Batman: Year One to be Released in 2011

[Paul (ral)]

Great thoughts BatmAngelus. I haven't seen it yet but you have definitely given me something to think about when i do see it!

[Silver Nemesis]

Did you see the DC Showcase: Catwoman short, BatmAngelus? And if so was it any good?

[BatmAngelus]

I saw it.  A lot of action, a lot of gratuitous shots of Catwoman and an unnamed stripper, and not much else.  It felt to me as if they were trying too hard to appeal to the adult male audience and overall, it seemed long for such a basic story. 

I'm curious, though, if the rumors about Catwoman being a stripper in The Dark Knight Rises were actually referring to this short.

[Silver Nemesis]

Sounds pretty weak. I didn't know she was depicted as a stripper in the animated short.

There was a Bronze Age story (Batman #350-351, 1982) in which Selina briefly worked at a strip club in order to impersonate a dead stripper who happened to look like her. But I doubt that would've influenced Nolan or the animated movie.

Anyway here's a gratuitous scan of Selina stripping in Batman #350. It's relevant to the topic at hand, so what the hell...



To be honest I'm hoping they don't go that route in TDKR. I never liked Miller's Catwoman, and the sleazy stripper-angle sounds like it's derived from his interpretation. Hopefully those rumours were about the animated film, and Nolan will take a different approach.

[BatmAngelus]

Small spoilers for the DC Showcase: Catwoman short below...

Sounds pretty weak. I didn't know she was depicted as a stripper in the animated short.

Technically, she's only posing as a stripper in a scene, like in the panels you posted.  But really, it seems like an excuse to see Catwoman pole dance and show cleavage. 
The short tries to justify it by having Catwoman unzip her costume so she can retrieve her whip from inside and start going after the thugs in there, but....since when did Selina ever hide the whip in the suit like that?  Doesn't she always have it hanging from her hips anyway?  It just seemed like a big excuse to sex up the animation.

Anyways, what makes those comic panels work better to me is that it seems to be an actual plot point- she recognizes a culprit.  As a reader, I'm wondering what she's going to do about him next.
In the animated short, Catwoman already knows that the villain is in the audience.  She could easily just enter the room, whip away the thugs' guns, and started beating criminals, without the whole striptease, and the story wouldn't have been different in the slightest.

To be honest I'm hoping they don't go that route in TDKR. I never liked Miller's Catwoman, and the sleazy stripper-angle sounds like it's derived from his interpretation. Hopefully those rumours were about the animated film, and Nolan will take a different approach.

Same here, though I'll be pretty surprised if Nolan goes that route.  His movies seem rather chaste.

It's a shame because DC Showcase: Catwoman could've had been so much better and more memorable, especially with Paul Dini writing it.  It could've been something that actually added to the Year One movie, since they got the same voice actress to do Catwoman. 
Selina doesn't have a huge role in Year One anyway.  Why not use the short to explore more of Selina's early days like in Her Sister's Keeper or Catwoman: Year One?  You could do a short all about Selina's first night out as Catwoman (which, aside from Batman Returns, audiences haven't really seen before).  Or cover her heist on Commissioner Loeb's place, which is mentioned in both the Year One comic and the movie but never seen.  Or portray the first face-to-face meeting/confrontation between Batman and Catwoman, set after the movie in which Catwoman wants to prove that she's not Batman's "assistant."  I would've liked to have seen any of those versions over what we got here. 

[Silver Nemesis]

In the animated short, Catwoman already knows that the villain is in the audience.  She could easily just enter the room, whip away the thugs' guns, and started beating criminals, without the whole striptease, and the story wouldn't have been different in the slightest.

Reminds me of the scene where Halle Berry's Catwoman dances in the night club in the 2004 film. It's utterly pointless and makes the character appear needlessly trashy.

Selina doesn't have a huge role in Year One anyway.  Why not use the short to explore more of Selina's early days like in Her Sister's Keeper or Catwoman: Year One?  You could do a short all about Selina's first night out as Catwoman (which, aside from Batman Returns, audiences haven't really seen before).  Or cover her heist on Commissioner Loeb's place, which is mentioned in both the Year One comic and the movie but never seen.  Or portray the first face-to-face meeting/confrontation between Batman and Catwoman, set after the movie in which Catwoman wants to prove that she's not Batman's "assistant."  I would've liked to have seen any of those versions over what we got here. 

That idea sounds much more interesting. I understand they were dealing with a limited running time/budget, but surely they could've done something along the lines of 'The Man Who Falls'; showing flashbacks to key scenes from the stories you mentioned. That would've made a much more effective film.

Now that you mention it, I don't think Catwoman's origin story has ever been depicted in any adaptation other than Batman Returns. Not even the animated shows. And since Nolan doesn't seem concerned with his villains' origins (with the exception of Two-Face) I doubt we'll see it in The Dark Knight Rises either. Which makes this short film even more of a wasted opportunity.

[Batman88]

I'm planning on getting both Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Year One. Are they worth buying ? Which Batman animated films , among the most recent ones produced, are worth getting the most ?

[Azrael]

Both of them are brilliant, Batman88. These two alongside Gotham Knight are mandatory on any Bat-shelf (I know, my initial reaction to Red Hood wasn't a very positive one, but... things change). I hope DC adapts more comic book stories to animated films.