Pitch your dream Bat-books

[gregpersons]

Pitching? Wishful thinking? Petitioning? Fan fiction? Whatever you'd call it, let's hear the Bat-books you wish existed.


NIGHTWING & RED HOOD

It's like "Red Hood & the Outlaws" meets "Grayson" with a stronger, more focused cast.

Dick Grayson works best when his easygoing optimism is opposite a stubborn grump — with Bruce, he was the student; with Damian, he was the teacher. Pairing Dick with Jason Todd is a perfect fit, as they're both equals at this point. They've both fully graduated from the Robin role, with completely different approaches to crimefighting and life. Dick has a balanced life with friends, love, hobbies, and he enjoys what he does. Jason is a loner, a ghost, he doesn't even legally exist since he died.

Nightwing & Red Hood work as global agents, doing Mission: Impossible-type stuff, with Tim Drake coordinating them remotely as their Oracle. I've advocated before for Tim shedding "Red Robin" bc it's a bad redundant name, and because he doesn't have a clear "thing" that justifies him as a 5th Robin, if you include Duke/The Signal.

Tim/Oracle (or a different codename — Wren?) has retired from active superheroics to pursue a Harvard education and to put his efforts into becoming a great inventor, like Elon Musk. On the side, when he's looking at his phone in class, he's also coordinating superhero missions. His fiancee, The Spoiler, does not attend Harvard, but she does live with him, and acts as Tim's local agent/protector. Across the hall is their friend, Cassandra Cain/Orphan, who also attends the school, and also acts as one of Tim's agents (but not his personal protector). Tim, Steph & Cass are all good friends and they hang out on campus. There's enough fun to be had with Tim/Steph/Cass at Harvard that they could potentially spin-off into their own book, but in this one, they are secondary recurring characters.

Basically, the students of The Bat have created their version of Spyral, but without the corruption. Nobody owns them. They undertake the difficult, sensitive missions that may fall between the cracks of other superheroes or police. It conveniently rounds up a lot of the "extra" Bat heroes and gives them something to do, while still keeping everyone easily accessible to Batman crossovers.


GUMSHOE GORDON

Jim Gordon: P.I. working with his daughter, Batgirl. It's like Veronica Mars in Gotham.

Having Gordon retire and replaced by Michael Akins was one of the best additions from the Greg Rucka era, and should be reinstated. It's more fun when the GCPD can more easily oscillate to being potentially Anti-Batman, and just as Gotham has had many mayors over the years, it too could cycle through commissioners if the story needs it.

But why would Gordon step down as Commissioner? Well you could have any kind of story contrivance to bring the new status quo — Officer Down had him getting shot, but other stories have had Gordon just retiring because he's old.

Here's how I'd do it — Barbara finally tells Jim that she's Batgirl. He always knew, but now he can't deny knowing, including that Bruce Wayne is Batman. He reasons that he can't serve as Commissioner with this knowledge, that it essentially corrupts him from serving as an ideal public official. Gordon & Bruce are finally able to be honest with each other, and after Gordon retires, Bruce supplies him with funds & technology to work privately. Gordon is an agent of the Bat, working with Wayne's technology, but as a private investigator, he's still a gritty police detective. Plus, Gordon can still serve as Batman’s police liaison, even if he's ex-Commissioner, since he still has people on the inside.

Gordon would be able to blossom into the best version of his character — more of the Year One badass, fighting police corruption. Kind of like Snyder's BatCop thing without the crazy suit. Gordon in a trench coat, with a revolver. He starts a business, and decides if Barbara is going to fight crime, it's going to be under her father's watch. Batgirl does the things that Gordon can't. And though Jim knows her secret identity, sometimes Batgirl will do things in the investigation (or her personal life) that her dad doesn't know about. So, she's still keeping some secrets from him. Or does he know those too? And is he keeping secrets from her? Father & daughter detectives. Fun!

---

These two books alone could clear up the over-crowded Gotham heroe, leaving a far more streamlined cast for the remaining books:

Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Batwoman, The Signal.

[bob.schoonover]

Catwoman and Lois:
Basically, Lois calls Catwoman whenever she wants help breaking into a facility of some kind to get a good scoop. No extra people (this is not a BoP replacement), just the two of them. Catwoman becomes a little more conscious of the problems of the world, Lois becomes a bit more reckless.

Nightwing and Robin:
Why isn't this a book already? Those two together are so much fun. Tim Seeley is probably my writing pick, but I'm happy with almost anyone that gets their situation.

Batgirls:
Replaces Batgirl - Barbara and Cass. After 'Tec 975, Barbara takes over training Cassandra. Barbara keeps on being a tech entrepreneur and Cass starts working at the company as an assistant. Barbara realizes Cass's ability to read body language is invaluable to deal making and the two of them kick butt in the boardroom and the streets. Bring back Gail for this and let her work her magic w/o editorial silliness.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Red Robin & Spoiler. Tim and Steph on their own. Written by Chuck Dixon.

[JBatmanFan05]

Red Robin & Spoiler. Tim and Steph on their own. Written by Chuck Dixon.

Ooh, I like this one.


LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT - I'd revive this. But go back to the 1989/90s version. Top new talent and old veteran talent. Mostly do "possibly canon" stories. This time they wouldn't have to be about Batman's early years. One shots, 2-3 issue arcs, 6-8 issue arcs. Creators I'd contact: Morrison, Mike Barr, Dixon, Bendis, Matt Wagner, Garth Ennis, Denny O, Milligan, Gaiman, Brian Azz, etc.
The big difference from the digital modern title would be more focus on top talent and top art, better quality presentation (paper, etc).


BATMAN FAMILY - I'd get rid of a bunch of titles using this. Different one shots and arcs about different Batfam members fighting crime alone or with other fam members. I would not let this become an Eternal style book with a big overarc or anything. More unconnected tales about all the sidekicks and team members and some GCPD folks too.


RA'S AL GHUL: THE DEMON'S HEAD - Like Bane Conquest, let Chuck Dixon do 12 or more issues on Ra's and the League and whoever else he wants to interact with them. Dixon I thought I always wrote an interesting Ra's.

[blitzwolf215]

Robins Forever
A team up book with Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin. Focuses more on the relationship between the boys and help to build a better relationship between them. Supporting cast could feature their friends i.e. Wally, Jon, Connor(when he gets back), etc.

[CoffeeCup]

Why is their not a Bat family book simply titled Gotham Knights???

[The Dying Detective]

White Knight
A book centred around Tim Drake the chivalrous member of the Bat family who seeks to find his own lot in life and he will be the titular White Knight since Red Robin is too divisive. No politics involved just him being the chivalrous guy he is while solving crimes in a city of his own. Other main characters will include Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Supporting characters will include his best friend Ives who will be helping him with the computer stuff. Tamara Fox will be his main contact within Wayne Industries. And Lynx III will be his underworld contact. This is based on Tim's Red Robin comic so expect Stephanie to receive some competition for Tim's affections from Tamara Fox and Lynx III.

Red Hood and the Outlaws
This will be based on the current Outlaws line-up so naturally they will consist of Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizarro and they will be digging into places Batman would not normally go if they exist there is no reason for the Outsiders since both have similar roles anyway.

Birds of Prey
This will consist of Barbara Gordon (who will not be crippled but instead she decides to graduate to Oracle after deciding that she was too old to be Batgirl anymore), Black Canary, Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake), and Nightwing. It will be a spy thriller based story similar to Grayson.

Batman and Robin
This will be centred on Bruce and Damian and will be a father and son based comic a little in the vein of the Superman books.

[Bat-Meal]

Batwoman and Flamebird.
Nuff said.

Batwing and Azrael.
Nuff said.

And/Or

Some Team book that needs a name.
Batwing, Batwoman, Azrael, and Flamebird. No involvement with the Colony, just a small team fighting crime.

[CoffeeCup]

Red Hood

Jason actually doing street level crime fighting, without the silly outlaws. That's who he is.

[kurenai24]

Nightwing - Basically like the Grayson comic but instead of it being called Grayson, it's called Nightwing b/c it would be his codename and Huntress would be involved.

Oracle and The Birds of Prey - Barbaara is physically disabled again and is Oracle and she leads or operates the Birds of Prey which have her, Canary, and two empty slots for somebody else.

Batgirl - Cassandra is batgirl and does Batgirl things.

Gotham - Tim's too young to be a detective but I think a book with him and Jim Gordon would be interesting, this book would feature Spoiler.

Red Hood - Just Red Hood doing street level crime fighting.

[Jackalope89]

Unlike others in this thread, I am liking the direction of Red Hood and the Outlaws (because of character progression; him actually regularly interacting with others is much better than being a loner that rarely touches base with Batman). But I wouldn't say "no" to him and Nightwing teaming up more.

Been looking up the Cassandra Batgirl series from 2000 on up. Pretty good, but some of the stuff in it requires knowledge of what's going on in other comics at the time. I like it, though the art style I'm no so sure on. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I just can't stand it. She also had some great moments with Spoiler and Barbara. Bringing something like that into play, I could definitely dig into. I will say; why is Cass sleeping in some random building but not regularly living at Wayne Manor? That feels like it needs to be corrected post-haste.

Some of my favorite moments in the current Batman run, were when all of the former and current Robins were with Batman. From Dick on down to Damian. The banter and character interaction was great, and I feel a series with them all together would work pretty well. It was missing Tim at the time, but with him back, that would just add to it.

The Bat Cousins. For being cousins, and sharing a mission to stop crime, it seems these two barely interact beyond "crime at 12th street, let's go!" kind of thing. They have a strikingly similar personality in that they both need to be in control however they can. Teaming up more often would help the two clear up some differences (family is FAR too important to both to fully abandon each other).

Lois and Selina team-up. The thrill-seeker former thief Catwoman teams up with investigative reporter Lois to dig into the underworld, as their significant others deal with the more obvious threats (but keep an ear to the ground, knowing them). Maybe include Jimmy and maybe Holly (depending on what happens with her) as a support cast?

[Kurisu]

Batman, unchanged. Let King do what he does best.
Detective Comics, auteur driven stories in the vain of Elegy and Black Mirror.
Nightwing and Robin, self-explanatory.
Batgirl, Tiffany Fox takes up the mantle. Strictly an all-ages title. Luke would go here.
Red Hood, gritty and noir. Cassandra is Jason’s de facto sidekick.
Batwoman, Babs finally gets the respect she deserves, Frankie is her Oracle.
The Question, Reneé and Huntress take on the Gotham underworld.
Batman and the Signal, Duke continues to do his thing.
Gotham City Sirens, over the top girl gang stuff. Gail Simone and Nicola Scott at their most ridiculous.

And finally, something in the vain of Superior Foes of Spider-Man, a comedic book about a group of b-list Gotham rogues trying to break good.

Oh, and Tim can be in Young Justice, I suppose.

[Caivu]

Batwoman, Babs finally gets the respect she deserves, Frankie is her Oracle.

Booooooooooooo.

[KC]

The Untold Tales of Batman and Robin, this book would tell new stories about Bruce as Batman and Dick as Robin.

[Yonekunih]

Batman and Robin, starring Bruce and Damian, that's all I ask for. Or a Batfamily book that involves all of the Batfam members as major roles, actions together.

Oh and a good book for Timmy, preferably bring the original Young Justice- as in Bart and Conner back, just the three of them a new Trinity as we have Trinity, Dark Trinity already.