My copies of the original issues of Batman Year One are buried in a long box somewhere and I haven't really looked at them in years. If I want to read Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's story, I usually grab my 1st printing hardcover off the shelf (yes, I am bragging a bit) and look through it, much like I did this weekend. I grabbed it after seeing a message board thread about
favorite covers where someone posted the cover to Batman #407, the final part of Year One.
The problem with the first collected editions of Year One is that the covers aren't fully reprinted. They're used more as spot illustrations with large portions of those covers obscured. Which is a true shame because after being reminded of the cover for Batman #407, it may be one of my favorite covers.
First off, Mazzucchelli's style on Year One is phenomenal. By this time, he had developed such a stark and bare style where no brush stroke or line is unnecessary. His minimalistic style had started to appear by the end of Daredevil: Born Again but it is fully developed by the time he got to Year One. There's a fantastic precision to each and every line in his art and it's also on display in the covers. After Year One, I always appreciated the "clean" and simple look to Batman. The only artist after Mazzucchelli who ever really replicated this style is Matt Wagner.
The cover to #407 is the yin and yang of Batman and Jim Gordon, the circular design that keeps the two figures forever connected and part of the same whole. From Batman's flowing cape that brings you in on the left side of the cover and then wraps you around Batman, flowing into Jim Gordon's leg and then following up the figure, you can't escape this cover. You can't look away as you're trapped going around and around until you get trapped by Gordon's gun but even that leads you back to Batman and the whole visual cycle continues again.
There's also the great tension in this cover if you take the logo into account. The giant bat nicely throws off the balance of Batman and Gordon. It's a basic part of every issue but here it throws everything off. It creates more conflict in the cover by flowing against the circle formed by the two figures.