Batman: Year 100

AUTHOR: Pope, Paul

ARTIST: Paul Pope (illustrator); José Villarrubia (colorist and cover artist); Jared K. Fletcher (letterer); John Workman (letterer)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2006

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2007

Publication History

Before beginning Batman: Year 100, author and artist Paul Pope worked on a number of mainstream and independent comics, winning an Eisner Award for his Batman and Robin story “Teenage Sidekick” (2005) in DC Comics’ Solo. Designed as a miniseries, Year 100 was originally published in four volumes between February and May of 2006. The volumes also featured Gotham police and news media reports regarding “Bat-Man” sightings and activities, giving the reader a glimpse into the dystopian, police-state Gotham of 2039. The collected paperback edition reproduces these reports, along with the original covers and a section entitled “The Making of Batman: Year 100.” This afterword of sorts contains commentary and sketches by Pope, as well as an early letter regarding Batman’s character and build sent to editor Bob Shreck. In addition, the paperback edition includes Pope’s first Batman story—also his first work in mainstream comics—entitled “Berlin Batman,” originally published in 1997 in issue 11 of The Batman Chronicles.

Plot

Set in the Gotham City of the year 2039, Batman: Year 100 is a science-fiction superhero tale that takes place one hundred years after Batman’s first appearance in 1939’s Detective Comics 27. The book opens with a full-page spread of a severely wounded Batman running on a rooftop, pursued by a pack of growling rottweilers. Using both airships and ground units, squads of the Federal Police Corps (FPC) pursue the “batlike” suspect.

The scene shifts to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where the events in Gotham are monitored through cameras installed in the dogs’ retinas. The agent in charge, Pravdzka, learns that a federal agent has been killed and is highly distressed by the sightings of a “Bat-Man.” He orders Agent Tibble to take over operations in Gotham. Meanwhile, Captain Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) tries to access the murder scene but is turned away by the federal agents. After learning of the murder from Gordon, coroner Dr. Goss receives a call from the bleeding Batman, asking her to meet him at a safe house. Goss and her daughter, Tora, rush to save Batman and find him unconscious on the floor, having suffered a gunshot wound.

Gordon is interrogated by Tibble about his knowledge of Batman but claims he has never heard of him. Ordered to search through the GCPD archives for any mention of Batman, Gordon discovers that the little data gathered on Batman over the last one hundred years point mysteriously to a single suspect sharing the same handwriting and voice signature. Meanwhile, Batman wakes up in the safe house with Robin and Tora after a twelve-hour recovery. Batman proceeds to meditate blindfolded, in an effort to remember the previous night’s events. He recalls seeing an impostor dressed as an FPC officer being murdered and remembers being shot at close range, but he does not remember his assailant’s face. Batman decides he will need to inspect the victim’s body, but only after eating a couple of steaks.

Irked by Tibble’s intrusions, Gordon pretends he has found nothing in the archives in an effort to buy time. Illegally accessing the crime scene, Gordon finds a hidden copy of the security footage, confirming that Batman is innocent of the murder. Meanwhile, Batman heads to FPC headquarters to inspect the victim’s body. Guided by Tora and Robin through his earpiece, Batman successfully sneaks into the morgue, discovering a suspicious porcelain tooth in the victim’s mouth. He secures the evidence but is spotted by a guard squad and must fight his way out.

Suddenly, Robin and Tora inform Batman that the FPC has a sample of his DNA. Batman subsequently destroys all the DNA samples, only to be interrupted by the telepathic Agent Mercer, who uses mind control to force Batman to reveal his secret identity. “I’m Batman” is the only answer Mercer can get before Batman escapes on his motorcycle. Back at the safe house, Robin, Tora, and Batman examine the extracted tooth, which is actually a sophisticated organic processor with an encrypted code containing a biochemical recipe for a vicious doomsday virus called “fleshkiller.”

Gordon travels upstate to his grandfather’s old cabin, hoping to find information about Batman. He confirms that his grandfather, the original Commissioner James Gordon, knew Batman and wonders why Batman did not age as his grandfather did. Opening an old laptop and using the password “Bruce Wayne,” Gordon gains access to the secret Batman file.

Meanwhile, Batman deduces that this cover-up has the makings of a military coup, likely spearheaded by Pravdzka. With Gordon’s help, Batman and company devise a plan to expose the plot. When Pravzdka, Tibble, and Mercer meet, presumably to hand over the Batman file, Batman intervenes just in time to save Gordon and foil the conspiracy. Tora broadcasts the fleshkiller formula—complete with antidote—on the Internet, and the reader learns that Mercer is actually the one responsible for the murder and for clouding Batman’s memories of the event.

After securing the conspirators, Gordon gives Batman the only copy of his secret file, mysteriously calling him “Bruce.” Batman—who may somehow still be Bruce Wayne—retreats into the night.

Characters

•Batman, the protagonist, is a mysterious man endowed with fantastic physical and mental abilities, agility, strength, and ingenuity. Living “off the grid” underneath and above Gotham City, he is appropriately skilled in theatricality and deception.

•Agent Pravdzka, the main antagonist, is the face and commander of the Federal Police Corps. He always wears a pink flower on his suit lapel. A ruthless agent of the state, Pravdzka was a true believer from a young age, allowing him to climb the ranks early and assume a commanding role.

•Agent Tibble is the tall, belligerent leader of the Wolves, the elite squad of the FPC. This intimidating Texan gets the information he needs through blackmail and brute force.

•Doctor Goss is the blond, middle-aged coroner for the GCPD and, secretly, a longtime close associate of Batman. Her connections and medical skills are instrumental to Batman’s survival and to the success of their missions.

•Tora is Dr. Goss’s incredibly reliable teenage daughter. A technology whiz, she assists Batman with her computer skills and code breaking.

•James Gordon is a gray-haired, thickly mustached captain in the GCPD and the grandson of the original Commissioner Gordon. Early in his career, he was the warden of Arkham Asylum.

•Agent Mercer, a telepath and Pravdzka’s second in command, is a major conspirator in the criminal plot Batman uncovers. He possesses both mind-reading and mind-control powers, which he uses to try to stage a military coup by unleashing the fleshkiller virus in order to make himself leader.

•Robin is a young, dark-featured man who was raised by Batman after being orphaned. Batman’s sidekick, he is a gifted mechanic and prone to glibness.

Artistic Style

Paul Pope’s art style is known for its blend of influences. The art in Year 100 is unlike that of most American superhero comics, possessing a more European adventure bande dessinée feel, combined with a dash of manga. There is an eerie, almost elastic, looseness to the brushstrokes and a dearth of perfect straight lines—even the buildings sometimes seem to bend or warp—that reflect the rough, dirty, and corrupt Gotham environment. With their similar palette, minimal saturation, and gritty tone, José Villarrubia’s colors are reminiscent of Batman: Year One (1987). Pope makes liberal use of sound effects and elides thought balloons and captions, contributing to the overall realism.

Pope draws a Batman different from any seen before. At times, Pope makes him look almost awkward, like a freak of nature, but he is also depicted with more athleticism and flexibility than are usually associated with him. During his raid on the FPC headquarters, Batman looks like a mad gymnast, a perception emphasized by his hanging upside down, wearing gnarly prosthetic vampire teeth.

Pope’s Batman is lean, lanky, and weary but also rugged and strong, like an animal. In between battles, he seems to lead a messy, grungy lifestyle reminiscent of a slacker or squatter, with dirty plates and clothes lying around. Significantly, only the Batman uniform that sits on a couch arm is neatly folded. When wearing the detailed, refreshingly realistic Batman costume, his muscles are taut, giving him an abnormally nimble and animalistic gait. He enhances this animalistic quality in battle, sometimes by growling. With his seams, spikes, and sweat, this Batman is grounded in a realism that is, as Robin says of the Batmobile, “ugly as sin.”

Themes

Primarily a science-fiction comic with a crime-fiction plot, Batman: Year 100 pits radical individualism against an oppressive police state, a formula often favored by dystopian narratives. In emphasizing Batman’s symbolic status as the “last mask,” Pope turns privacy into this world’s rarest commodity. Privacy is thus valorized by its absence, and Batman poses a double threat in his efforts to expose the state’s secrets while preserving his own secret identity.

With the story’s futuristic setting, Pope is free to introduce unfamiliar cityscapes, new technology, and humans with powers such as telepathy. Nevertheless, the book also highlights a grim realism, often best portrayed through Batman’s own detailed and naturalistic costume. The absence of Batman’s usual rogues’ gallery also allows the reader to reassess the Batman character with greater purity and freedom.

On a broader level, Batman’s legacy and his own brand of vigilantism are at stake. Pope explores the aging of legends and the resurrection of myth in times of need. The story is filled with examples of the “old” being valorized, from old bodies to old technology. The old hero and the old honest cop can still take care of business, late grandpa Gordon’s old OS-16 laptop holds the key to Batman’s real name, and Tora’s final moral indecision is solved by her desire to “live to be old.” On the other hand, the young, such as the villain Pravdzka, or the new, such as the fleshkiller virus, represent what is wrong in this dystopia. Gordon’s reference to Batman as “Bruce” at the story’s end and Batman’s refusal to have his DNA analyzed contribute to the fog of mystery around the mythic figure, enriching the immortality of the old hero.

Pope began work on Batman: Year 100 at the age of thirty-three, a year that he has described as one marked by deep personal change. Previously certain he would die young, turning thirty-three meant that he had lived beyond his expectations. This preoccupation with cheating fate clearly lies at the heart of Year 100. The book can be read as an autobiographical meditation on living into the future, with Batman serving as the artist’s spiritual avatar.

Impact

Since the release of Batman: Year 100, Pope has quickly become one of the medium’s leaders, to both fans and fellow artists. The work itself was greatly shaped by previous Batman works, with Pope citing Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) as particularly strong influences. Indeed, like its predecessor Batman: Year One, Year 100 features corrupt police squads, and the Batman creature regains its novelty in suddenly reappearing. Early sightings in both stories prompt allusions to Dracula, and circumstances in both force Batman to join forces with a cop called Gordon. By standing outside Batman’s canon, however, the story belongs to DC Comics’ Elseworlds series, enabling it to stray from more familiar continuity without limiting the potential of other Batman comics.

The year 2006, when Year 100 was first published, was marked by a newly intensified concern with Batman’s “succession” at DC headquarters. The questions of who will take up Batman’s mantle, and whether anyone other than Bruce Wayne could do the job, are at the core of Batman-related issues. Grant Morrison’s run as writer on Batman, which also began in 2006, is similarly concerned with Batman’s movement into the future. Batman: Year 100 plays up this concern over Batman’s legacy, exploring what he represents in the mythic imagination.

Further Reading

Miller, Frank. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986).

Miller, Frank, and David Mazzucchelli. Batman: Year One (1987).

Pope, Paul. Heavy Liquid (1999-2000).

Bibliography

Arrant, Chris. “Paul Pope Talks Battling Boy, DJing, and the new THB.” Robot 6. Comic Book Resources, September 3, 2010. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/09/paulpope.

Jatras, Todd. “The Dark Knight Returns: The Dark Prince of Comix Takes Batman Thirty Years into the Future.” Wired 14, no. 2 (February, 2006). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/pope.html.

Pope, Paul. Pulphope: The Art of Paul Pope. Richmond, Va.: AdHouse Books, 2007.