Official Batman Titles thread 2.0 - - Part 11

[Cain]

It's criminal. She took 3 of the most misused and underrated Bat rogues around and breathed new life into all of them completely. Making them well rounded and rich enough for any future writer to take them and do something truly amazing with them in the future and now it's just back to square one with all 3.

I don't read Suicide Squad but I do read Ressurection Man and it was kinda sad to read that weaker version & less compelling version of Floyd Lawton when I still vividly remember what we lost. Ignoring Secret Six in the new 52 continuity is as big a mistake as Dick Grayson and Slade Wilson NOT having a past with each other if you ask me. I can't even imagine what New 52 Catman really will be like if Bane and Deadshot are anything to go by.

 

[Mystirious]

Suicide Squad is just inferior to Secret Six in every way

I'm hoping that DC cancels it and brings Secret Six back with Simone writing it

 

[Roose Bolton]

I hope that real Simone comes back and unmasks this imposter writing Batgirl.

 

[Mystirious]

The last two issues of Batgirl have been getting better I think

I'm going to stick with it for now

 

[RoughNTumble]

mysti what did you think of batwoman's appearance in batgirl

 

[Mystirious]

It was mainly a cameo this month and she's playing a bigger role in next months issue and the one after it

But i was still really happy to see her show up and it made me really excited to pick up the next issue too

I'm interested to find out how things turn out after this issues cliffhanger too

There's no way Kate would actually work with that murdering maniac Knightfall so I'm guessing she's either working undercover for the DEO or else someone else is 'the mole' that the detective mentioned and the cliffhanger is trying to trick us into thinking its Kate as a red herring

 

[SuperCereal]

Yes i'm picking up the next issue if only for BW. I'm sure Simone will job her to Babs though.

In James Gordon's voice: She does that.

 

[Mystirious]

I'mma be if she does

I'm hoping its one of those fights where the heroes fight for a bit, realise they are actually on the same side and they team up

I'd rather read about Batgirl and Batwoman teaming up rather than fighting. That would be lots more fun

If they do though I hope Kate kicks Batgirl's ass

 

[SuperCereal]

I hope so too. Or maybe they can have an antagonistic relationship, not really liking each other but respecting each other way deep down. Think of Tim and Damian, Bruce and Hal (mostly pre reboot), etc.

I'm just worried because Simone always jobs other characters to her pet characters. I mean, even if you hate Kate, she's older, much more experienced, she served in the US army, she isnt coming out of 3 years of being paralyzed, has no self doubts and insecurities affecting her job like Babs does, she has godhax suit and gadgets from the DEO and she fights ghosts on a daily basis.

I'd say she's closer to Bruce than Babs when it comes to skill. Or maybe it's the Batwoman fanboy in me talking.

 

[Mystirious]

I agree Kate is without a doubt Barbara's superior

She's a better fighter, she has far better gadgets, she's way more skilled and confident than Barbara and judging by the way Batgirl has been acting in this series she's far smarter than Barbara too

I'm hoping that they'll end up being friends though. I want Batwoman and Batgirl to be super best friends forever and team up to go kick evils ass

I don't like the thought of them not liking each other

 

[Primal Slayer]

So Stephanie Brown has been dropped as Nightwing in Smallville and is being replaced by Barbara Gordon. Though I dont like Babs having to take up someone elses mantle since she already has her own iconic one.

 

[Mystirious]

Whut

Well sounds like I won't be buying that issue as I was only going to buy it because Steph was in it

Even in a parallel world Steph gets no love

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Will they change her name to Batgirl too? *crosses fingers*

 

[Mystirious]

I'm guessing they'll probably keep the Nightwing name

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So Stephanie Brown has been dropped as Nightwing in Smallville and is being replaced by Barbara Gordon. Though I dont like Babs having to take up someone elses mantle since she already has her own iconic one.

Totally. They should've made Babs Oracle, like she always should be.

 

[SuperCereal]

So Stephanie Brown has been dropped as Nightwing in Smallville and is being replaced by Barbara Gordon. Though I dont like Babs having to take up someone elses mantle since she already has her own iconic one.

I guess they did it so that people who only watched the show and who will pick up the SV book can easily jump into the main DC comics. With Barbara as NW it's easier. Stephanie complicates things.

But it would have been nice to see BQM write Stephanie again. In his interviews he seemed to be writing her as a female Dick Grayson, bringing some happiness into Smallville Batman's life.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I agree Kate is without a doubt Barbara's superior

She's a better fighter, she has far better gadgets, she's way more skilled and confident than Barbara and judging by the way Batgirl has been acting in this series she's far smarter than Barbara too

I'm hoping that they'll end up being friends though. I want Batwoman and Batgirl to be super best friends forever and team up to go kick evils ass

I don't like the thought of them not liking each other

I completely disagree. I would say that considering the mentors they've had, Barbara Gordon is superior to Kate Kane in fighting skill. Barbara Gordon had some rather extensive martial arts training before she became Batgirl and then she became a protege of Batman who is one of the top fighters in the DC Universe. Kate Kane on the other hand has military training and then two years of training throughout the globe. Batgirl has been in the game longer and just has more experience.

In terms of being better equipped, again Barbara Gordon comes out on top. This is a woman who has extensive access to her own high-end tech due to her being a major techie and forming her own tech companies and being an officially sanctioned agent of Batman Incorporated. Wayne Tech is typically considered to be much more top of the line than stolen experimental military tech and the D.E.O. despite the bragging of Director Bones. He acts like Batman Inc., and I say this in Bones' own words, doesn't have "Access to hardware that hasn't even been "invented" yet. Agents ordered to back you up no matter who you're fighting. A killer health insurance plan. Even a new bike, if you want it." If it weren't for the fact that he held her father's freedom hostage, Bones' sales pitch to work for the D.E.O. is flat out terrible because Batman Incorporated offers all of that if not better.

And in terms of intelligence, again Barbara Gordon comes out on top, she is often portrayed as being on par with Batman, one of the smartest men in the DC Universe, if not superior.

Overall, Batwoman has nothing on Batgirl.

 

[Shockdingo]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what did the Dark Knight do to Bane? I haven't read him since the end of Secret Six.

 

[hippie_hunter]

He's back to his Venom addicted self.

 

[WompuM]

Is it back to or has he always been on venom? I feel like all of Secret Six was wiped away in new52.

 

[CrimsonMist]

Batman #11 was kind of forgettable. It ended the way I predicted it would end. Big fight. Villain seemingly killed. Body is never recovered and blah blah blah. The ending was fine. It did what it set out to do and did it well enough. But it was so damn generic that it didn't really do anything for me. None of this Court of Owls stuff is resolved though and it still annoys me that they took a backseat to a really silly plot contrivance. I don't quite care to read the Talon solo book either.

I'll give the next three issues of Batman a shot though. We get two one & dones and then the Joker story of which at the very least I will pick up the first issue.

That said, Swamp Thing #11 was utterly forgettable. And outside of the zero issue in September, I'll be trade waiting Rotworld.

 

[WompuM]

Aw man. There's fillers before the Joker story? I didn't realize that. That's a bummer. But yeah, you're right. The Owls took a major backseat. Lame. The Owls were interesting because they were the puppet masters. There's a reason why the Godfather is about Don Corleone and not Luca Brassi. Physical confrontations are a dime a dozen in Batman stories, but when you find a villain or a group of villains who can best Batman through their history and influence- that's when it gets interesting. The Owls were at their scariest when Batman was tugging at the thread and finding their hidden 13th floors and discovering that not only were they real, but they were everywhere and he had no idea how massive the organization was. We could have had been dealing with the paranoia filled concept. Instead, here we got an owlman fight. Meh.

And it wasn't even a good fight. That **** with the jet engine? ****ing stupid. Did March have loud speakers in his suit so that he could continue monologuing even though he was hovering in front of a ****ing jet engine. And then Batman ****ing answers him! So dumb.

 

[Assassin]

I hope that real Simone comes back and unmasks this imposter writing Batgirl.

if anything, it was an imposter writing Secret Six

 

[Roose Bolton]

Assassin I'm going to lock you and Gail Simone in a janitors closet and keep you there until you sort out your differences.

Or have sex. Either way is fine.

 

[CrimsonMist]

Aw man. There's fillers before the Joker story? I didn't realize that. That's a bummer. But yeah, you're right. The Owls took a major backseat. Lame. The Owls were interesting because they were the puppet masters. There's a reason why the Godfather is about Don Corleone and not Luca Brassi. Physical confrontations are a dime a dozen in Batman stories, but when you find a villain or a group of villains who can best Batman through their history and influence- that's when it gets interesting. The Owls were at their scariest when Batman was tugging at the thread and finding their hidden 13th floors and discovering that not only were they real, but they were everywhere and he had no idea how massive the organization was. We could have had been dealing with the paranoia filled concept. Instead, here we got an owlman fight. Meh.

And it wasn't even a good fight. That **** with the jet engine? ****ing stupid. Did March have loud speakers in his suit so that he could continue monologuing even though he was hovering in front of a ****ing jet engine. And then Batman ****ing answers him! So dumb.

Yea, next issue is about that Harper chick who pops up in issue 7 and then September's issue 0 does some filling in of the timeline. Honestly, i'm a sucker for Year One stuff so I'll be checking it out. But mostly, it's to see if Snyder can still tell solid one-shot stories. I don't know if he hit a sour streak with the latter half of Court of Owls or what, but I have a hope that Snyder can win me back with the post-Owls stuff.

Perhaps the difficult thing with this story is, after issue 7, where do you take the story? They brought Batman to his knees and really messed with his head. The Court is so big and unseen, so how does Batman take it down? Does he at all? Is it open ended? There's a history that could have been explored and the horror and paranoia could have been amped up big time. Oh well. I think Snyder needs get rid of this "Go big or go home!" mindset and focus on telling stories as concisely as possible. If the story takes a year or 6 months, there has to be enough material there to fill it. Otherwise, you get Batman 8-11. Nothing but a fight sequence. If the story takes 7 issues, it takes 7 issues. Don't pad it. So while I'm kind of excited for the Joker arc, I'm more worried that there won't be enough story to make it an interesting 11 issue arc. I don't want it to fall apart mid-way through again.