Batman is a good example. Whether we're discussing the movie BATMAN BEGINS, the comic story BATMAN: YEAR ONE or THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN, I am not sure what can be added to the mythos, not without going over old ground. There is only so much that can be told, only so much that can be reinterpreted, etc. I feel that there are only so many ways you can show Bruce Wayne training, Clark growing up in Smallville, etc.

In a nutshell, announcements of "Year One" or "Year Zero" storylines are to me what a cross is to a vampire. I recoil in horror!

But, for the purpose of this topic, and I know it will be subjective, is there a character that you feel could benefit from a "Year One" arc? Is there a character you feel could be served well by having his/her early years and pre-superhero life explored?

It did hit on me - and this is a generalisation - that a lot of DC characters seem to have been destined to become what they are (Superman, Batman) whilst a lot of Marvel characters fell into it. I mean, you can do a "Year One" for Superman, but a "Year One" for Bruce Banner might be hard. What ya gonna do, show him drinking milkshake and dating women on Gamma Base? His heroic life (if it can be called that) pretty much started after that gamma bomb explosion.

So, is there a character you feel warrants a "Year One" arc? This isn't one of my usual topics where I'll demand you pick one or two, throw some names out there if you have them. 

I do feel some writers keep returning to the well with Batman. We've had YEAR ONE, but there was a YEAR ZERO in recent years. 

I feel that constant "Year One" stories for a particular character are akin to continually peeling an orange. Eventually, there's nothing left to peel - and you're going over old ground. 

Personally, I like the roots being revisited periodically, just to remind us what lies beneath the soil of the trunk, rather than endlessly sprouting new branches.

I've liked Batman for as long as I can remember. Loved the Adam West show as a child. Loved the scant issues I was exposed to from the era of O'Neill/Adams/Irv Novick/Giordano. But it took until Miller did The Dark Knight Returns for me to learn Batman's origin, strange as that may seem. Year One further cemented its importance. I was a Marvel kid, so my impressions may not be representative, but it seemed like before that there wasn't a great deal of revisiting of the origin. Not enough for someone with a cursory exposure to the character to have picked up on it, anyway.

Futhermore, Miller didn't go over old ground with Batman: Year One. He made a whole lot of new stuff up!

I would also say you mischaracterise the Year One concept by saying a Hulk Year One wouldn't be interesting because of Banner drinking milkshakes and dating women on Gammas base -- the story would pick up the day of or perhaps the day before the explosion. The Year One would be the year following the explosion, surely?

Anyhoo, getting more focussed on the direct question proposed, I think an X-Men: Year One might be interesting, if only because it might remind film companies that Scott, Jean, Bobby, Warren and Hank were the starting point.

I would also ask, Robbie: if you recoil in horror from year one stories, such as a vampire from a cross,  why the repeated animosity for DC not finishing All Star Batman, which is, by another name, a Robin: Year One?

 

Well, this "vampire" doesn't recoil from every "cross". 

ASB interested me as a fan of Frank Miller's writing. I think I bought the first 3-4 issues - and then in 2006, one issue shipped ALL year. I was displeased, especially after Jim Lee acknowledged that the delays were down to him working on a video game (why did DC put him on both projects?). 

I would, as a fan of Miller, been interested to see the finale, but on principle, I dropped the book (sorry, Mr Miller, not your fault, I know) when a 'bi-monthly' series gave me ONE issue in 2006. 

It started in 2005. As recently as 2015, there was talk of it finishing or continuing, whatever the correct term is. It's absurd what happened. Most delayed book ever, surely?

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Touché!!!

BATMAN: YEAR ONE was the one that started it all and it was amazing, but I don't think it really counts anymore--if it ever did.  Did anybody really ever consider Catwoman to have started as a dominatrix prostitute?  Sure, aspects of it may have stuck and made it into the movies, but I think it's pretty much agreed that it's on "Frank Miller World"--along with DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN.  It's an alternate Batman.

Same thing with Geoff Johns' SECRET ORIGIN takes on Green Lantern and Superman.  I don't believe that Hal Jordan had to go through a trial period with a white circle on his uniform and I don't believe that Brainiac blew up Krypton.

And while I loved JB's SPIDER-MAN: CHAPTER ONE, I don't believe Electro ever had a blue costume. or that Peter was in a coma.  Sorry, these things don't jibe with countless other tales that I know were canon.

So, these are all alternate takes on characters by star creators.  Interesting to look at, but not canon (if that word means anything anymore).

I did read "Year Zero" (Batman) recently, and whilst it was passable, I don't think it was necessary. I feel that Batman's early years have been done to death.

I have no desire to see a "Year One" or "Year Zero" story, but that doesn't mean my opposition is absolute (what, in life, is absolute?). If a more obscure character was given a "Year One" arc, and the premise seemed appealing, I'd consider reading it.