Oh god, that's a copy of "From the Ashes" that Ron has there, isn't it? Oh gee, I might have to write him a long geeky fan letter

"From the Ashes" > "Dark Phoenix Saga"
Scott & Maddie > Scott & Jean

It's just so much more interesting for him to fall in love with a clone. "From the Ashes" is all about duplicity and doubling. Maddie is a double. The X-Men are outcasts supposedly, but then they meet some REAL outcasts in the Morlocks. I could go on... It couldn't've happened without the initial Phoenix stuff years beforehand, but "From the Ashes" is the beginning of the mature X-Men. They're finally really 'uncanny'.

The link: http://revision3.com/ifanboy/anotherfive
Should be: http://revision3.com/ifanboy/another5

Links's fixed - sorry about that :)

Fantastic show, guys! I just re-watched the 1-5 show (which I'm pleased to say I owned nearly all that was talked about) recently and this was a great companion piece.

Kingdom Come sounds all kinds of awesome, so it will have to be purchased! I'm not that well-versed in comics, as I'm still building my collection, but I'd consider Long Halloween, Arkham Asylum or Tricked for my 6-10.

Once again, I sit patiently waiting and wondering when Arkham Asylum will be named.

"... I'd consider Long Halloween..."

Yeah, Year One was both surprising, and utterly expected, as perhaps the most debatable of the 'must read' seminal mini-series.

No doubt there's plenty of opposition, but I tend to equate Year One to something like Blade Runner.
Both represent undoubted accomplishments for their time, but buckle under the fruits of their benefit, and all they've inspired.

At the risk of comparing apples and oranges, something like The Long Halloween puts the four issue montage of Year One to shame, not just in terms of content, but I think characterization, too. Leaving the original, like Blade Runner, to be visually and conceptually digested, but a little on the tedious side.
[With personal enjoyment and investment aside.]

But then, twelve issues vs four, I'm with Josh.
BATMAN WOULD CHEAT~!!!

I've never heard anyone else, ever put Year One below Long Halloween. I would be shocked if your theory had much support.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Year One is in there too. But you guys picked Year One and said to mention alternates we'd have in our 6-10's, and from personal taste Long Halloween is a classic to me, one that I've re-read time and time again and love more each time.

It's just a personal favourite, and one that'd definitely make my top 6-10, along with Arkham Asylum, and that's not taking anything away from Year One. You can't deny the impact that book had, especially on the industry, as Mike H said.

Although, Mike, I never really liked Blade Runner either.

Yeah, for the record, I've never been a huge Blade Runner fan...and I've tried.

Arkham Asylum will almost assuredly get some play this year, you're just gonna have to be a bit more patient.

The Continuity is WRONG! Your wearing different shirts and in the wrong seats! I'm sure your probably wearing another type of shoes socks aswell, geez, your editor should be fired.




And I have too many books to sort through.... no idea as of yet what my top 5 would be.

and by shirts I mean pants.... so that little continuity satire joke just flew out the window with the funny. ah well.... till next time.

Blade Runner tires me out. Every time I watch it, I'm joined by a thousand voices of friends/reviews in my head, all of them saying "This is a classic, you MUST love it!". And I always feel like a traitor for finishing the movie thinking 'Yeah... but'. Sorry, off-topic.

Luke, your post killed me! Bravo, sir!

I really like The Long Halloween; I own the Absolute. It's a really good book.

It's not a Top Ten book.

It might be a Top Twenty. Maybe.

I don't even really like Arkham. If anyone wants to buy my almost new 15th anniversary edition please do.

" I would be shocked if your theory had much support."

Fanboys are a cowardly and supersticious lot!

On a desert island I'd take a thirteen issue maxi-series over a four issue montage, any day!

Why do you keep calling Year One a montage?

Also, the desert island thing was a joke that spontaneously happened while we were taping, it wasn't our Top Six-Ten Desert Island Trades that we chose.

"Blade Runner tires me out. Every time I watch it, I'm joined by a thousand voices of friends/reviews in my head, all of them saying "This is a classic, you MUST love it!". And I always feel like a traitor for finishing the movie thinking 'Yeah... but'.

Amen. See also: Matrix, the.

"Why do you keep calling Year One a montage?"

Just to clarify, I don't mean it as an insult. It just is a montage.

It's got a wonderful asthetic, and I'd never dispute the good those four issues have done. It's just, quite literally, a montage...

The first ten pages of #407 feature scenes from: September 2, September 7, September 10, September 11, September 12, September 13, September 25, October 2, October 5, October 7, October 10, October 12, and November 2...

By that logic, one might try to say the same about Long Halloween, although even ignoring the size of it's chunks; as a narrative it's far more explicitly connected and examined.

I think Year One is undermined slightly by touching on a lot of surface subjects without going particularly deep into any bu it's lead protagonist, Gordon, and maybe to some degree, Gotham City.

To go back to Blade Runner, I think it undeniably has it's place, but is overwhelmed by the benefit of all it's influenced.


"Also, the desert island thing was a joke that spontaneously happened while we were taping, it wasn't our Top Six-Ten Desert Island Trades that we chose.
"

I want to speak to the manager...

Which of these is Batman Year One, and why?

n.
1.
1. A single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs.
2. The art or process of making such a composition.
3. A relatively rapid succession of different shots in a movie.
4. The juxtaposition of such successive shots as a cinematic technique.

2.
1. A relatively rapid succession of different shots in a movie.
2. The juxtaposition of such successive shots as a cinematic technique.
3. A composite of closely juxtaposed elements: a montage of voices on an audiotape.

Maybe in the current era of decompressed storytelling and year long ninja fights, one could say the story of Batman Year One moves swiftly. But just because the story of the year moves through the calendar instead of playing out in monthly installments it doesn't make it less of a story. The calendar was just the technique to follow the major events of the characters, juxtaposing the changes.

That's why I would call it a "Story."

A really fantastic story.

My Dad has three Miracleman trades (Not to brag or anything). I've only read the first Miracleman trade, but it's up there with Watchmen in my opinion. It's Better than V for Vendetta, loads better than League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I still haven't read From Hell however.

It is a literal and conceptual montage of events. Rigid dictionary definitions, semantics, and the fact that yes, a montage tells a story, doesn't really distract from that.
Just like frivilously adding -ness to the end of words doesn't distract from the point being made in most episodes of iFanboy. :-p

Just to touch back on Year One's status as sponsored by it's influential value; there's probably some irony to the fact that in the vidcast a reasonable amount of time was given to relating Year One through other contemporary sources: Batman Begins and iFanboy referencial stalwart, Michael Lark.

"But just because the story of the year moves through the calendar instead of playing out in monthly installments it doesn't make it less of a story."
Like I said, you could make a vaguely similar claim of Long Halloween, which essentially skips from individual key moments, one for each month.
But Long Halloween dwells more specifically on an individual story, and examines it's broad cast in more specific terms.

Movie montages typically tell some assemblance of a story through a series of events usually not crucial in their minutia.

I relate Year One as a 'single, pictorial composition, made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or conceptual designs'.
As much as it literally uses individual dates to pepper a story onto the page, I think what distances it from those 'must read' titles is what it shares in common with a lot of the negatives of 'decompression.'

Like I already said, as much as it proposes some ideas, it's essentially a montage of vaguely connected events in Batman's first year.
I think most would agree Gordon shares, if not take the lead role of protagonist, giving more insight and depth into that character, that most others, maybe even Batman.

I'm not decrying contemporary measurement of time.
[Although, I can't help but get the feeling I'm over extending the "discussion" part of iFanboy.com...]