Batwoman breaks the most sacred rule of the bat family and all she gets for it is a time out. Makes sense. What are the odds of her beating Cassanda or Bruce?

Has there ever been a time when Batwoman fit in well with the rest? She seems clearly more comfortable with killing than any of the others.

Looks like the book is reverting back to the normal status quo.

Kate's back with her dad.

Steph gone.

Clayface is dead for now.

Luke and JPV are whatever.

Cass and Tim are next on the chopping block.

Baby universes ha.

But I'm sick of the Batman Who Laughs. His word balloons are irritating as heck, in addition he has no feats and he has zero character. His backstory and origins are laughably bad and show that Snyder never understood Batman and Joker's relationship no matter how much he overused the Joker.There's nothing to him, Snyder thinks he cool and awesome and scary but in actuality he's beyond annoying. He's just empty Snyder hype. I cant even call him the most creepy or deranged because there's Dawnbreaker to take those prizes.

He needs to die as horribly as possible, he brings nothing to the table.

@all-father: the way it happened was absurd. Clayface was already beaten, then she basically executed him. If he was rampaging around, her entire argument would have been ssssoo much better, and it would actually have some valid points, this was, he might do it again so I shot him in the head, somehow that translated to I saved everyone. And then the man who made non lethal weapons for the police and adores batman and the religious man decide to agree with her because reasons. Then spoiler leaves the book.....AGAIN....because she cant watch tim do this to himself, because tim's obsessing over his evil counterpart....no motivations here make any sense. Why would kate go back to her dad? wasn't he willing to kill a ton of innocent people as collateral damage during the first arc? To kill a bunch of no name freaking ninjas that cass ending up soloing all 200 of for some reason? Between this and freaking king, the rumored Tomasi replacement should couldn't come quick, he should just take his pick, cause both books make no sense character wise right now.

Shes not gonna beat cass, shes is gonna beat bruce. that's what tynion does, every character on this team must show that they are better than batman because reasons.

I think Tynion was actually brought in to kill Steph, Cass, Tim and Kate. Now fans cant even accuse Didio of sabotage lol.

He has pretty much succeeded in destroying Steph. I know there were people myself included who loved her but now want her to go crawl under a ditch and stay there.

He's kinda done the same thing to Tim but not as successfully.

Cass is a non entity. I cant imagine her fanbase having increased under Tynion but I can easily see her existing fans having grown depressed and pessimistic by Tynion's constant "non use" of her.

Kate will soon be in the same boat as those Batmen of all nation characters. Tynion has destroyed her independence and every thing that made her unique in favor of a female Batman clone.

@entropy_aegis: The Batman Who Laughs apparently killed his universe's Spectre, so that's an off-panel feat, I guess.

But yeah, Snyder is completely incapable of any kind of subtlety. A Joker virus was a cheap way to go.

Not only was it unsubtle it just showed zero understanding about the classic Joker vs Batman rivalry, a virus? f*ck that. Yeah he has a whole lot of off panel feats, statements and other types of hype but nothing to back up what he is. All these Dark Knights are half Batmen, the other halves are basically Joker, Ares, Doomsday, GL, Flash etc. So if we remove the Batmen from the equation then why in Gods name would Ares, Doomsday and others follow Joker of all people. The others bring useful tools to the table, this guy just has an army of cannibalistic shrimps dressed as Robins. Snyder's obsession with Joker has spiraled out of control, Joker is street level(unless given some plot device power up) and someone seriously needs to hammer that idea in to Snyder's brain.

Do you guys think Batman's marriage will last in the long run after King is gone? If not, how do you think they will be back to the status quo? Divorce? Some event that could make the marriage something that never happended?

@elsbook: i personally believe the marriage won't happen. batman works because he's so obsessive, I think that's where king is going with this, batman can't be batman and be happy, so he'll choose to be batman. Which is pretty much what snyder did in the gordon batcop bloom arc he had. King is just rrreeeeaaalllyy extending this. I think the actual planned wedding issue is only in june or july. so a long time away.

@jameswayne: With King level of obsession with Catwoman I think the wedding is a fact. But I don't see the marriage lasting past King. I have the impression not even the other current Batman writers like what he's doing, they seem to be ignoring the whole batcat thing. So I was hopping maybe Dr Manhanttan is altering reality or something like that. I hope DC fire King already, I can't stand 2 more years of his nonsense.

@elsbook: And you can bet that in the DC Nation comic written by no one else but King himself, Selina is going to magicaly somehow beat the f**king Joker because, why the fuck not? She broke Bane's back defeated Talia and can kick anyone else arse that gets in the way of her being the "soulmate" of Bruce. Equal of Batman.

Fuck, the Joker is the only true equal of Batman, because you know.... his nemesis? Damn even Ra's is Batman's equal. But nope, is Selina. The supercat. And I adore Selina, but not the Selina that King writes. I like empowered and badass female characters (being a dude) and the way King has written Wonder Woman, Talia AND Selina is disgusting. Not to mention his Bane, and his clinically depressed Bruce.

His Selina has just plot armor at this point. I always loved Selina Kyle, but King has managed in making me hate her. I can't wait for another writer to give Selina the representation she deserves and not only work as a plot device.

Does anyone else find Gerard Way's Kingdom of the Mad project awesome? DC just released a bunch of figures based on that design which is how it came to my notice. He pitched the idea to DC back in 2008 under the Vertigo imprint, it was approved but he never could find the time to bring it to life. With the amount of delays Doom Patrol has seen I can see what he means.

Oh well maybe one day:

Here are more details

Collectible figures

Bought Dark Days: The Forge/The Casting Director's cut and its b&w. Damnit.

The Batman/TMNT crossover was fun.

Shia Fontana working on Batman: Overdrive for DC Zoom

Batman#41 Preview

I like how he completely forgot that he punched Alfred. Well done King.

@zariusii: that’s....not really what I’m looking forward to. I’ll prolly give Batman L’il Gotham a shot though.

I love Nyugen’s art. :)

Gotham High

Batman: Nightwalker being adapted into a comic book

Ben Percy takes over Nightwing in May

BATMAN MAY SOLICITATIONS

Tynion's run on Detective wraps up that month

Reading those King's Batman solicits was just painful. It Is as if King is browsing a fanfic site and getting his ideas from there. Jesus Christ.

Wow so Tynion is leaving, huh ? I guess the rumor was true after all. I guess we should expect Tomasi to take over. I am definitely not complaining. At least this means we will get to see Damian in a book with Bruce once again. Perhaps now there will be a Bat book worth picking up.

That Deathstroke cover surprised me quite a bit. Did nott think that Slade will be put on the defensive this early in the story, and the cover seems to portray Batman as the overpowering force in the conflict. Surprising, but I guess that is what I should expect from Priest. He is not one for safe and predictable writing.

Suicide Squad will once again feature Batman. I swear to god that plot point about Batman saving Deadshot's daughter have been going on for what feels like years. I like the relationship between Deadshot and Batman so I don't mind it, but it feels weird to see this story popping up all over the place. They should just deal with it in a single arc instead of doing it one issue at a time over several different books.

I'm glad that Tynion's run concludes, but I hope his replacement will be a worthy one. It's easy for DC to play it safe and move from Tynion to Tynion-lite.

@morpheus_: is it confirmed that he's leaving or just his current long saga is ending?

Damn DC is going through as many changes as Marvel. The Bat line will see:

New writer(Percy) on Nightwing and a monthly status for the book.

Cancellation of BOP.

Probable Harley Quinn relaunch with new creative team.

Batman Beyond and Batwoman look like they're on their final arcs and I doubt they'll get relaunched.

Batgirl doesn't look long for this world either.

There's also no sign of Snyder. This could mark the beginning of a true post Snyder era.

On a related note Super Sons is also ending but Tomasi says its not the end of the concept.

But despite all that Tom King is staying, ugh. Its like newly winning democracy only to find out that the old dictator is still staying. C'mon DC, everythings getting revamped so Batman should've seen a similar treatment.

Batman appears to be starring in a bunch of other comics:

Batwoman UGH, Bennet will use him to wipe Kate's ass.

Suicide Squad as well and I hope Williams uses this opportunity to kill Floyd's daughter and return the edge back to Deadshot. The plot line started all the way back in Suicide Squad 1.

Bruce is also apparantely disguised as one of Bane's henchmen. That Conquest cover gives me serious nostalgia.

A) Tom Hardy likeness

B) Harkens back to Bane's redemption arc from Gotham Knights which also featured Kobra, giant Kobra robot and mountains + snow.

Poor Kobra though, against Batman, Deadshot and Bane's army in one month.

And looks like Bruce is brutalizing Slade. Cant wait to see Batman meet Adeline. Ikon suit also seems to be back. Maybe Bruce had an affair with Adeline when Slade had one with Talia lol.

Sins of the father I'm really looking to forward to and cant wait too see how White Knight ends.

Man a lot of negative press for the May solicits largely due to what fans perceive as No Justice and Bendis killing the Titans and Super Sons books.

It does seem though that DC has largely forfeited the month to Marvel.

Me, I'm celebrating Tynion's departure.

Careful what you wish for. If Bendis is already throwing his weight around enough that he can get Super Sons canceled to fit in with his plans, best not to give him an opening in the Batbooks that he can worm his way into.

@saren: I would have been more apprehensive about Bendis had it not been for his Superman takeover. But since he has effectively taken over that franchise Batman is safe for now. Still Bendis is an eventuality imo, I suspect there is a 90% chance of him succeeding King when King's done.

@jameswayne: He's out which isn't as much a surprise if you really think about it. Tynion goes where Snyder goes, his only two attempts at writing DC books without Snyder's support failed. Batman line, New Age of Heroes line and now JL line. Tynion's movements trace Snyder's.

Speaking of Tynion and NAOH, Jim Lee ditched Immortal Men after one issue after delaying it for months lmao.

I can't imagine having to wait for Bendis to finish his two years on the Superman titles before having King replaced. I agree that Bendis writing Batman is simply a matter of time. The guy has already expressed his intent to write the character and I don't see DC turning him down. They are sucking up to King so hard and King does not have half the fame (or infamy I guess) that Bendis has, so expect Bendis to spend two years on Batman as well once he is finished with Supes. My only hope is that we get someone else in between. It is weird to see the Bat office going through so many changes while King remains untouchable. I guess as long as he is holding that 50th issue wedding hostage he is not going anywhere. It is just weird to see DC solicits that read like terrible fanfic without someone at DC realizing how embarrassing that looks.

Why??

Ooh well

Hi all - as a Batman fan of about 30 years, I have always avoided Grant Morrisons work. Tried it once years ago, didn't like it, never went back. However, this year I have decided to finally read his epic Batman saga from start to finish.

I have been working my way through, and actually enjoying it this time! However, following a reading list found elsewhere on this site, I have reached Final Crisis. Now, despite being a big Batman fan, I know relatively little about the DCU as a whole, and two issues in, am finding Final Crisis a real confusing slog!

I've jumped straight in at Final Crisis rather than any Countdown To... issues, since I'm not really that interested in it other than the impact it has on Batman.

My question is, is Final Crisis essential reading to understand Morrisons whole run on Batman, or can it be skipped? If it is essential, would anyone recommend going back to start with the Countdown issues or just carry on with the main series?

Thanks!

@Alex79uk: Countdown is one of the worst series DC has ever produced, so reading it would likely confuse you further rather than elucidate.

Final Crisis is crucial for Batman because a very specific event - from which any Morrison stories past that point stem - occurs there. It's definitely confusing for any reader in general but a great story that serves as an anti-event.

In short, you probably need to go through it, unless you feel like skipping directly to the parts that concern Batman within that story.

Thanks for the reply. I'll be sticking with it in that case! :)

@Alex79uk: If you dont want to read Final Crisis then you dont need to. Batman 701 and 702 effectively retold Final Crisis with the Batman parts of that event.

Man, so many changes happening to both DC and Marvel. I am not sure if this is for the better but we will see how things will turn out for the two publishers.

I am happy that Tynion might finally leave 'Tec but it is not 100% sure, so I don't really want to celebrate anything before it happens.

However, I want to discuss the beginning of the new King arc on Batman. What a terrible start to what seems a new, even worse than mediocre, story that will be forgotten with time. King's Batman book now really starts feeling like an anime. He's doing filler stories that are total bs until he reaches a certain milestone and at that point he will finally tell some story that he thinks is groundbreaking and etc.

I was debating whether I should mention the RIP: Missing chapter but I think he'll still be a bit lost as to how/why some things happened if he doesn't see them first hand.

Guess we'll be seeing if the Tomasi takes over Tec rumour turns out to be true next month. Also the Ivy fans are gonna be ****ed off with King's depiction of Ivy in Batman #41 lol.

@morpheus_: I think a bit lost in a Batman story beats being massively lost in a DCU story lol. Especially since he's not well versed on DC history by his own admission. I love FC and but its not a light read.

Loved Super Sons, very Damian and Talia centric. I think there's a big twist coming with regards to Talia.

@morpheus_: Haha I have actually read the missing chapters before starting Final Crisis, so yeah it kinda felt like I'd missed a lot of story! I've read five issues of FC now, and actually it is pretty good!

@lvenger: What are the odds of some considering Batman tagging Barry an actual feat? Even tho Ivy just made him run directly into his fist.

I've read the first tpb of supersons and it's easily in my top 3 current DC titles. Now it seems they're cancelling it with #16......

.........

I swear if this is somehow Bendis' doing. Smh.

Wow, I underestimated you lol.

Batman/TMNT 2 #4 spoilers

@Alex79uk: It's all good, glad you are having a good time with it. If you revisit later on, you might enjoy it even more.

That awkward moment when you realize that the Batman and Signal writer is doing more myth building than the Batman writer.

New villain debuted in the series, called Gnomon (think Sundial). Has telepathy powers for now. A sun based villain (even if Gnomon is supposed to cast a shadow) vs night based hero. Fairly clever.

Tony Patrick on him:

This is a new villain that is obviously connected to some of the metas popping up in Gotham and I am thrilled to be able to help generate a new baddie for Batman.

I'm not a fan of Duke and I'd be lying if I said I was but more power to the writer if he wants to explore day time Gotham, develop meta human population of the city and create an interesting new villain.

@entropy_aegis: I didn't give #1 a shot, largely due to my indifference towards Duke. I might check it out.

Also, I'm starting to think King genuinely does not care about anyone except for his pet characters. His treatment of the Flash (or any guest star that does not suit his whims) is almost shameful.

@morpheus_: I'm indifferent towards Duke as well.

On that note, there was once a fan on Twitter who posted on King's feed that King's depiction of the villains in WOJAR was brilliant and that he (King) never wastes a character or uses them for just fan service. I was obviously as you can imagine left flabbergasted.

Tynion's gone, here's what he said on Twitter

It’s pretty clear from solicits, but unclear enough that folks have been messaging me since yesterday asking about it… But my last issue of DETECTIVE COMICS will be #981, coming out this May. More than that, it’s my last issue in Gotham City for the immediate future. I've been working on Batbooks for almost six years. It's hard to say goodbye. It's easier when I'm doing it at the culmination of everything I've built over the last two years in Detective Comics. The name of the arc, BATMEN ETERNAL, also marks it as the end of a kind of informal trilogy of the three Eternals. They'll always be my Gotham. (My first Gotham, anyways), but I wanted to nod to what this means to me to be stepping off. And I'll write up something long and sappy with all my special thanks and all of that come May. But until then, there's a lot of work to do. Because I've got big things brewing."

Yeah, he's not moving to Gotham Knights or anything like that. As I stated previously he didn't even last 2 months in a Post Snyder Bat world. Atleast he gave us this gem, even if it was in a crossover

Boy even the Nightwing writer just made interesting contributions by expanding and elaborating upon Bludhaven's history and by introducing the Judge.