Tom King's Batman: Yay or Nay

[sakuyamons]

It's..... complicated.

Agreed.

I'm only reading for the Bat and the Cat

[SiegePerilous02]

My only major nitpick with his run in how he treats the former Robins (and Snyder's pet) as an ensemble. I believe that the importance of "Robin" has been destroyed in the Batman mythos by fandom and oversaturation, but having them only appear in a group diminishes all of their importance to that of a sidecast or a peanut gallery. I would rather see individual interactions between Batman and Robin(s) that does each character justice than what we have now, which is a flandardized bunch that reads like fanfiction and benefits no one. I take issue with the notion that that people refer to the former Robin's collectively and interchangably, and everything from King's writing and interviews seem to show that he views them this way. He never talks of the importance of Robin, only "the Robins" and the characters only appear lumped together. Each Robin was created to compliment Batman, and while interactions between two of them may be fine, it becomes apparent in interactions with three or more of them that they really have no good dynamic. Each character becomes boiled down to a one-dimesional cartoon character defined by their most surface level traits. Tynion has loving likened them to "Ninja Turtles." This is crap. Each Robin past and present is an individual character defined by more than "the mad one," "the funny one," "the smart one," and "the generic leader." If each Robin is too similar to write about together, then write about them seperately. I'd rather have one good Batman and Nightwing and Batman and Robin interactions than two chibi Batfamily scenes where papa Bats hugs all of his tiny little Robins as they play around his feet.

Preach.

Though I really liked the scene with Dick and Damian in the last issue. He writes those two together very well.

[TheCape]

Though I really liked the scene with Dick and Damian in the last issue. He writes those two together very well.

I don't know, his Damian seems a tad to sensitive to my taste and i never quite bougth his aproach to Dick.

[WontonGirl]

Yay! And I like his other work too.

[dietrich]

Both a yay and a nay.

[klynn]

I’ve never in my 30+ years of reading comics read a Batman comic before so that’s probably a yay? But I’m only reading because of Selina’s prominent presence not necessarily because of his writing. I do like his voice for Selina but still have no real interest in the Batman character.

[Aioros22]

I like his technical skill as a writer and ideas but I feel his execution lacks in character voice.

[failo.legendkiller]

I like Tom King way of writing.
Anyhow Omega Men and Grayson were way better than Batman

[Aioros22]

Any book of his has been better than his Batman.

The difference is that none of the other books carry the franchise baggage that Batman does in comparison. It takes different skills to tackle.

[BatmanJones]

I've read every single run on any Batman-related comic book. I don't just LIKE King's Batman. It's my favorite run of all time.

[Talon1load]

That’s a huge NAY! I despise Tom Kings Batman run. This is the worst that I’ve ever seen Batman written. I’d rather read War Games over and over than his crap. The dialogue is just ridiculous. The whole “Bat and Cat” thing is grating and his stories just don’t make any sense. From the first issue where Batman is riding a damn plane like he’s water skiing and and out of nowhere asking if his parents would be proud of this death in the first issue of REBIRTH this has been painful. The War of Jokes and Riddles made Batman into a dumbass who was manipulated by the Riddler into joining his side of a war that we never really see while also working with villains and getting a kid killed and, in my eyes, made him an unredeamable character. Tom King is killing this title. I think I heard that his Batman is the first to dip below 100k in a decade or something? He sucks. Bring on Bendis, he couldn’t do any worse.

[batfan08]

I’d have to say that, overall, I’m definitely a fan of King’s Batman. While I feel like, overall, to this point, his arcs have stretched a bit on the long side (the “I Am Gotham/Suicide/Bane” trilogy really started to feel like Zero Year after a while), I feel like his character beats have been really cool, and, honestly, are building new ideas into the mythos while still honoring what came before. The idea of Batman being a suicide pact is a bit weird, at first, but, when you juxtapose it against his relationship with Catwoman, it’s a really cool opportunity for growth. The idea that Batman is inherently self-destructive to Bruce Wayne is not a new one, it’s just the first time it’s been defined, explicitly, as his intent.

In a lot of ways, it really represents the tragedy of Batman, in that it illustrates that 3 lives were lost that night. The idea of an 8-year old deciding he wants to kill himself by becoming a superhero is ridiculous, and yet, when you see that he actually went out and did it, you can’t help but think “holy fuck. That is, like, pathetic, heartbreaking, and fucking insane, all at once. Here’s the thing that I love most about King’s Batman, and it’s also one of the biggest things that I think people probably hate about King’s Batman, particularly in following up Snyder’s Batman: King’s Batman, at the end of the day, is just a damaged orphan who is slightly insane, broken, and as fallible as any other human being.

This is not a Bruce Wayne who sits upon Metron’s throne, nor the puppet of an archaic Batgod, fulfilling his cosmic destiny to usher in the end of the multiverse; he’s the antithesis of that, underneath the Batfamily, and the Justice League, and the League of Shadows, is Bruce Wayne, and I think what most people are turned off by is the fact that, after 78 years, he’s finally starting to grow up.

Plus? The Brave and The Mold. I will be a King Batman fan until the end of time for that story, alone.

[SiegePerilous02]

This is not a Bruce Wayne who sits upon Metron’s throne, nor the puppet of an archaic Batgod, fulfilling his cosmic destiny to usher in the end of the multiverse; he’s the antithesis of that, underneath the Batfamily, and the Justice League, and the League of Shadows, is Bruce Wayne, and I think what most people are turned off by is the fact that, after 78 years, he’s finally starting to grow up.

Yes, this is what I like as well. This is the most human Bruce is on the comic stands right now. And him "finally growing up" and potentially building a future with Selina is fantastic. This run is confronting some uneasy truths that fanboys don't like about their escapist fantasy character, but I don't think it's being done in a way that downplays Batman's heroism either. He is essentially a big kid dealing with his trauma by dressing up like a lunatic and going on awesome adventures with his cool toys, running away from reality...but he saved countless lives because of it, and his big heart and compassion are still on display with stuff like how he deals with Claire. He's a nuanced character, and I'd rather read this than have him be BatGod.

[WontonGirl]

This is not a Bruce Wayne who sits upon Metron’s throne, nor the puppet of an archaic Batgod, fulfilling his cosmic destiny to usher in the end of the multiverse; he’s the antithesis of that, underneath the Batfamily, and the Justice League, and the League of Shadows, is Bruce Wayne, and I think what most people are turned off by is the fact that, after 78 years, he’s finally starting to grow up.

I also think that the generation of comic readers have changed as well. This Bruce has been around before, for years. Whether it was Moench, Miller, or Kane himself. We have seen this Bruce and Batman before. In various comics and various mediums BUT the synder's version and Morrison stories are the freshest in people's mind, especially if they came in with the N52.

[CryNotWolf]

I’d have to say that, overall, I’m definitely a fan of King’s Batman. While I feel like, overall, to this point, his arcs have stretched a bit on the long side (the “I Am Gotham/Suicide/Bane” trilogy really started to feel like Zero Year after a while), I feel like his character beats have been really cool, and, honestly, are building new ideas into the mythos while still honoring what came before. The idea of Batman being a suicide pact is a bit weird, at first, but, when you juxtapose it against his relationship with Catwoman, it’s a really cool opportunity for growth. The idea that Batman is inherently self-destructive to Bruce Wayne is not a new one, it’s just the first time it’s been defined, explicitly, as his intent.

Honestly it seems to me like he just outright is ignorant of or disregards a lot of things that came before concerning the character. But other than that I agree.

In a lot of ways, it really represents the tragedy of Batman, in that it illustrates that 3 lives were lost that night. The idea of an 8-year old deciding he wants to kill himself by becoming a superhero is ridiculous, and yet, when you see that he actually went out and did it, you can’t help but think “holy fuck. That is, like, pathetic, heartbreaking, and fucking insane, all at once. Here’s the thing that I love most about King’s Batman, and it’s also one of the biggest things that I think people probably hate about King’s Batman, particularly in following up Snyder’s Batman: King’s Batman, at the end of the day, is just a damaged orphan who is slightly insane, broken, and as fallible as any other human being.

I can't really agree with that, not fully. I always thought him choosing to take his pain and morph it into heroism was incredibly admirable. Not in every way, mind you, but you can take something from that. It's important. It's noble. I can't stand the idea that Bruce becoming Batman is almost a completely negative development, that it was nothing but an escape attempt, like it speaks to him being an inherently insane or irreparably broken person. To me that comes from a place of ultimate cynicism and spits in the face of what characters like him originally stood for. That's why I hate the suicide angle so much, it implies that Bruce becoming Batman was just a boy escaping from his pain and that's it. It removes the nobility from the act and makes it far more of a hope-devoid sob story than it needs to be.

This is not a Bruce Wayne who sits upon Metron’s throne, nor the puppet of an archaic Batgod, fulfilling his cosmic destiny to usher in the end of the multiverse; he’s the antithesis of that, underneath the Batfamily, and the Justice League, and the League of Shadows, is Bruce Wayne, and I think what most people are turned off by is the fact that, after 78 years, he’s finally starting to grow up.

Not to detract from what King is doing, because I like what he's attempting to accomplish with the character, but I think the reason that so many people continue to have issues with his run is not his intent or ambition, but the actual on-page content. Strange, off-putting and grating dialogue, characters acting OoC, awful pacing, decompression galore, inconsistent art, and dissonant narratives.

If we're talking about his arcs and issues rendered unto themselves, I loved I Am Suicide, Rooftops, and his one-off issues about Swamp Thing and Kite Man, but then I think about The War of Jokes and Riddles and honestly to me that arc was an over-hyped garbage pile of wasted opportunities, uneven storytelling, and awful characterization. I Am Bane felt like a lot of good buildup with an all-too rushed payoff, and I thought I Am Gotham was all-in-all mediocre and easily forgettable. A big problem with his work it that it's incredibly easy to nitpick, because King doesn't seem nearly as concerned with the details as he is with the overall plan, and details are important when you want to tell a truly great story. This is what makes me feel like all this ambition and all this bluster come not from a place of passion, but instead a more rational platform. Like he wants to make a statement about the character because Batman is the biggest thing in comics, not because he loves the character. And that's fine, you don't have to love a character to write them well, but I can't help but a little bit disappointed when I think about it.