The Art of Batman: Year One

I think i've been delaying this blog for the longest time. Even though I procrastinate a lot, this has to be the height of it. I had the idea for this blog post ever since I found the book at a bazaar by chance. Mazzucchelli's art just blew me away. Its brilliant, concise, well illustrated with great foundation and design sense. Frankly its one of the most beautiful books i've ever seen. I'm going to concentrate totally on Mazzucchelli's work and maybe talk about Miller's story some other time.

Cover Image to the graphic novel.

So to start things off im not exactly sure when this one was published, i know the original run was from '86-'87 so this ones definitely from the 90s. Now i haven't scanned any of the pages out of fear of bending the already fragile book so i resorted to taking photos.

Another thing to note here is that i will talk mainly about David Mazzucchelli; the main illustrator for this series. I'm equally smitten by Richmond Lewis and his work on the colors but i'm not excatly sure if Lewis was the same colourist for the original comic book run. I do have one of the issues but Lewis isn't credited, so i will assume he worked solely for the graphic novel. Which i must add i prefer over the original comic book.

But first a little trailer from DC's recent animated flick, Batman:Year One, which im pleased to see has stuck to Mazzucchelli's art faithfully.

Shadows and the Bat.

Yup, as you might have guessed. Mazzucchelli does everything with shadows and man does it work!

one of my favourite pages, and a pivotal one at that!

so much going on in this page yet it remains intact
and draws the viewer to  main objects in focus.

As you can see from the two pictures above, Mazzucchelli's really heavy on the inking, which from the strokes and application im assuming he does entirely with paintbrushes and a drafting pen,  pulling off a very stylised approach and deep contrast to the both characters, objects and even backgrounds, which adds to the atmosphere. In the two pages above you get a full impact of his approach, and no small thanks to Lewis who adds colour that not only reflects the mood but also subtly draws the viewer to central images per page. In the second one Bruce is cadium yellow. The Bat enters as black and white, almost as an apparition and proceeds to rest on his father's bust fading off into a brownish hue that makes him more real. Bruce remains yellow and the central figure and the very next panel has a bunch of subtleties going on from the tint of the blood to the wash applied giving texture to the whole image. 

Here are some more images heavy on the shadows that are just so beautiful, they could be independent works of art and i wouldn't know the difference.

Batman!

Batman again!

Holy shit its Batman being awesome.

One of my favourite panels.The colour, the wash in the back,
 the texture and the contrast of the shadows, Batmans cape!
just pure brilliance!

another favourite! this one looks and even feels like a painting.

Gordon, as menacing as ever.

Bats!!

Composition and Cloth

I could talk on end about how Mazzucchelli pans his shots in the book.and gives great depth to the image as a whole rather than focus on minute details in the picture, but im going to show pictures to prove my point.

so many bats!! notice individuals are either fully formed or just shadows.

Catwoman makes an appearance facing off against thugs in this
well thought out panel.Just the right amount of detail, nothing
more, nothing less.

again with the detail. The smoke and collapsing building
acts as a buffer to make the panel as concise as possible,
also just look at the composition of Batman and the officer.

I mentioned earlier how i love the way Mazzucchelli seemingly does everything with just paintbrushes and a pen. Which makes for a very stylised comic. Just look at the way he draws and inks the folds in Batman's cape. Masterful in terms of technique and just great as a style bringing definition and form to the cowl.

folds, curves and brilliance.

don't need to say anymore than i already have.
just gush with me over here.

Explosions and Texture

Now im sort of running out of pictures to highlight, going to leave you with two photos showing how Mazzucchelli dealt with explosions and how Lewis added his personal touch to the textures in the backwash

which make for one very pretty picture.

Mazzucchelli doesn't just add detail willy nilly,
if its there its there for a purpose. no excessive
strokes.

look at that. another page that could pass off as an independent piece.

And thats it. Batman:Year One, whether its the graphic novel, the original comic book run or the DC's new animated feature, is just one brilliant work of art thanks to David Mazzucchelli. I'd recommend anyone who does not own any piece of the franchise/series to go out and buy it now, its worth every penny.