Wolfman is very good with the characters of both Bruce and Dick, and between this and A Lonely Place of Dying, I would definitely read more Batman stories by him.īut Wolfman's success with this is probably also the reason this story hasn't been collected. Part of the purpose of flashbacks is to show how parterning with Robin caused Bruce to soften from the Frank Milleresque way he was depicted in Year One- and how now that a Robin is dead, his old brutality is reemerging. This means the bulk of the story focuses on Zucco's imminent release, and a gang war occurring in Gotham at the same time, which Batman handles with much more brutality than is typical. (Much of this would later be re-depicted in Dark Victory and Robin: Year One.) The flashbacks we see are primarily to provide context for this: the death of the Graysons, the hearing where Bruce adopted Dick, Dick's introduction to the Batcave, Dick's training and debut as Robin, and so on.

'Frame story' is actually kind of misleading, as I would estimate that probably more of the story is set in the 'present' than the 'past.' Year Three is when Dick Grayson's parents died, and he became Robin the present-day storyline partially deals with the fact that Dick's parents' killer, Michael Zucco, is about to be released from prison. Year 3 is different: it was published between A Death in the Family and A Lonely Place of Dying, and has a frame story set during that time, with Batman dealing with the emotional fallout of the death of Jason Todd (Robin II) at the hands of the Joker. 1, respectively, they had nothing to do with what preceded or followed them- they were sort of miniseries within an ongoing series. 1 and issues #575-78 of Detective Comics vol. Even though they originally appeared in issues #404-07 of Batman vol. Year One and Year Two were both interruptions to the ongoing narrative of Batman. When you read it, though, it's easy to see why. This is because Batman: Year 3, unlike Batman: Year One, Batman: Year Two, or indeed spin-offs like Batgirl: Year One and Two-Face and Scarecrow: Year One, has never been collected.

When I did my big readthrough of all of Batman's 'Year One' stories (and related tales), there was perhaps one very notable omission: Batman: Year 3 by Marv Wolfman, Pat Broderick, and John Beatty, which was originally published in issues #436-39 of Batman vol.

Batman by Marv Wolfman