Official Batman Titles thread 2.0 - - - - - - - Part 16

[Naked Shia]

or maybe he'll rip his tongue off and try to put it in batman's mouth.

 

[Broseph44]

Just finished Earth One Vol 2 last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was as good as volume one, in my opinion and cleverly introduced us to Two Face and Riddler. Great story and great art work. Anyone know if they're planning on a volume three?

Yep they're doing a volume 3. I agree I loved both especially volume 2. Also nice username, fellow Rangers fan?

Tomasi is taking over 'Tec this October:
http://ramblingandranting.com/2015/...king-over-batman-detective-comics-in-october/

Sweeeeeeeeet t:

 

[The Shape]

I'd be down with another Joker OGN.

I'm always down for one.

 

[NosfeRomas]

Batman Endgame sucked !

That's wasn't much of a surprise for me but what did surprise me is how Scott Snyder really does not get the Joker. So bad.

And he never commits. He wanted to turn him into Pennywise and then he retconned it an issue later.

I cannot wait for him to drop Batman.

 

[Slade W]

Snyder tweeted these tonight:

https://***********/Ssnyder1835/status/624061281482506240

https://***********/ssnyder1835/status/624062551203180544

I'd be down with another Joker OGN.

Excellent news. I love Snyder's Joker. I really hope he writes it. He keeps saying he will never write another Joker story yet here he is again. You can tell he really loves the character and that is reflected by how well he has written him. He really gets the character IMO.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Heh, the two posts before mine are opposite sides of the Snyder/Joker spectrum apparently.

 

[Gee]

Anyone picked up Batgirl Annual #3 today? It was so much fun. Great to see her bumping into Stephanie and Batwoman.

[BLACKOUT]DickBabs, though... [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Gee]

Lee/Azz's Batman: Europa is finally being released next November...

BATMAN: EUROPA #1
Written by MATTEO CASALI and BRIAN AZZARELLO
Layouts by GIUSSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
Art and cover by JIM LEE
1:25 Variant cover by LEE BERMEJO
1:100 B&W Sketch variant by JIM LEE
On sale NOVEMBER 18 • 40 pg, FC, 1 of 4, $4.99 US • RATED T+
Superstar artist Jim Lee returns to the Dark Knight with this premiere issue! The impossible has happened and Batman is on the verge of being taken down by an enemy he cannot defeat: a virus for which there is no cure! And the only hope for his salvation is The Joker! Who infected Batman, what does the Clown Prince of Crime know, and how will the Dark Knight get that information? Together, the enemies crisscross Europe, desperate to find answers before time runs out.
Co-conceived by Matteo Casali and Brian Azzarello, this 4-issue miniseries event will feature art by top talents over layouts by the incomparable Giuseppe Camuncoli (HELLBLAZER, Dark Wolverine), with the first issue pencilled and inked by none other than Jim Lee!

http://comicsalliance.com/batman-europa-dark-knight-iii-solicitation/

 

[Mani-Man]

This Batbunny Robot Arc is tough and feels like we have it for 10 years already.
Its such a boring story to me...i cant get into it.

Snyder is a good writer, but i feel like he tries too hard to make an impression and write stuff that will be considered canon by everybody.

Batman 43 was so far the worst in my opinion.

Spoiler

Mr Bloom and Alfred were the only two good things the Arc has brought up so far.
Everything else breaks apart to me...i have not enjoyed a Batman issue since this arc started.
Not even Capullos Art can help it much.

Even worse, now detective comics also suffers.
I loved the Anarky arc with Bullock and Batman working together.
Now they continue with giving more focus to Bullock, but the Robot Batman involvement hits it hard to me.

I dont know where snyder wants to go with the arc, but i hope not into the direction i fear.
I do however have the feeling that he has a Ace in the backhand, so i wait and see what he does.

Currently its hard for me to get into any Batman series, maybe that is a good thing...it would give me time to start reading into other comics that do interest me.

I would love to see snyder approaching Scarecrow when/if he goes back to the good old status quo.

 

[Spider-Ock]

I am actually thoroughly enjoying "Superheavy" so far. The final action sequence between Gordon (who has ditched the robosuit for some time) and Mr. Bloom's goons in #43 was really well drawn.

Other than that, I like that they are focusing on what truly defines someone as Batman. Can't wait for the next one!

 

[Broseph44]

Snyder's whole run has been awesome to me and I am still enjoying it a lot even with Gordon as Batman. I like this Mr. Bloom character and as always the art is wonderful.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

Scott Snyder's big problem is that he really hits the upper limit of how serious an established superhero comic can be, and so it becomes a bit of self parody.

The big example I go to for most writers is the Rogues Gallery Problem - you simply cannot, cannot pretend you are creating a deep, meaningful, gritty work, if at the same time your villains go out and blow up an elementary school, get confined to an insane asylum only to escape next week. It's a paradox - the more you try to be darker and grittier, the more you reveal how completely divorced from reality the world of superheroes, at it exists with Marvel and DC, is.

Scott Snyder really hits this paradox hard, because every story of his has to be this enormous event that holds very serious consequences for the future of Gotham and the Batfamily, but because of the nature of the medium he works in, there never are, and so he constantly threatens to do big things but can never actually do so. So his stories have the effect of actually highlighting how low the stakes are the further he raises them. Compare Dini and O'Neill, who were content to let Batman have case-by-case adventures with some two-parters and some story threads, but realised that declaring status quo changes would only make their stories empty. It's made worse by how terrible Snyder is at third acts. I also just generally dislike how he writes the Joker. Too try hard creepy, not enough dashing and dapper clown.

Compare, say, Worm, a webserial which remains possibly the best story set inside a superhero universe. It threatens big status quo changes, and actually delivers. Characters die, and don't come back. There is a big prison, but no one escapes from it, etc.

 

[Slade W]

A death of a character in Death of the Family would not have necessarily made the story better. Characters can just be brought back to life. A lot of deaths in comics these days can be meaningless as a result. What Snyder did was perhaps the scariest and most threatening thing that you can do in comics these days and that was heavily imply the threat of death and serious harm to the Batfamily. What keeps your interest is waiting to see if something bad will happen to the characters but once it does you lose interest because you know the character will be brought back or will most probably fully heal eventually. Its a bit like in the first Jaws film where the scariest moments are where you do not see the shark but you know it is there under the water and you hear the creepy music. Those moments hold your interest and have you a bit frightened or at least alert. Once you see the shark at the end it is no longer as scary as it was (the fact that it looks a bit funny and silly and so much like a robot that you can easily tell that it is fake didn't help in that case). You then lose your interest as you know the worst part is over. That is probably a bad comparison to make but I am sure people can understand my point.


The story showed that the Joker could kill any of the Batfamily whenever he wanted but had let them live for a very long time. He captured them very easily and even messed with them before doing it. The fact that he didn't kill any of them means that the threat is still there which means our interest is still there and we did not see the worst Joker was capable of as he did not kill or seriously injure anyone yet. He also caused the Batfamily to lose their trust in Batman and to doubt his honesty which had long term consequences. It didn't show these consequences right away so you still know the worst is yet to come and that this will cause long term problems for Bruce and you will have to wait to find out what they are and how they will make things difficult for him. If they just had Joker kill one of them or even all of them you know he will just be eventually brought back and your interest is lost. Sometimes death in comics can still be done very well and in a way that makes you care but a lot of the time they don't because you know the character will be brought back. It is hard to do that with DC because it seemed like they did not want key characters to be gone for long (or at least that is how it seemed to me as Batgirl and the rest of the Batfamily had their own titles) so Snyder did the best he could to leave a lasting after effect where you do not know what will happen (as opposed to a death where you know the character will be brought back and the story where Damien was brought back was not the best IMO). These days the threat of the worst thing happening is the scariest thing and holds you interest (or at least it does with me) and I think Snyder did that very well. All IMO of course.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

Dude, it's like you misread my entire post and launched into a defence of my every point.

Seriously, my entire argument was that because death/status quo changes are meaningless in superhero comics, Snyder comes off as bad by constantly threatening, since we know he'll never deliver. The threat that Joker could kill any Batmember anytime is meaningless, because as you yourself say, death is meaningless.


And my point wasn't that there needs to be death. Another misread. My point was that because there is never going to be, and by extension never going to be any major status quo shakeup (I should have emphasised this over death, as it is my main point - there is no significant change) then constantly teasing readers that you will do so actually makes your writing weaker, since you never deliver.

 

[cyclone]

I'm not overly grabbed by this latest arc, but it's OK. I wonder if the Bruce switch, with him not remembering anything and not being Batman anymore will actually be explained with

Spoiler

Clayface. There's a line in the latest issue with 'clay' written in italics. I just wonder if Clayface found out that Bruce is Batman, took his body after the 'death' with the Joker, and is pretending to be him. Though not sure why he would.....

 

[Assassin]

I honestly couldn't read the last issue all the way through...Alfred still has his hand cut off and the explanation about Bruce coming back from the dead...yea I'm done. Thanks for the good stories you did at the beginning of your run but dude, not every arc has to have something that you think will stick as canon. Just write good stories.

 

[JewishHobbit]

The arc has been okay so far, but I'm ready to move on.

 

[-Arya-]

The last issue was actually a lot more interesting than the previous ones. This story is finally moving forward in a decent direction.

 

[Mani-Man]

The last issue was actually a lot more interesting than the previous ones. This story is finally moving forward in a decent direction.

The best thing was imo the writing for Alfred, really showed nicely how important their Relationship is...but otherwise im with Assassin on this.

A story like the current arc has it hard to me, since for me the only batman will always be Bruce Wayne.

Ive seen the cover for Batman 46...it seems the story could go on till at least 50...im not looking forward to it.
We will see where this goes however, maybe snyder surprises me...he did good in the last issue on certain aspects.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I'm ready for Snyder to bow out now... Capullo should stay on, but I know he won't.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I'd love to see Tomasi get the ongoing Batman gig. His Batman and Robin run was phenomenal.

 

[Gee]

Snyder said he'll be on Batman as long as he has stories to tell. As for Capullo, he is contracted until issue 50 and has a clause stating he'll only with Snyder.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Snyder said he'll be on Batman as long as he has stories to tell. As for Capullo, he is contracted until issue 50 and has a clause stating he'll only with Snyder.

What about good stories to tell?

 

[Gee]

What about good stories to tell?

http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/batman-(2011)

You're part of the minority who doesn't like Snyder's writing, which is fine. I've been enjoying this run so far although his over-exposition and long dialogues can get on my nerves.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I've enjoyed it for the most part. I thought Zero Year was a bit overlong, but other than that I've enjoyed his run and am glad to see it still going.