Batman: White Knight Presents: Year One

Batman White Knight: Presents: Year One is an American comic book published by DC Comics under its Black Label imprint. The ten issue limited series was written and illustrated by Sean Murphy who also did Batman: White Knight and Batman: Curse of the White Knight. It serves as a prequel to the two previous works and is the sixth installment in the entire Murphyverse as a whole.

This story takes place twenty years before the events of Batman: White Knight, it tells of Bruce's early days as Batman and of his crusade to take down powerful mafia don, Carmine Falcone. It also tells of his tragic romance with Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman.

Plot
Present: Shortly after the events of Batman: Curse of the White Knight, Bruce Wayne is on his way to Stonegate Penitentiary when he asks Harvey Bullock and the accompanying police officer if he can be quickly brought to the gravesite on Wayne Manor for a moment. Once there he passes the graves of both his parents and Alfred before kneeling down at one, Bruce then becomes emotional as he puts his hand on it and tearfully mentions the name Selina.

20 Years Earlier: The story then flashes back twenty years, where a 25 year old Bruce returns to Gotham after spending five years abroad. He returns to Wayne Manor where he is reunited with his butler Alfred Pennyworth and tells of his plans for his one man war on crime, although Alfred is concerned about this, he nonetheless supports him on his intentions. At the same time, James Gordon moves to Gotham City with his wife and baby daughter, Sarah and Barbara, after being transferred from New York City. He meets with GCPD Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb who partners him with Detective Henry Smith, who also shares Gordon's

That night Bruce goes on a mission to Gotham's red-light district in disguise. However he is reluctantly drawn into a brawl whilst defeating 14 year old prostitute, Holly Robinson from her abusive pimp. Whilst fending off several prostitutes, he is stabbed in the leg by a prostitute whom he recognizes as his childhood friend Selina Kyle. Selina then calms her pimp and the other prostitutes down, she brings Bruce into her apartment where she cleans his wound. When asked about her lifestyle, Selina confirms that her mother borrowed money from Gotham's most powerful mobster, Carmine Falcone and her mother then forced her into prostitution until the debt is settled.

After returning to Wayne Manor, Bruce confides in Alfred that he is uncertain that whether he is able carry out his war on crime, despite the intense training he learned abroad. Alfred however assures him that he will succeed and that all he needs is something to motivate him, after leaving, a bat crashes through the window and lands on a bust of Thomas Wayne, inspiriting Bruce to don a costumed identity known as Batman.

After getting off to a rocky start, crime soon begins to rapidly decline due to Batman's efforts. Carmine Falcone however is enraged by this, as Batman's activities severely affect his criminal dealings. He then orders Loeb, who is in his pocket to arrest him, even having his son, Mario and several of his henchmen to kill him. After escaping cops sent by Loeb, Batman interrupts a dinner party hosted at Carmine's mansion and announces that Falcone and everyone in his pocket will face justice for their actions no matter how long it takes. Loeb then tasks Gordon and Henry with capturing Batman, either dead or alive. Batman meanwhile continues his crusade, even becoming allies with his old friend friend, Harvey Dent, the district attorney, who seeks to bring down Falcone. He also attracts the interest of Selina who dons a costume of her own and comes Catwoman, a car burglar.

One night, after taking out Mario and Falcone's henchmen, Ron and Don. Batman comes across Selina robbing a jewelry shop and after a quick chase, manages to catch her. They then both learn each others identities, before returning to Wayne Manor where they confess their love for each other and passionate make love. Meanwhile, Carmine visits Mario in jail. After learning that Harvey Dent will serve as prosecutor for his trial, Falcone hands him a vial of acid and tells him to throw it at Dent during the trial. Bruce and Selina then start a romantic relationship, even attend Mario's trial together. However during the trial, Mario throws the acid at Dent and brutally scars him, despite Bruce's attempts to save him. After witnessing Bruce's attempts to save Dent at Mario's trial, Carmine begins to suspect that Bruce is Batman.

Present: The grave Bruce visits is revealed to be Selina's. It is also revealed that the deaths of Selina and their unborn child were the reasons Bruce became more brutal in his crime fighting. Later that night in his cell, Bruce is met by a vision of Selina holding their baby son, whom she named Damian. Meanwhile Alberto and Gilda are shown living together in an Amish community with their daughter Katrina.

Characters

 * Bruce Wayne/Batman - The 25 year old heir to the vast Wayne fortune who recently returned to Gotham after spending five years abroad studying martial arts, man hunting and criminal science. When he was 10 years old his parents, Thomas and Martha were shot by a mugger in front of him. This lead him to swear to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of his life raging war on crime, when he was 20, he traveled the world to train his body and mind to peak condition. When he returned to Gotham, he witness a bat landed on the bust of his late father, he then decided that he would fight crime as the vigilante Batman.
 * Selina Kyle/Catwoman - A prostitute who leads a double life as a cat burglar and Bruce's childhood who later becomes his his lover. She and Bruce both first meet when they were children, when he and his parents often visited her neighborhood to provide help for the poor families who lived there. When she was 17, her mother forced her into prostitution after borrowing money from Carmine Falcone. She and Bruce later reunited when the latter returned to Gotham to wage his war on crime, the two began a relationship. After seeing Batman on the news, Selina decided to become Catwoman, a highly skilled cat burglar.
 * James Gordon - A police captain who was transformer to Gotham from New York City. He is an honest cop who tries to do the right thing, however he is always forced to back away by Loeb. When Batman begins his crusade, he is ordered to arrest him by orders of Loeb. But he soon comes to understand that Gotham needs Batman
 * Alfred Pennyworth - The loyal butler to the Wayne family and Bruce's legal guardian since the murder of his parents. He is shown to be uncertain of Bruce's intentions to fight crime as Batman, however he ultimately supports his decision.
 * Henry Smith - A detective in the GCPD who is one of the few honest cops in Gotham City. He was partnered with Jim at the beginning of the story, he reveals that
 * Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb - The corrupt commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department who is in the pocket of Falcone.
 * Harvey Dent - The district attorney who becomes one of Batman's strongest allies. At first he helps Batman in his crusade against crime and to take down Carmine Falcone, tragically however Mario throws some acid in his face, permanently scarring him and turning into the supervillain Two-Face.
 * Carmine Falcone - The most powerful mafia don in Gotham City who is known as "The Roman" and the main antagonists of the comic. He is shown to have most of Gotham City Council, including Commissioner Loeb in his pocket,
 * Mario Falcone - Carmine's first born son and heir to his criminal empire. Due to his fathers favoritism and upbringing, Mario is incredibly arrogant and considers himself to be above everyone.
 * Alberto Falcone - Carmine's second born son whom he considers the black sheep. He is treated very badly by both his father and older brother who consider him weak and pathetic, he was once married to Gilda until she told him that she didn't love him anymore and annulled their marriage much to his shock and sadness.
 * Joe Chill - A former accountant and reluctant hitman for Carmine.
 * Gilda Dent - The wife of Harvey Dent and ex-wife of Alberto. She and Alberto met whilst attending Oxford University, they fell in love, got pregnant and married. However Falcone forced her to annule her marriage to Alberto and abort their child after threatening to have him killed, but not before witnessing Falcone's raping and killing her first.
 * Maria Kyle - Selina's selfish and abusive alcoholic mother. She is often seen laying around her and Selina's apartment either passed out or drunk, it was revealed that she borrowed money from Carmine Falcone, forcing Selina to work as a prostitute until the debt is paid, however its revealed that she keeps borrowing money from Falcone.
 * Holly Robinson - A 14 year old girl who works as a prostitute and lives with Selina.
 * Sarah Gordon - The wife of James Gordon and the mother of Barbara, who later grows up to become Batgirl.

Reception
Batman: White Knight Presents: Year One received critical acclaim from both critics and readers alike, with praise for the comics plot, art style, dialogue and dynamics between characters, emotional depth and tragic romance between Bruce and Selina.