Batman Origin Stories

[Ood Omega]

I have to say I love collecting and reading the various origin stories for this character. Has anyone seen scans of Bill Finger's original Batman origin story from Batman #47? I've never seen it and would love to read it. Is it reprinted anywhere?

My all-time fav Bat Origin story is from Len Wein & John Byrne. Though there are things I disagree with in The Untold Legend of the Batman (like Joe Chill's mother being Bruce's childhood maid/nanny & Bruce being the original Robin) overall I find it really enjoyable. I've actually collected multiple versions of this story including the softback pocket book and the MPI Audio Edision version which came with an audio cassette.

There are also some great flashbacks in Batman #0 from 1994. Now I know there are more Origin stories (some of which I've read) but I'd like to give room for others to bring them up. So what are peoples' fav Batman origin stories? I'm also curious what is the current cannon origin story in the new 52?

[Chad]

I have to say I love collecting and reading the various origin stories for this character. Has anyone seen scans of Bill Finger's original Batman origin story from Batman #47? I've never seen it and would love to read it. Is it reprinted anywhere?

Easily the best origin story for Batman - a few pages have been scanned for use within the following link. That whole "I'm going to tell you a story Chill, a story without an ending. Perhaps you can supply it" leading up to "I know, because I am the son of the man you killed!" is one of the greatest Batman moments of all time and deserves to be reprinted more than it has been. It's in the first The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told collection from 1989/90 and I have to imagine that it was reprinted more recently in Batman in the Forties.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources...can-be-lethal/

My all-time fav Bat Origin story is from Len Wein & John Byrne. Though there are things I disagree with in The Untold Legend of the Batman (like Joe Chill's mother being Bruce's childhood maid/nanny & Bruce being the original Robin) overall I find it really enjoyable.

Mrs Chilton first appeared in Batman 208 as a framing sequence for an 80 page giant. It's pretty unusual, but I think it was included in Untold Legend simply because of how comprehensive and thorough that series was. I still regard it as the Bat-Bible.

I also like Bill Finger's The First Batman from Tec 235. I generally don't like tampering with origins and yet, Finger's story is so well done that it's hard to fault it.

[Ood Omega]

Thx for the scan Did Len Wein add Lew Moxon or did that come from Bill Finger as well?

[bat39]

The Untold Legend of Batman was basically a compilation of all the disparate elements of Batman's origin that had been gradually introduced from 1939 onward. Bruce being the first Robin and training under Harvey Harris, Thomas Wayne's bat-costume and Lew Moxton et. all are from 50's stories that added to the origin. The Joe Chill story is obviously a classic that was also faithfully retold. One of the best parts of 'Untold Legend...' however was (to my knowledge) largely original-the story of Batman's first meeting with Jim Gordon. I honestly don't think we've seen such an impact-ful first meeting between them in any other version!

As far as the new 52 goes, there really isn't a definitive and comprehensive origin story anymore. 'Year One' no longer counts as a whole, except for small easter eggs and homages. The zero issues do a pretty good job chronicling crucial moments of Bruce's pre-Batman life, but his actual transformation into the Dark Knight has yet to be retold for the new 52 canon...

[Ood Omega]

The zero issues do a pretty good job chronicling crucial moments of Bruce's pre-Batman life, but his actual transformation into the Dark Knight has yet to be retold for the new 52 canon...

So the flashbacks in the 1994 Batman #0 don't count anymore either right?

[stk]

My all-time fav Bat Origin story is from Len Wein & John Byrne. The Untold Legend of the Batman

Dude, don't forget Jim Aparo. He did more of the art than Byrne did.

[bat39]

So the flashbacks in the 1994 Batman #0 don't count anymore either right?

Not in any particulars. Though of course, the general idea is still the same.

The major changes to Batman's origin/backstory from the Post-COIE/'Modern Age' versions are broadly as follows-

-Bruce was always convinced that his parent's murder involved some major conspiracy, until when, at the age of 18, he finally confronts Joe Chill and realizes it was just a random mugging gone wrong. Its after this that he decides to travel the world and train to become a crime-fighter.

-After returning to Gotham, Bruce initially sets up his base of operations in Crime Alley and fights crime as an anonymous vigilante. Its only after a while that he moves back to Wayne Manor and gets the inspiration to become Batman (that's a story which we're apparently going to get in 2013).

-The beginning of the alliance with Gordon is different and no longer (apparently) involves Bruce saving James Jr. In the new version, Gordon witnesses Batman in action during an (as yet untold) incident at GCPD Headquarters and thus decides to form an alliance with him.

-Batman is initially considered an urban myth...though he's still hunted by the GCPD early on (details of how that works are still sketchy).

[Ood Omega]

Dude, don't forget Jim Aparo. He did more of the art than Byrne did.

He did? For some reason I only recall him doing the inks and maybe the letters as well.

-Bruce was always convinced that his parent's murder involved some major conspiracy, until when, at the age of 18, he finally confronts Joe Chill and realizes it was just a random mugging gone wrong. Its after this that he decides to travel the world and train to become a crime-fighter.

So no more Lew Moxon? I'm curious to know if fans think he should be part of the origin or not.

[bat39]

So no more Lew Moxon? I'm curious to know if fans think he should be part of the origin or not.

Moxon seems to be out...though that's been the case since as far back as the end of the Silver/Bronze Age.

[Tupiaz]

I found Grant Morrison's origin about Bruce going to boarding school a bit unnecessary. It seems he only invent that because it fits to the plots in the Gothic story arch. Doesn't really add anything.

[bat39]

I found Grant Morrison's origin about Bruce going to boarding school a bit unnecessary. It seems he only invent that because it fits to the plots in the Gothic story arch. Doesn't really add anything.

Doesn't take away from anything either though.

[Tupiaz]

Doesn't take away from anything either though.

perhaps not directly. It just seems a bit weird he is taking home his parents got shot seems like it is rush of events. Also I didn't like that Bruce was sent away. Always saw his parents as very loving and somebody that gave them self time to raise Bruce. Sending a person to boarding School is IMO kind of the opposite especially since Bruce is so young and that he doesn't want to go. Like a said the origin story is more used as a plot device than to add a layer to the character and that is rarely a good way to dig in to an origin.

[Ood Omega]

This scan is from Untold issue #1 and I'm wondering if this part of the story is taken from somewhere else.



It always struck me as a really important part of Bruce's life, one that leads him to becoming Batman.

[Chad]

This scan is from Untold issue #1 and I'm wondering if this part of the story is taken from somewhere else.



It always struck me as a really important part of Bruce's life, one that leads him to becoming Batman.

I'm almost certain that that scene was created for Untold Legends of the Batman. Most of this series is rooted in actual history, but this I believe, is one of the few exceptions where the writers made something up. It's testament to Wein's skills that you can't often tell what elements were taken from a classic comic and which were introduced in this series.

[Chad]

My favorite Batman story is Alan Brennert's To Kill a Legend from Detective 500 which is both a reiteration of Batman's origin and the origin of the Batman of a parallel Earth. It's a gripping story in which the Phantom Stranger offers Batman a chance to visit another Earth where that world's Bruce Wayne is about to witness the murder of his parents. Robin tags along and becomes disturbed by the fact that this world seems to have no mythology from which heroes such as Superman, Batman, etc can spring. Although he isn't comfortable with the thought, he begins to speculate that this world might actually be worse off if Bruce Wayne doesn't become an orphan. The story ends with Batman racing to Crime Alley having just realised that because this world operates on a timelime 20 years ahead of his own, the murder will occur five nights early to make up for the five leap years that the calender wouldn't have recorded. As he speeds to the scene we hear Chill's voice - "This is a stick up, buddy"...