"Batman: Year One" by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli

Batman: Year One is one of the key late '80s tales (like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns) that are credited with re-defining the comics medium. It's as much Jim Gordon's story as Batman's, succinctly showing how Batman's emergence began to change things in a corrupt, ruined Gotham. It's clear that a lot of this formed the basis to Batman Begins, though I'd argue the film's embellishments improve on this version.

The most recent edition also includes a page from an L.A. Confidential-style gossip rag, 'The Crime Blotter'; an introduction by Denny O'Neill (written in 1988); an interesting illustrated afterword by David Mazzucchelli ; a selection of script pages and corresponding layouts; a gallery of sketches and covers (including more roughs); to-scale reproductions of original art and newspaper-print pages; and, finally, another afterword, by Frank Miller.

These extras represent 40 pages, much of it very interesting. Especially intriguing were Mazzucchelli's early '80s submission pencils, which show a detailed realistic style, which was largely abandoned for a scratchy, sketchier style through Year One.