Batman and Detective comics discussion thread

@bat_girl_cc: That scan is not from Button arc.

I want DC to give the team in Tec an official name. "The Gotham Knights" or something like that.

@scott_summers52: would be cool.

Are you enjoying Tec?

I've dropped it lol.

Main title is better imo. Well, at least The Button and the brave and the mold were definitely what I wanted. Otherwise I'd have dropped main title as well. Thoughts on King's Batman?

@eto: Honestly, I don't think Tec is as bad as some people make it out to be, but I dropped it too. DC is putting out better things right now.

King's run definitely had a rough start. The "I am Suicide" arc was terrible. If anything, the Swamp Thing team-up issue and The Button prove that King can get better and that he's improving. I really hope "the War of Jokes and Riddles" is good.

@scott_summers52: Yeah well it is what it is.

Yeah King is improving. Maybe he just needed some time or idk. Nice Avi btw. I cannot believe we saw Jays return just to see him vanish like are you kidding me? :/

I also need a good team book. JL and JSA are bad imo. I need JSA. What do you think Johns will writer once Doomsday Clocm ends? Which titles ya want to see in third wave?

@eto: That Jay Garrick tease was really disappointing. I was really hyped to see Jay return to the DC universe, but nothing happened. I'm hoping that they're waiting until after Doomsday Clock to return Jay alongside the JSA. Maybe have Geoff Johns write the JSA book, his Justice Society run was what made me into a huge JSA fan.

For a third wave of Rebirth titles, I would like to see Legion of Super-Heroes (another comic DC loves to tease), Shazam, maybe a Wally West-focused Flash book (I don't know, he's always been a more interesting Flash to me than Barry Allen), and (of course) Justice Society. What about you? There are a ton of characters who could have titles who don't have one right now.

@scott_summers52: Yeah, but you have to bear in mind that "deserves a title" is not enough. For instance, Wally West deserves a title, but it also needs to sell (I'm not saying it won't, but in this case we're pretending it won't).

You get what I mean?

Speaking of Wally, I'm currently reading the Wally West comics (1-247) (all second hands, but in good state). Have read the first three issues. It's gonna be an awesome, spectacular run I'm assuming.

@eto: After Titans, I'm convinced Wally should be put to rest until a writer who actually has plans for the character comes along. Because as of now he's far better as a guest character in Flash and Nightwing than he is in the book he is headlining (and you can't tell me he isn't the protagonist of Titans).

@quinlan58: I'm just happy that Wally is back. But, yeah, Titans isn't the best book, even if it has a lot of potential. Mainly the ugly Brett Booth art turns me away from collecting it.

@eto: I get what you mean. There are a bunch of comics I would love to buy, but I'm not sure how many other people would.

And Geoff Johns' run with Wally West was legendary. The Mark Waid issues weren't too shabby either.

@scott_summers52: Yeah I'm currently reading from the beginning and also got myself Dixon's Nightwing run (70 or so issues). It ought to be great.

The final page of tomorow's Batman

From Tom's twitter.

Preview page from War of Jokes and Riddles

@zariusii: OMG :0

Now, I wonder what'll happen to them further down the road?

Married-Batman might be interesting.

I heard Batman Earth One Volume 3 was going to come out soon.

@scott_summers52: Agreed on both accounts.

I do, however, ask myself if DC is serious with the marriage or just toying with us?

@eto: I have the feeling that this could all be a trick to sell a bunch of copies of Batman 24 and the issues leading up to Selina's answer. Or Tom King just wants to be the guy who almost had Batman married. I mean, this probably is the most memorable thing to come out of King's run so far (besides The Button, which wasn't all him anyway).

Anyone else picking up Dark Days: The Forge #1 tomorrow?

It's really make or break for me. If it doesn't catch my interest, I probably won't follow Metal too closely.

I just read Dark Days: The Forge. It's really easy to describe this book without spoiling too much, imagine all the tropes that Snyder and Tynion love, secret societies of ultra bad asses, Batman having lots of big secrets, a chosen one and a big mystery that links stuff that wasn't linked before. Well take all of that and push it to it's limits and you get Dark Days: The Forge.

That about sums it up. Except it's two secret societies, secrets inside of secrets, an ominous warning laced throughout the issue and putting together stuff that wasn't even there before. So a bigger Snyder story in essence. Guess we should be worried.

@lvenger: is it worth it though? Because when I spend €5 I expect high quality comic, say, Superman/Action Comics/Hal Jordan quality and not something like 'Tec/JL quality, not at all.

@eto: I mean for an event comic it is decent at least. Much better than that trash Marvel calls Secret Empire. At least heroes aren't fighting each other.

The Forge was a solid read. It posed more questions than answers, but still really good in my opinion.

What was up with that Plastic Man egg??

@scott_summers52: Inhavnt read it (not planning to), but glad you liked it!

Is it possible if I go for Dark Days 1#, 2# and so on without reading the one-shot?

Btw, can you tell more about it The Forge,

Do not forget to put spoiler blocks for other users who haven't read it yet lol.

@eto: I'm not sure if The Forge and The Casting are necessary to read for Metal, but I'm guessing they'll make Metal #1 accessible for new readers.

The Forge was all about the different metals and elements of the DCU (Nth metal, Dionesium, etc.) and a conspiracy Batman is trying to uncover about them that dates back to the dawn of humanity. Apparently, he's went behind the backs of the JL to do research with Mr. Terrific on another earth. He even hid an Anti-Monitor machine in the Fortress of Solitude, and Green Lantern finds a hidden part of the Bat-Cave where the Joker is at for some reason...

Yeah, I don't know, there are a lot of things happening that aren't fully explained. It's still well-written, gives you the sense that something really bad is about to go down.

Thanks for that, between this and the Batman News review I realize my decision to avoid this like the plague was a wise one.

Now I'm down to Nightwing, Batman Beyond, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Batman/Shadow, thanks a lot Snyder and Tynion.

I honestly think even that would be better, atleast then everyone would be calling it out for the garbage it is. Now its still garbage, except it cleverly disguises itself.

@entropy_aegis: Snyder's still writing Batman/Shadow though lol. I get where you're coming from though and Metal does have all the hallmarks of a typical Snyder story in the works. Still, Marvel event fatigue has worn me out that something different is welcome at this point. For the record, I won't buy Metal probably, I'm saving my money for Doomsday Clock instead.

Yeah and his contributions to that story are by far the worst, they stick out like a sore thumb but I like the references to the characters' histories, the action, detective work and Stag intrigues me, all of these I consider Orlando's contributions.

I'm definitely not bothering with Metal, even if I was a Snyder fan I would objectively still ask the point of it. So far the marketing machine for this event has been

"Lasers and suits, dinosaurs and Robots, dishum, dishum, pick it up and celebrate the Dark Universe which is like you know the universe has Dark Matter all around it, my friend told me that a few days ago". Seriously this is the official synopsis:

I’ve been planning METAL for as long as I’ve been writing Batman, but I want METAL to be built upon the stories happening now in Rebirth. Most of all we want to create new material that feels really modern and different. And above all, it’s going to be fun. Even with terror and nightmares, it won’t be grim. DARK NIGHTS: METAL will be celebratory, huge and crazy.” — SCOTT SNYDER

“I’m looking forward to rock’n and roll’n together again. Fans have been loud and clear; they want more from us. We’re primed and ready to blow it up.” — GREG CAPULLO

The superstar BATMAN team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo reunite for a massive, universe-spanning event!

DARK DAYS: THE FORGE and THE CASTING hinted at dark corners of reality that have never been seen till now! Now, as DARK NIGHTS: METAL begins, the Dark Multiverse is revealed in all its devastating danger—and the threats it contains are coming for the DC Universe! DARK NIGHTS: METAL is a DC event unlike any other—one that will push Batman, Superman and heroes of the Justice League beyond their limits to take on threats unlike any our world has ever seen! It will take the combined might of the World’s Greatest Heroes as you’ve never seen them before to face what’s coming their way.

No sensible person has any reason to read this based on the information provided, but comic fans are fans and that's the end of it.

Just read Detective Comics #958 - Intelligence Part 1 and, it looked like the start of yet another great arc, full of action, high stakes, character-wise the story seems compeling, also this time it seems like it will be a small scale story, when compared to the previous, and the threat seems big enough...but...just when it looked like Batman would be in trouble, Zatanna shows up and kinda of defeats the threat solo, lol, i hope thats not what happens in the next issue, but thats what seemed like to me...plus, with Zatanna catching this thing of-guard and putting it down from behind, with her powers it won't be easy to make us belive that she can/will be defeated at this point, unless of course the threat its even bigger than what it looks like now...oh well, guess that we have to wait and see what happens :p

Plus, more nice character moments of Cass and Clayface :)

@entropy_aegis: Yeah I've seen this info blurb. It promises a lot but probably won't live up to it lol.

@eto: I've already said that i love most of the characters currently appearing on Detective Comics, and for the most part, i also like Tynion's "take" on them...but the thing about Detective Comics, is that when you're reading it, you clearly get the impression, that that's where the big things are happening...almost every character, friend or foe, that has appeared so far, is so capable, and the threats are so big, that you can't help yourself but to felt excited...and while i don't necessarily prefer big-scale stories to normal-sized ones, i think its fitting for this team, i mean, if you want to have "big guns" in your arsenal, your "goal" must be big as well, right? and now, with the new threat, and Zatanna showing up as well, its only getting bigger :p

It doesn't matter if it makes sense from a marketing perspective, its not Tyinion's job or any other writter, to promote a book that he isn't writting or at least co-writting it...what often happens, is that DC Editorial has some promotional pages for books coming up, either on the start or on the end of the issues.

When i was reading it the first time, i had the clear impression that he was referring to the Tec' team, and i've re-readed it, and i got the exact same impression again.

Ok, i thought that it was, since the other user posted it, idk because i'm not reading Batman anymore, i know alot of people like it, and to each its own, but i just couldn't stand it the lame and boring cast that Tom King chose with Duke Thomas and Gotham Girl to name a few, terrible characterization of Bruce, were the main reasons, and from reading the reviews online i guess i did well in dropping it, King managed to also get wrong Bane and Catwoman lol, but whatever, if some people like it, to each its own :)

That sounds so dumb, I remember Genesis and its stupid attempt to unify all being with greater than human powers, this sounds even stupider than Genesis.

@bat_girl_cc: Actually, review wise Batman has been doing better than Detective lately, and overall they have the same average for the rebirth era. But I also agree that this issue was interesting. I'm hopeful it maintains this time because usually it's here is one character, look how much better they are than everyone else, but in this first issue, I could see Luke, Bruce and Zatanna having roles. Will they just get ragdolled like every other storyline to show how the main character is great? Not sure, but I liked the first issue. It's funny, I like both detective and batman when they're not fighting, but once the fists start flying, I have issues with each book.

I just realized War of Jokes and Riddles isn't exactly 8 issues, its likely 12 issues. eight for the main story, two for a Kite-Man centric interlude drawn by Mann and another one or two for the epilogue. If he follows this pattern for the next arc as well he will have told only 2 stories over 24 issues. Looks like Snyderitis has firmly infected King, this is what super hero comics SHOULD NOT aspire to be.

2 issues of Clay Mann art wasted so that King can tell the origin of a badly overused Kite Man joke that he likes to use so much? are you freaking kidding me? and this one is on the suck ups. I've seen on twitter how they tell King his overused and lame Kite Man joke is the funniest thing they've ever seen. They're fools, the whole lot of them.

The Gotham Resistance issues sound like Night of the Monster Men round 2, yeah hard pass on that.

Batman #25 Preview

Ah, I'm worried we won't get Selina's answer in this issue. King might draw it out until the end of the story arc.

They won't refer to that till the end of the year. My guess is they want to end the year with a big bang for Batman comics.

@eto: If she does say yes, I bet they will save the wedding for the 1000th issue of Tec.

@scott_summers52: They could totally do that! When will be the 1000th issue of Tec?

I do know that Action Comics 1000thnissue will coincide with the last issue of Doomsday Clock which is pretty awesome.

@eto: If Tec continues to be bi-monthly, issue 1000 should come out February 2019. I think? Maybe I messed up my math. Anyone can feel free to correct me.

That might be too long to wait for the wedding. Still would be cool.

I hope that DC changes the creative team for Detective comics and the Batman line in general. I don't want them to ruin what should be a celebration.

I am concerned about the upcoming storyline in Batman. I know that it will be beautiful, it's obvious - we have Mikel Janin. But my main concern is that it will turn out like I Am Suicide or it might turn out to be even worse. It will continue for way too long and at the same time it will have like 1 or 2 filler mini-arcs withing itself.

Batman's editorial team really needs to stop allowing these gigantic storylines withing the Batman books which fall flat at the end.

The problem with these gigantic story arcs with Batman is that they all have a underwhelming ending, i hope this one won't

It already seems that they did refer to it.

Issue 25 wasn't bad. The dialogue was a vast improvement over King's usual fare. Mikel Janin's art alone is a great reason to pick up this issue.

I read Batman 24, and I was confused. Why was ET dressed as Gotham Girl?

Anyways, I had to check out. I finished the story, and I think I'm done with Batman. Batman will probably get married and use the Scott Snyder clone machine or whatever it was (I just heard what happened since I couldn't finish his run). He'll probably use it on Duke to be Batman or something. I just hope Bat can get over his painful life of loneliness with absolutely no one to confide in accept Cat. Poor Alfred. Poor Damian. Poor Dick. Poor...eh, I don't care about the rest of the family. I don't blame Bruce for not thinking about them. I don't even remember them.

In terms of gigantic storylines this is not nearly as bad as the 13 issue Zero Year. I don't mind long storylines but Snyder did them all the darn time and it got annoying and cheesy. I have been loving King's Batman though and love getting a look at younger Batman, while Bruce lays in bed with Selina and tells cool stories about his past adventures. And the art is wonderful.