5. The Goddamn Frank Miller
Frank Miller rightly casts a long shadow across Batman because of The Dark Knight Returns and Year One. Besides the references to Year One there are other moments in Dark City that wink at Miller's Batman legacy. There's an amazing Dark Knight Returns-esque panel of Batman watching a young Barbara playing with a puppy in Batman #27, the lightning crackling behind him, and a stunning full page visual of Batman leaping from the Batblimp to the Riddler's balloon which also uses the Miller graphic of a shadowy figure against the dramatic, storm clouds/lightning background. Full credit to Capullo for creating these wonderful images that are both reminiscent of Miller's work and Capullo's own style the use of bright colours help differentiate between the two! And speaking of the Batblimp, when Batman appears in it in Batman #29, the GCPD declare "it's the (censored) Batman!" with a G and a N peeking out from behind the "censored" label. Even a piece of All-Star Batman and Robin makes it into Zero Year!