Cover: David Mazzucchelli

Batman #407

May 1987 · DC · 0.75 USD; 1.00 CAD; 0.40 GBP

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“Batman Year One Chapter Four: Friend in Need”

★ 1st appearance — James Gordon Jr.

About this Issue

Batman #407 closes 'Batman: Year One' — the four-part Frank Miller / David Mazzucchelli arc that became the definitive Post-Crisis origin for both Batman and Jim Gordon, and the template against which virtually every subsequent Dark Knight retelling has been measured. As the concluding chapter, it resolves the arc's central tensions: Gordon dismantles Commissioner Loeb's corrupt regime, Batman and Gordon seal their alliance for the first time, and the Joker is mentioned as an incoming threat — a story beat so resonant that the closing panels of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins directly echo it. The issue also carries the first appearance of James Gordon Jr., a character whose shadow over the Gordon family would be explored decades later in Scott Snyder's 'The Black Mirror.' Taken as the capstone of a story that DC itself considered the first canonical Batman tale in New Earth continuity, issue #407 is the moment Year One earns its title: by the last page, Gotham's year of baptism by fire is over and the mythology as modern readers know it has formally begun.

In "Batman Year One Chapter Four: Friend in Need," Batman pushes deeper into Gotham’s criminal underworld, forging an uneasy alliance with Lt. Gordon as they confront the city’s entrenched power structures. With the Gordons now welcoming their newborn son into the world, the fragile trust between the detective and the cop begins to take root—testing how far they’re willing to go to protect Gotham. Written by Frank Miller and illustrated with precision by David Mazzucchelli, the issue’s cover by Mazzucchelli captures the weight of this pivotal moment in Gotham’s history.

writer Frank Miller · artist, inker David Mazzucchelli · colorist Richmond Lewis · letterer Todd Klein · cover David Mazzucchelli

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $9

CGC 9.8 · 315 in census $102

CGC 9.6 · 363 in census $60

CGC 9.4 · 262 in census $41

CGC 9.2 · 131 in census $37

CGC 9.0 · 95 in census $37

CGC 8.5 · 60 in census $30*

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CGC 8.0 · 37 in census $26

CGC 7.5 · 17 in census $24

CGC 7.0 · 13 in census $23*

CGC 6.5 · 5 in census $23*

CGC 6.0 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

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More listings for this title

Newsstand $2.75 VF/NM $7.77 VERY FINE $7.99 FN $9.99 Newsstand $9.99 VF+ $10 NM- $11 VF/NM $12

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History

The contract Frank Miller signed for The Dark Knight Returns also committed him to write a canonical Batman origin story for DC; that obligation eventually became 'Batman: Year One.' Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli originally envisioned the project as a prestige-format graphic novel titled 'The Batman,' but editor Denny O'Neil — concerned about flagging sales on the ongoing Batman series — persuaded the pair to serialize it across four monthly issues instead, beginning with #404 in February 1987. Miller was initially resistant, worried that serialization would force him to honor decades of existing continuity, but O'Neil argued that Crisis on Infinite Earths had effectively cleared the slate, giving Miller the same creative latitude he had enjoyed on The Dark Knight Returns. Richmond Lewis colored the entire arc by hand, working within the roughly 60-color ceiling imposed by newsprint printing — a technical constraint that Mazzucchelli later credited as shaping the story's deliberately muted, noir palette. Issue #407 (cover-dated May 1987; on sale January 20, 1987) was the final chapter, subtitled 'Chapter Four: Friend in Need.'

Trivia · 8 facts

Batman #407 is the concluding fourth chapter — 'Friend in Need' — of the 'Batman: Year One' story arc (Batman #404–407), written by Frank Miller with art and cover by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, cover-dated May 1987 and placed on sale January 20, 1987.
The issue contains the first appearance of James Gordon Jr., born to Barbara and Jim Gordon during the story's climactic final pages.
Gordon dismantles Commissioner Loeb's stranglehold on the GCPD by having Jefferson Skeevers — coerced by Batman — testify against Detective Flass and expose Loeb's corruption to Internal Affairs, forcing Loeb's resignation; Gordon is subsequently promoted to Captain.
Catwoman (Selina Kyle) raids Carmine Falcone's home and rakes her claws across his face; the media mistakenly reports that Batman and Catwoman are working together — the first public pairing of the two characters in this continuity.
The final panels contain an oblique reference to the Joker threatening to poison Gotham's water supply, and Gordon has already made contact with Batman — a beat that Christopher Nolan adapted almost shot-for-shot as the closing scene of Batman Begins (2005).
The issue was deemed the official Post-Crisis origin endpoint for Batman in New Earth continuity; it remained canon from 1987 until DC's New 52 reboot, when Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's 'Zero Year' replaced it.
The story — including this issue — has been reprinted in the Batman: Year One trade paperback (first collected June 1988), multiple deluxe hardcover and paperback editions, a 2016 Absolute Edition (featuring new scans from Mazzucchelli's original art and remastered Lewis coloring), and a DC Facsimile Edition (published December 2023, cover-dated February 2024).
The entire Year One arc, including this chapter, was adapted as a DC Universe Animated Original Movie in 2011, directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu, with Bryan Cranston voicing Jim Gordon and Ben McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman; the film was praised for its close faithfulness to the source material.