Facsimile Edition: Batman #404 is a one-shot with a cover date of February, 2024. It was published on December 5, 2023.
Synopsis for "Batman: Year One - Chapter One: Who I Am - How I Come to Be"
This story is reprinted from Batman #404.
"I'm not ready. I have the means, the skill -- but not the method."
Chicago Police Lieutenant James Gordon relocates to Gotham City and begins working under Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb. Already he finds himself detesting the grime of the city, but his thoughts are on his pregnant wife, Barbara. Inwardly, he hopes her tests come back "negative".
Meanwhile, Gotham City's most eligible bachelor Bruce Wayne returns to the United States after twelve years abroad. He plays up the role of billionaire playboy, but secretly he is anxious to begin a new career as a crime fighter. He wants to avenge the tragic deaths of his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Across town, James Gordon meets some of his fellow officers, including the brutish Lt. Arnold Flass. It doesn't take Gordon long to realize that Flass represents only a tiny fraction of a trail of corruption that extends all of the way to the Commissioner's office. Gordon learns that Flass is reckless and is not above accepting the occasional bribe. However, Gordon's own moral code is strong and he refuses to buckle beneath the weight of corruption.
"They did just enough to keep me out of the hospital."
Flass grows concerned and tells Commissioner Loeb that Gordon may not be a "team player". Coyly, Loeb gives Flass permission to teach Gordon a lesson. That night, Flass and three other officers don ski masks and corner Jim in the parking garage. They mercilessly beat him with baseball bats, but Gordon recognizes the sound of Flass' laughter and vows to strike back.
Later, Jim takes his car and follows the crooked cops back to a place called Chute's. He waits for them outside until they are ready to leave. As Flass drunkenly stumbles out of the building, Gordon attacks him. He beats Flass up, strips him naked and leaves him bound with his own handcuffs on the side of the road. Jim is confident that the incident will go unreported.
That same night, Bruce Wayne disguises himself as a vagrant and begins patrolling the seedy streets of Gotham's East End. He gets into an altercation with an albino pimp named Stan over an adolescent prostitute named Holly. Bruce and Stan's fight attracts the attention of another one of Stan's working girls – Selina Kyle. Selina tries to defend Holly, but Bruce lays her out with one blow across the jaw.
"Yes, father. I shall become a bat."
Suddenly, police officers arrive and take the disguised Wayne into custody. Bruce breaks free of his handcuffs and forces the police cruiser off the road. Wounded and bleeding, he manages to make his way back to his Porsche and return home to Wayne Manor.
He sinks into a wing chair in his study and begins stammering his father's name. Bruce feels that he has failed his parents. He reflects upon the night that a common mugger savagely gunned them down in the street, leaving him an orphan. Suddenly, a bat crashes through the open window. Bruce takes it as a sign and promises to avenge his parents' deaths by taking on the form of a bat.
Appearing in "Batman: Year One - Chapter One: Who I Am - How I Come to Be"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Alfred Pennyworth
- Barbara Eileen Gordon (First appearance)
- Harvey Dent (Cameo)
- Holly Robinson (First appearance)
- James Gordon
- Selina Kyle (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Arnold Flass (First appearance)
- Gillian B. Loeb (First appearance)
- Stan the Pimp (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- Renny, Stahnsen, Wilson
- Jackie (reporter)
- Joe Chill (Flashback only)
- Morgan (Single appearance)
- Princess Caroline (Mentioned only)
- Skunk (Single appearance)
- Tom (reporter)
- Wayne Family
- Martha Wayne (Dies in flashback)
- Thomas Wayne (Dies in flashback)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Bay Ridge
- Monarch Theater (Flashback only)
- Crime Alley (Flashback only)
- Chute's
- Finger Memorial (Mentioned only)
- Gotham City East End (First appearance)
- Gotham International Airport
- Gotham City Police Headquarters
- Robinson Park (Mentioned only)
- Sprang Mission
- Wayne Manor
Notes
- This comic is part of DC's line of "Facsimile Editions", nearly-exact reprints of vintage comics including original ads and letter columns.
- This issue reprints Batman #404. For further notes, see the original comic.