DC Animation have just released an early sneak peek at their upcoming adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal comic book BATMAN: YEAR ONE. Let’s take a look!

For those unfamiliar with the story (for shame!), here’s the official synopsis:

“A young Bruce Wayne has spent his adolescence and early adulthood, traveling the world so he could hone his body and mind into the perfect fighting and investigative machine. But now as he returns to Gotham City, he must find a way to focus his passion and bring justice to his city. Retracing Batman’s first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante, we watch as he chooses a guise of a giant bat, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham.”

The impressive voice-cast includes Brian Cranston (BREAKING BAD); Eliza Dushku (BUFFY/ANGEL); and Katee Sackoff (BSG). The only nit-pick is the absence of Kevin Conroy, who’s voiced BATS in Animated form since 1992 (you’d need to be a detective of the Caped Crusader’s calibre to figure out how THE OC’s Ben McKenzie nabbed that gig.)

BATMAN: YEAR ONE is due to hit DVD this September, and will also include a CATWOMAN short.

As looking forward to this as we are, we’re ‘super’ excited for DC’s next BATMAN animated feature scheduled for 2012 – THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. If they’re as faithful to that as they’re being here, that should be something very special indeed.

Any BATMAN tales you’d like to see adapted in the future? Let us know with your comments below!