Description

Batman: Year Three                          Comics Lot
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Pat Broderick
Inkers: John Beatty & Michael Bair
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Costanza
Editors: Dennis O’Neil & Dan Raspler
All Covers by: George Pérez

Batman: Year Three tells multiple intertwining stories. Beginning not long after the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin, Alfred Pennyworth has contacted Dick Grayson, the original Robin and currently working as Nightwing, to inform him that Batman is becoming increasingly erratic and violent in his vigilante work.

A follow up to the Year One and Year Two stories, Batman: Year Three chronicles the third year of Batman’s crime fighting life, the year Dick Grayson came to live with him and became Robin.

Story/Spoilers
First in issue #1, “Different Roads”, Batman watches a group of mobsters, and their women bring their boat, the Deep Waters, into port just before dusk. A WGCN – Gotham City’s twenty-four-hour news network – helicopter arrives and opens fire on the boat, killing the fourth mob boss in as many weeks. Despite the deaths being “no great loss,” Batman attaches himself to the fleeing helicopter, deciding nothing excuses murder. The pilot eventually loses Batman, knocking him into a tower and forcing him into the water in front of the Gotham Harbor Club, where Commissioner Gordon recovers the vigilante, who’s angry he was unable to prevent the hit. Meanwhile, at the Gotham City Court House, a man tries to make the case to the parole board that despite Tony Zucco’s guilt, is bound to release him under the claim that he has paid his debt to society with the last 12 years of imprisonment. At that moment, Dick Grayson arrives at Wayne Manor for the first time in two years feeling there have been changes, but not able to put his finger on what they are. He enters the Batcave, reflecting on how different it all feels now that he’s an adult. Looking at the trophies, he realizes something Alfred Pennyworth told him is right, there is nothing saved from the time Jason Todd fought as Robin and what there has been removed, even in his bedroom. The man at the parole hearing pleads the board to deny Zucco his freedom, because of how he ruined a young boy’s life with one act of violence. With that, he tells them the story of Zucco’s life, starting with being “bullied” by his father and watching his father beaten by thugs for not paying them protection money. Eventually both of his parents were killed and the Zucco children were taken in by family, with the exception of Anthony, the oldest and most out of control, who was sent to St. Jude’s Orphanage. There, despite the best attempts of novice nun Sister Mary Elizabeth, Zucco held on to his anger – even praying for the deaths of those who killed his parents, despite the nun asking him “why?” and if that “will bring them back”. After leaving the orphanage he started a life of crime, eventually being brought into a major crime family, where he kept a ledger of the goings on to study them. The story is interrupted, so the man focuses on the victims left alive–specifically Richard Grayson. Jumping to ten years ago, he begins by explaining how the performers of Haly’s Circus were more like a family than co-workers, then how young Dick overheard Zucco and his thugs attempting to extort protection money from Haly. Though Dick tried to warn his parents, they put him off until after their show, which resulted in both Mary and John’s trapeze lines snapping and their plummeting to their deaths – right next to Dick – while the audience watched. Just then, Batman swung in. After explaining to the newly orphaned boy that his parent’s death wasn’t an accident, Dick tells him about Zucco. Batman promises the mobster won’t get away with it and Dick, crying, yells after him to kill Zucco for him. With the law forcing his hand, Commissioner Gordon takes Dick to St. Judes, where he also comes under the care of Sister Mary Elizabeth. Still angry, Dick mentions to the nun that he wants vengeance, but when she asks him if that will make things better, he considers her words and actually rethinks his stance. Alfred Pennyworth, who was the man at the parole hearing, ends his comments to the parole board by comparing Grayson and Zucco, two children who saw violence and wanted revenge, yet turned out completely different. He asks them how many more lives Zucco will take over money if they free him, saying he has not repented, and nothing has changed in all of the years he has been in prison. In the Batcave, Grayson, giving credence to the letter Alfred sent him saying Bruce may be losing his sanity and is refusing to acknowledge Todd’s death, changes into his Nightwing costume to go out and find him. Batman, meanwhile, is in his second hour of standing watch over what he believes is to be the fifth gangland murder site. When he sees a helicopter approaching, he crashes through the window, yelling to the people inside that they’re going to be attacked. Unsure if they can trust him, the criminals scramble confused as the helicopter hits the building with a missile and its occupants fly away saying “Nothing could have survived in there.”

Next in issue #2, “Changes Made”, Just hit by a missile, the building containing mobsters and Batman, who tried to warn them, explodes. The helicopter that fired the missile flies away, it’s occupants sure that “nothing could’ve survived in there”. Nightwing, searching for Batman, finds a bar he has recently ransacked looking for information on the gangland murders, beating one patron until he could no longer speak. He calls an ambulance, and getting the same information without threats, races to the same site Batman is at, where he finds the rubble of a destroyed building. He recovers a less than grateful Batman, who nearly calls him Robin, from the ruins who says he didn’t need his help and claims he’d almost cleared the wreckage on his way to his way to a secret hideout before gruffly walking away. Elsewhere, Alfred Pennyworth arrives home at Wayne Manor upset that the parole board is going to release Anthony Zucco, blaming himself for not swaying them with his speech. As he walks through a hallway, he apologizes to a photo of Bruce Wayne for allowing a killer to go free and not being there when Bruce needed him as a child like he was for Dick Grayson. Alfred remembers back to pick up a young Grayson at St. Jude’s Orphanage and assuaging Sister Mary Elizabeth’s fears that Bruce would be a bad role model because of what’s written about him in newspapers. On the drive home, Alfred tells Dick that Bruce was at Haly’s Circus when his parents were killed and explains that Bruce’s parents were murdered also. When they arrive at the Manor, Bruce shows Dick around, and during the tour Dick compares their situations in an attempt to gauge when his hurting will stop. Bruce asks him if he still wants Zucco dead like he did before, to which the young man replies that he doesn’t, but he does want to do something to make sure he never hurts anyone again. Receptive, Bruce speaks about seeing the young man’s great acrobatic skills and talks about training him. Over Alfred’s protestations, Bruce opens the secret passage to the Batcave, and the trio enter. On the way down the spiral steps, during which Grayson continually loses sight of Bruce, Alfred tells Grayson that Bruce is likely seeking “continuity”, someone to carry on his legacy in case he dies. Through a blinding light, Bruce espouses on the city being corrupt, criminals going free, police being outnumbered and needing help. Asked if he wants to help, he says yes as he sees Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman for the first time and together, they train harder than ever before. In the present, Batman enters the Manor and stalks off into his study, ignoring Nightwing behind him. Alfred, however, talks to him and confirms that his behavior is becoming increasingly erratic and violent, and he has taken down every photo of Jason Todd in the house. Thinking back to better times, Grayson remembers receiving his first Robin costume and going out on his first “public appearance” taking down one of Zucco’s front operations. Grayson enters the study, intending to force Bruce to talk to him this time, only to find he is gone. Moments later at a restaurant in another part of town, the surviving mob leaders meet to discuss the recent attacks on them. After bringing up and dismissing the idea that it’s one of them setting up the kills, one of them suggests an all-out assault on the streets, spilling blood to force whomever is doing it to surface. As the idea is discussed, Batman–until recently disguised as a waiter–reveals himself and offers yet another alternative. Still in prison, Anthony Zucco rashes Taft about the recent parole. Taft tells him it’s all set up, and all a matter of having the papers signed, and Zucco warns him that he’s planned ten years on how to take over this city using his book with everyone’s secrets and doesn’t want to see it massed up by a civil servant slip up. After Nightwing leaves the Batcave, Alfred contemplates how things are going wrong; with Bruce no longer being reasonable, Dick being angry and resentful, and Zucco somehow having gotten someone on the parole board to vote for his freedom–which he has yet to tell Dick. Taking a long look at a handgun laying on his bed, he decides someone has to stop Zucco, as he should never be freed.

Next in issue #3, “Turnabout”, Seated on his bed, holding a gun, Alfred Pennyworth contemplates the pending release of Anthony Zucco that he could not prevent and decides that something must be done. After pacticing aiming, however, he realizes he cannot kill, not even for Dick Grayson. He leaves Wayne Manor, thinking to himself that things will turn bad when Grayson finds out his parents’ murderer has been released and even worse when the recently more erratic and violent Bruce Wayne finds out. Elsewhere, Nightwing searches the streets of Gotham City for Batman, contemplating the changes in the man who raised and trained him. He begins to wonder if Bruce isn’t going crazy, a theory Kory has always believed in, because though he’s always seemed to be in control, the death of Jason Todd changed all of that. Outside of a warehouse, the press questions Commissioner Gordon on the deaths of the recent crime lord deaths and rumors of a coming bloody retaliatory war on the horizon. As he answers their questions to the best of his ability, Nightwing arrives on the scene and is invited by the investigating officers to check the roof, as long as he doesn’t touch anything. While he does, eventually finding a silk parachute thread and a fingerprint, he reminisces on his early studies with the Batman who taught him his craft. Meanwhile, outside, Gordon proposes a meeting between a city negotiator and the leaders of the “alleged” crime families. Meanwhile, Batman is face to face with the surviving mob bosses in a restaurant. They pull their guns on him, but he warns them that killing him will leave them to be killed off by whoever is out there. One of the bosses, Agoura, decides that if anyone can hunt down the killer it’s Batman and decides to trust him, however other figures this will be the only chance they have “to skag Batman” and that they’ll get their killer soon enough. At Gotham Prison, Taft, the lawyer and Zucco’s inside-man on the parole board, protests the warden allowing the just arrived Alfred to visit Zucco. When they come face-to-face, Zucco tells Alfred that he knows he’s the man who petitioned to keep him in prison for the past eleven years and admits that he allowed it to work for ten years for his own reasons, but now wants to know why he came to visit him on the eve of his pending release. Alfred explains that he works for Bruce Wayne, who took in Richard Grayson–the surviving member of the family Zucco murdered–and for their sake he will pay Zucco any amount to leave Gotham on his release, to which Zucco laughs uproariously. Later, in the Batcave, Nightwing uses the Batcomputer to identify Sherman Saticoy’s fingerprint from the warehouse roof. At the same time, he reminds Alfred that Batman used to tell him to always know what they’re getting in to and never leave anything to chance, Batman himself is fighting off the mob bosses, improvising shields out of serving trays and and generally not taking his own advice. After disarming them, he forces them to talk. He tells them the killer has to have an “army” at his disposal, and because of the lack of gossip in the streets it’s a long-standing and loyal army. Batman puts forth the theory that it’s a takeover attempt, which Agoura dismisses since all the bosses are in that room and they would have heard by then. When Batman asks if all of the families are there, Agoura goes through a list of inactive families, including Zucco. The very mention of Zucco’s name sends a flood of memories through Batman’s head of taking the family down with Grayson. When Agoura tells Batman about Zucco’s book, with which he’s been blackmailing all of the bosses from prison, he begins to feel uncomfortable with the information Batman is receiving. One of the mob bosses mentions that Zucco is getting out of prison and Batman finds the missing clue to the puzzle. Batman and the mob bosses break into the apartment of a man named Drexel who works for Risingstar Entertainment, one of Zucco’s front companies. After threatening to leave him with the mob bosses, Drexel agrees to tell Batman everything he knows about the gang slayings. In the Batcave, Alfred is still attempting to talk to Dick about Zucco getting out. While watching him work on the current case, he remembers back to his beginning days as Robin. As Grayson goes deeper into the Allied Importers–a Zucco dummy corporation–board of directors, he discovers something shocking, and Alfred decides it’s time to talk. Nightwing takes off towards the prison, where he finds Batman already there. They share the information they know and wait for the man’s release. Batman mentions that they could grab him immediately, but Nightwing decides he wants him to “taste freedom for just a moment” before they do. On his way out, Zucco and Taft discuss how Taft only helped because Zucco had proof in his ledger that Taft once bribed a judge. Taft asks for the proof, which Zucco promised to give him so it couldn’t be used it again, but Zucco refuses and, as he’s stepping out of the prison, says that ledger will make him King of organized crime. Raising his arms above his head and celebrating his first moment outside, Zucco is cut down by a hail of bullets fired from the WGCN news helicopter. In shock, Nightwing screams at Batman “You knew, didn’t you?”

Finally in issue #4, “Resolutions”, Anthony Zucco’s dead body lies outside of Gotham Prison. From a nearby hill, Nightwing, thinking Batman knew of Zucco’s murder ahead of time, asks him how he could have let it go down and what’s been going on with him since Jason Todd died. After he listens to a few examples of his recent excessively violent behavior, Batman says that he did not know there would be an attempt on Zucco’s life ahead of time, and that no matter what Nightwing should know he would never be party to a murder. When asked why he was there to watch Zucco’s release, Batman admits that he did so shaking, afraid of what he might do to him for his past crimes. As Batman drives away, he hears a report over the radio of Zucco’s death followed by one about the pending closure of St. Jude’s orphanage. At a press conference, Taft tells the general public about the existence of Zucco’s “diary”–his ledger detailing the activities of every crime and every criminal in Gotham City for the last thirty years. Batman realizes that the revelation is going to incite massive violence in the streets as now every criminal in Gotham will begin to tear the city apart to get their hands on the book, both to protect themselves and to use it to blackmail others. Batman figures that Taft must want people searching for it, hoping to eventually get his hands on it, because he was the only person on the parole board that lobbied for Zucco’s release. As the Batman exits the cave to check on some theories, Nightwing offers to come with him, only to have the vigilante shout “NO” at him, telling him he doesn’t need partners “ever again.” Alone in the cave, Alfred and Nightwing discuss Batman’s refusal of help, with Alfred theorizing he’s “afraid that what happened to Jason could happen again” and further afraid of what that would do to him. Sympathizing, Alfred tells Grayson that he was afraid to tell him that Zucco was being released, and that sometimes “fear overrules logic.” Grayson compares his childhood with that of Bruce, noting that Bruce grew up alone while he had people who loved him and remembers the trial where it was decided Bruce would be allowed to take him as his ward. Deciding Bruce needs help, even if he doesn’t want it, Nightwing decides to pay a visit to Zucco’s “pals” to try to get information on the ledger. Meanwhile, the Batman is in the midst of a bar brawl, out of which he pulls former Zucco employee Drexel. He swears he doesn’t know anything about the book, just that Zucco used to threaten them with it and joke that “his beginning would be [their] end.” In another bar, mob boss Louis and his men have already killed two men to try to get information about any of Zucco’s boys drinking there and mentioning the book. When no one speaks up, Louis orders a third man shot, but Batman arrives and puts a stop to it. He tells the mob boss to back everyone off of the track of the ledger, and if there’s any more violence in the street Louis will pay, which he complains is unfair. As Batman is leaving, Louis orders his gunman José to shoot him in the back, only to have his wrist broken by a batarang. After delivering a final warning to Louis, Batman leaves in the Batmobile, letting Alfred know things should be quiet for a while. When asked, Alfred informed Batman that Nightwing has left the cave to call on Zucco’s associates. Nightwing breaks into Drexel’s apartment, surprising him in the shower and tricking him into revealing Taft’s secret. Drexel gives Nightwing the same cryptic information he gave Batman earlier, which Nightwing figures must be a reference to St. Judes’s Orphanage. After he leaves, Drexel plans to get out of town out of fear of Zucco, but finds Taft hidden behind his door with a gun. At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred discuss the possibilities of Zucco having told anyone else where he kept the book. Having checked with everyone and everything connected to him, Bruce has come up with nothing and is left with what Drexel said about his “beginning”. He asks Alfred to have the computer read out the file, but Alfred informs him that that won’t be necessary because he knows it so well, including the parts about the orphanage. Nightwing has already arrived at the orphanage, a place he’s only been twice since leaving with Alfred as a child. Sister Mary Elizabeth approaches him as he stands in the rain, and when he introduces himself as “Nightwing of the Titans” she says she knows him very well. After they discuss the orphanage’s fate, Sister Mary Elizabeth asks why Nightwing came and he asks about Zucco. She tells him that eleven years ago she saw him leave the bell tower carrying a pail, stopping to pray at a statue, but when she went to call the police on him he was gone. Nightwing looks around, finding a strange spot in the mortar of the bell tower bricks, and removes it to find the book. Outside, however, someone strikes Sister Mary Elizabeth with a crowbar and sneaks up on Nightwing as he’s reading the ledger. Nightwing ducks the first swing from Taft, but eventually takes the crowbar between his shoulder blades. While they fight, Taft talks about how much Zucco used him, how he was forced to organize his mob. Batman arrives and begins running to Nightwings aid, thinking the entire time about Jason dying and that he’ll be too late. As he runs he actually says Jason’s name for the first time in months. When Taft promises to “pick up where Zucco left off”, Nightwing finally reverses their positions, taking the upper hand in the battle while he tells him that no one will ever “take over for him”. Batman arrives just in time to see Nightwing throw the book off of the tower and into the rain, with Taft leaping over after it. The next morning, Bruce tells Alfred that the book is gone, the few pages they found washed clean by the rain, and that they could have put away so many criminals with that information. He commends Dick for figuring it out so fast, saying he’s become quite a detective and quite a man. In the aftermath, Dick goes to the cemetery to visit his parents’ graves, something he hasn’t done for a long time, and fills them in on what has been going on in his life.

Comics lot contains: Batman (1940) Issues #436-439.  DC Comics

Comics are bagged & boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to insure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

All First Printings
Publisher: DC Comics
Publication Date: 1989
Format per comic: FC, 32 pages, Comic, 10.25″ x 6.5″
UPC: None Stated

Collectible Entertainment note: Comics 1,2,3,4 are in Fine + condition.  Very Nice!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Batman and/or Robin collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read!  Highly Recommended.

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