Batman Year One Gets A Stealth Sequel in Secret Files Peacekeeper01

Batman: Year One Gets A Stealth Sequel in Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01

Despite being one of the newer characters added with Fear State, Peacekeeper-01’s backstory reveals itself to be a secret sequel to Batman: Year One.



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Batman Year One Gets A Stealth Sequel in Secret Files Peacekeeper01

Warning! Spoilers for Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 ahead!

Fear State may be Scarecrow’s brainchild, but ultimately most of the key characters in the narrative are new players to the Batman mythos, such as Miracle Molly and Simon Saint. While these characters have some tangible connection to Batman’s long and rich lore, ultimately it’s Sean Mahoney, AKA Peacekeeper-01, who has the strongest link to the Caped Crusader and his history. In fact, one could go as far that his complete origin story as outlined in Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 is a spiritual sequel to Frank Miller’s legendary Batman: Year One.

Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 by Ed Brisson, James Tynion IV, and Joshua Hixson follows Peacekeeper-01 after being injected with a high dose of Scarecrow’s fear toxin. As Mahoney experiences unbridled terror, he goes on a rampage across Gotham as he tries to find ways to center himself and calm himself down. He reaches several landmarks important to his personal life, causing him to reflect on his life and the trajectory that led him to becoming Peacekeeper-01. Along the way, he contemplates his family history, and its intricate history with the Gotham City Police Department.

Sean Mahoney comes from a family of police officers; his great-grandfather Henry Mahoney was one of the first officers in the GCPD, and his grandfather and father followed in their ancestor’s footsteps. Beginning with his grandfather, the Mahoneys became crooked cops, working with crime families like the Falcones under the pretense of maintaining “order” in Gotham, since crime can never be fully stamped out. The Mahoney family had been on the take for years, and silencing department members who tried to come clean. Sean Mahoney himself witnessed his father murder a fellow police officer who was going to cross the blue line of silence and incriminate former Commissioner Loeb. When James Gordon took over the department and started rooting out corruption, Mahoney’s father and grandfather found themselves out of a job, and Sean himself unable to join the force.

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At the start of the issue, Peacekeeper-01 blames James Gordon and Batman for his failure to join the GCPD. In Batman: Year One, James Gordon transfers over to Gotham only to find a crooked police department under the rule of Commissioner Loeb. As Gordon and Batman team up to clean up the city and the GCPD, the focus of Batman: Year One becomes their relationship as they both begin their careers in Gotham. Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 offers a fresh perspective on the duo’s crusade, from the view of a family of crooked cops who have lost their place of prominence in the city.

While Gotham has always had problems, a great deal of these spawned from the GCPD becoming a crime-riddled institution effectively under the control of the mafia. Mahoney himself recognizes then when he finally confronts his father, saying, “But it was you—you and your father and his father. You were the ones who created this mess. Batman and Gordon, they’re simply symptoms of the disease you helped spread.” Additionally, the issue’s use of a lighter color palette with an emphasis on yellow and red hues is very similar Batman: Year One’s visual style, as are the artist’s lines and facial expressions, making this not just a narrative spiritual successor, but a visual one as well.



Peacekeeper-01 may have been the hero Gotham needed after the events of A-Day, but it was always clear that his character is deeply flawed, and the man behind the mask deeply traumatized. While his story may be a spiritual sequel to Batman: Year One, Sean Mahoney’s story lacks the upbeat ending Gordon and Batman got after ridding the GCPD of corruption.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/peacekeeper-batman-year-one-sequel-gotham-police-corrupt/

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