduces that the Riddler's killings were not random. He leaves Gordon an encrypted cellphone to contact him, calling it his "Bat-Signal".
Meeting with Bruce, Jessica reveals that she has known his identity as Batman since her visit to Wayne Manor; both also declare their love for each other. With new information from Gordon, Bruce discovers the Riddler is targeting the people who Jessica and Harvey are trying to find. He is later accused of being the Riddler after the real Riddler frames him in an attempt to divert Gordon's investigation, but Jessica is able to provide Bruce an alibi so that he is not arrested. During a riot at the police precinct caused by the Riddler, Cobblepot's former henchman Sal Maroni fatally stabs Harvey and disfigures the right side of his face with a Molotov cocktail before he dies. Jessica, in her grief, scars the left side of her face by pressing it against Harvey's burns in order to match her face with his. After chasing the Riddler through the city, Batman subdues the killer with Jones' assistance.
After he is cleared of all charges, Bruce generously writes a check to help the police department rebuild their precinct. Bullock begins to recover from his alcoholism. Batman offers Jones a place in Wayne Manor, seeking his help in finding a location to hide his "Batmobile". After Gordon arrests Christopher Black, a police captain who was one of Cobblepot's lieutenants, he is promoted to captain. Upon visiting her at the hospital, Bruce discovers that the trauma of Harvey's death has caused Jessica to develop a split personality based on Harvey's. In the epilogue, Bruce discovers through a phone call with Alfred that the attractive woman he met earlier as Batman is not the apartment's resident, but actually a cat burglar who was robbing the building at the time.
Volume Three
The events depicted in Volume Three occur one month after those of Volume Two. In Maine, a police officer sees that an abandoned psychiatric hospital has been broken into. Inside, he finds a delusional elderly man who attacks him, yelling for his daughter Martha.
Bruce, Alfred and Jones find an old subterranean subway station that connects Wayne and Arkham Manors to the rest of Gotham. Bruce plans to use the location both as a bunker to hide the Batmobile and as a safehouse to expand his operation as Batman. Suddenly, Gordon calls to alert him of criminals with military-grade weapons. Batman stops them, with the last gunman incapacitated by the cat-burglar he met a month earlier, who escapes with the criminals' stolen money. Jessica – wearing a mask – is escorted by Bruce to a press conference where she opens a homeless shelter named after Harvey. During the conference, Bruce and Alfred are called to the Gotham Mental Hospital, where they learn that the elderly man from the prologue is actually Adrian Arkham, Bruce's maternal grandfather. Skeptical that his grandfather might be alive, Bruce takes Adrian to Wayne Manor.