entropy_aegis

Here's the designs for Failsafe

Read Zdarsky's first issue on the main book. It was just ok to be really honest. There are certain creative choices that I cannot really get behind for example:

• Tim as Robin in 2022. I don't care about this and if DC wants to go that route then they should give us more of Jason and Dick's time as Robin as well.
• Catwoman and Valmont being shown as lovers. I'm ready to move on from Bat/Cat but showing your main hero as cuckman is not the way to do it. Besides, Tini Howard hasn't even gone that far yet so why Zdarsky chose to make that decision is beyond me.

I liked the use of Penguin and Zdarsky's overall voice for the characters. I'm torn on the new villain as well. Zdarsky has described it as Batman's Doomsday which isn't really a flattering thing to say. Had Doomsday not killed Superman then no one would've cared about him. There's no way DC is signing off on a proper Batman death so Failsafe is already handicapped. Doomsday also looks vicious, mean and frightening plus he was given an original backstory in later stories. Failsafe is conceptually similar to Brother Eye/HARDAC/DAVE/Ascalon, etc and his design doesn't really evoke any sort of emotion. He also comes across as a discount Ultron. I get the Doomsday comparisons:

• It's a technological weapon while Doomsday is a biological weapon.
• It probably learns and develops strategies on the fly much like how Doomsday adapts and develops immunities.
• It feels no pain and emotion like Doomsday.
• It's a product of Wayne tech much as Doomsday is a product of Kryptonian tech.
• Both are focused on their respective purpose

However Doomsday was a more unique concept with a better design and he killed Superman. Zdarsky's previous 2 OC villains- namely Foundling and Cheer- were forgettable too. I hope his run picks up steam but I can see Ram V's Tec stealing the show.

New solicits dropped last week. Some new announcements:

Solicits

A new (and final volume) from Taylor's Dceased saga consisting of 8 issues.

Azrael gets a new Sword of Azrael series from Dan Watters who has already written him in 2 books previously. Watters is also writing Azrael in a summer special anthology coming out that month. That book will also feature the return of Tomasi on a Super Sons story.

King seems done with Batman in August

Bendis's final 2 books are also looking to wrap up that same month.

Williamson confirmed on Twitter that he's also departing from Robin in August.

Some news about the future:

Mark Waid is writing a 5 issues Batman vs Robin series that may lead to Alfred's return:

LINK

Bleeding Cool also reports that DC may launch a new Batman Inc series later during the year.

We know what King is working on now

One Bad day.

A series of prestige one shots featuring select Batman villains. King is working with Gerads on a Riddler book. It seems as if this was Gerads's idea that King is scripting so it could be good. King seems done with Bat books by August for sure.

I can't say that I care about what Tamaki and Ridley are doing with Two-Face and Penguin. Tamaki's tenure on Tec has been mediocre filler and same goes for Ridley. The concept for Ridley's Penguin story seems entirely stolen from Layman's work. Mr Freeze is always meh to me. Catwoman and Clayface's books do not sound particularly original either. That leaves Ra's and Bane and those do not have proper descriptions. Taylor and Williamson are scripting those respectively. I will say that Williamson and Howard working on Bane is a surprise. It seems like this particular one shot may lead to other stories down the road. Willaimson may continue with potential threads in his Robin book.

Tom king and Mitch Gerads are working on what appears to be another Batman project. Greg Capullo has done work on what appears to be a tie inn to the upcoming Gotham Knights game. Mattson Tomlin is possibly creating a sequel to Batman: The Impostor with Lee Bermejo.

Some spoilers from this weeks books

Zdarsky confirmed that "Anton" was Ghost-Maker on his news letter. It's funny that Zdarsky changed his name, visuals and personality to the extent that he became a different character altogether. I can only speculate that it was Abernathy's wish for Zdarsky to use Ghost-Maker. Zdarsky obviously obliged but did so in a very clever fashion. If the Ghost-Maker character is rendered obsolete(which, lbh, he will be) then Zdarsky's story will still be safe.

I've really got to hand it to Zdarsky. He managed to use Ghost-Maker in The Knight 4 without using him. I guessed it was him but he really could have been a completely different character. A better character too if I might add. Zdarsky probably fulfilled the editor's wish while also keeping his story separate from Tynion's to prevent his mini from become outdated. What happens to Ghost-Maker as a character in the long run will not impact this story based on how Zdarsky used him, LMAO. Heck, Chip or some other writer could mould him in to a new character altogether.

Nolanverse

BTAS

Beware the Batman

Arkham

Young Justice

Gotham

Arrow

WOW! I'm very happy about this news. Tamaki's run was filler from day one. It also reinforces my earlier point about DC now moving away from the Snyder-Tynion and King's run on the Bat titles. This is pretty much Post NML/Post OYL/New 52 situation for the Bat books. I'm looking forward to the upcoming era. I've got to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about Ram writing a Ghost-Maker book disguised as a Batman ongoing. Whew! bullet dodged there.

@morpheus_: Hey, welcome back, again.

There are some good minis such as One Dark Knight, Batman: The Knight (by Zdarsky) and Catwoman: Lonely City. Murphy's Beyond the White Knight also just got launched. The ongoing books are really meh right now. The Joker and Robin are the best of the bunch, imo. Though Nightwing seems to be popular among fans too. Zdarsky also wrote the lead feature of the first six issues of Batman: Urban Legends. Right now Williamson is writing Batman, Robin and Deathstroke Inc as part of Shadow War crossover. I enjoyed the fairly recently concluded Impostor and Robin and Batman minis. Arkham City: The Order of the World might be worth a look too.