I haven't read CA #255 so I'll look for that one.

You are right about the well having run dry. When I read that there was a "Year Zero" for Batman (I got the first issues cheap as Eaglemoss were releasing them), I was underwhelmed. Several per character does dilute it. I mean, what's next, BATMAN: YEAR MINUS-ONE?

True.

Looking outside comics, one doesn't need to know everything. I'd have zero interest in a COLUMBO prequel, to be honest. I didn't particularly have a yearning for an Inspector Clouseau prequel. And I would never have lobbied for "untold tales" of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. 

Sometimes, characters come fully-formed, e.g. James Bond. The novels featuring a young Bond don't interest me.

I'll start with discussing that there's a significant difference in Year One's between characters who have their hero-ness thrust upon them, and those who strive to achieve it. As an example cited below, Bruce Banner suddenly became the Hulk; there's no early history to plumb that would add to his story, I think. On the other hand, Bruce Wayne took at least fourteen years* to become Batman. There's a lot of adventure that could be derived from that (I mean, every learning situation couldn't have just been simple and dull; Batman has too much experience even from the first. for there to be no unexpected confrontations or situations to pop up.)

I'm also a big believer in Roy Thomas' retroactive continuity idea; that a lot of things could have happened in the past, but that ANY of these are not allowed to change what has already been chronicled. I'd call it Rule Two, an adjunct of Rule One - a writer can talk about what happened before, but can't change the basic premise of a hero.

So... who would have an interesting Year One story? Tony Stark. The Iron Man armor didn't spring full blown from his head like Athena from the brow of Zeus. He must have had ideas and prototypes of this so that the plans were at least somewhat formed enough that even in a cave in Vietnam, he and Professor Yinsen could build the armor.

Princess Diana. Between being an enchanted clay statue and Wonder Woman, there was a lot of training and development. If we are to believe the published material, that would include rivalries with either Nubia or Artemis. Yes, I know that this leads to Wonder Girl stories; so? There's a lot that could be done with those.

Robin. Between the catastrophe that drove Dick/Jason/Tim/your-name-here to desire vengeance and to serve justice and the first time that the Boy Wonder appears is a lot of training, and, I would assume, some dramatic stories.

Matt Murdock. Same drill; he was struck blind, and then a couple decades later, he donned the black and yellow of Daredevil. What was his training? How did he learn to use his radar sense? What was it like the first time he went out navigating? There might be some good stories there.

And I have just loved the "Tales of Asgard" stories when they popped up in Thor! 'Nuff said.

Let's consider another aspect to the Year One conceit: it makes it dirt simple for writers. They don't need to come up with a new idea**; they can just say, "Okay, here's the character before he became a hero; here he is in his first appearance; I just have to connect the dots!" Of course, there are writers who are actually worth their salt that would make this story fascinating and would follow Rule One faithfully, and those would indeed be swell. But it seems a little bit of an easy option to me.

*Based on the totally uninformed idea that Bruce was eight when his parents were killed, and that he had graduated college before he became Batman.

**Unless, of course, their Year One story actually changes the character's basic premise. Which is a undercover reboot, which sucks.

(I guess technically this would be a year one if, like a smart person, you decided the prequels didn't exist.)

Not generally a fan of recasting characters to show them younger, but in this case the damage is already done and we already have a good actor of the proper age associated with the role. He deserves a chance to redeem Obi-Wan.

Forget it, Ben, it's Chinatown.

And now YOU have gotten me to squirt Diet Pepsi through my nose! Well done, sir, well done.

i mean, it could even be a movie about water rights!

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Wasn't Miller/JR Jr's The Man Without Fear effectively a Daredevil Year One?