Great Pages aren’t always about game-changing story beats, revolutionary introductions, or iconic reinterpretations. Sometimes, Great Pages are something you flip to in a book which makes you stop and stare. That’s the case with this issue of Year One: Batman / Scarecrow.
Published in 2005 to synergize with Batman Begins, this two issue miniseries was written by Bruce Jones and drawn by Sean Murphy. Here, Murphy is a true breakout, elevating a simple Batman short story into something to be remembered. The image of Batman breaking through a skylight is one seen hundreds of times before but rarely with such force behind it. Batman’s cape conveys the speed behind his strike while the sound effects and overturned chairs demonstrate Batman’s power. The angle of the shot leaves the reader cowering in the corner, as afraid of this intruder as the thugs. Murphy breathed new life into this superhero cliche.
From Year One: Batman / Scarecrow #1 (2005)
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Now I know what Sean was talking about in that recent Talksplode when he mentioned that his early DC work was more in line with the DC “house style” than his personal look. Still, I like it!
amazing. instant classic.
I fell in love with his work on Joe the Barbarian. I would love for him to do more work with DC. Sean Murphy on Batman? Yes Please!
His work on Joe the Barbarian was amazing. And I agree, if and when Greg Capullo ever leaves Batman, Sean Murphy should be the replacement. No question.
They offered it to him. He turned it down to work on Punk Rock Jesus.
Nice stuff from 2005! Murphy gets bonus points for not having used the now cliché ‘3-Point Landing’.
Foot. Toes. Knee.
You mean 4-point? Fist?
@Grandturk: I knew he ment ‘fist’, but I didn’t notice that foot, toes and knee are 3 points, either.
Damn, that looks good!
As much as I like Batman, Spawn has tons of these types of pages by the awesome greg capullo/angel medina/and sometimes todd.
I like this page because it is fantastic….BUT you can tell he has improved even more in the subsequent years.
You can feel the impact of this panel, its great.
Haha, didn’t realize this was Murphy right away but it make think of the wonderful silent panel in the last American Vampire: SotF issue. I’d also love to see him do more Batman.
Y’know, I wonder if you would have even considered this page if Murphy wasn’t on his way up. Seems to me to be a bit of fanboy lip servicing. I mean, this page IS six years old. Not that it’s not legitimate, it is a great page.
Just..Where was the notice when this page came out?
I’m not trying to be a thorn here, but, for some reason it gets up my craw a bit. Maybe it’s because I’ve been following him for so long on DA and it’s like seeing everyone else catch up.
I’d love to hear counterpoints, and like I said, I’m not really trying to troll. I’m more putting out a curious observation. Nobody seemed to notice him earlier in his career. Did he even get an iFanboy Upstart?