Eliza Dushku

Frank Miller’s “Year One” Batman story made the Bat cool again. Okay, so he did that already in “The Dark Knight Returns” a few years earlier, but “Year One” was pretty damn cool in its own right. “Batman: Year One” is the latest in D.C.’s highly successful collaboration with Warner Home Video, with the partners putting out at least two titles per year, sometimes more.

“Year One” would follow Miller’s original comics, introducing a young Bruce Wayne as he learns to fight crime, first as a ski-mask wearing vigilante, then later, as the Batman in order to “strike fear into the hearts” of the bad guys. It works. But “Year One” is also the story of Commissioner Jim Gordon, who arrives in Gotham City about the same time as Bruce Wayne’s return home. Along the way, Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, also gets into the mix. It’s good stuff.

The cast list include Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) as Gordon, Ben McKenzie (“Southland”) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, and Katee Sackhoff as Detective Sarah Essen, Gordon’s partner/side dish.

Sam Liu, who is a pro at the direct-to-DVD animated movie genre, directs.