King Batman Run: Analysis and Enjoyment Thread

[millernumber1]

Thomas Wayne plot leaks: https://twitter.com/TomKingTK/status...58408300593158

That's hilarious!

[adrikito]

This King.. Removing the only that interested me... Thomas Wayne.. New 70 solicitation:

BATMAN #70

Attachment 80866

written by TOM KING
art by MIKEL JANIN & JORGE FORNES
cover by ANDY KUBERT
variant cover by LEINIL YU
In chapter one of “The Fall and the Fallen,” Batman escapes his Knightmares only to wind up in a whole other bad dream. He’s locked in Arkham Asylum with his worst enemies, and the only way to get out is to fight them all. It’s a gladiatorial game of madness and mayhem, all for the amusement of Bane!

[Arsenal]

He’ll be back in 72 or 73

[Inversed]

Actually, King said he shows up even earlier than that, in #69 at the end of Knightmares. So he's probably gonna be in #70, he's just not gonna be the main focus/go into his motivations until near the end of the arc.

[Chubistian]

Just a theory, but could Catwoman be trapped too in the (k)nightmare world? Maybe both their minds are connected by some mechanism that comic writers love to invent? I started thinking this thanks to the preview of issue #68, that starts with Selina and Lois. Then I remembered the issue with The Question, and his interrogation to Catwoman

[Arsenal]

Just a theory, but could Catwoman be trapped too in the (k)nightmare world? Maybe both their minds are connected by some mechanism that comic writers love to invent? I started thinking this thanks to the preview of issue #68, that starts with Selina and Lois. Then I remembered the issue with The Question, and his interrogation to Catwoman

Maybe it’ll explore the reason that Bruce thinks Selina left him at the alter?

[Hilden B. Lade]

A bit annoyed that Amanda Conner didn't do the pencils for the entirety of #68, but to the issue's credit, Dan Panosian takes over at a critical point in the narrative where an art shift fits.

(though I'm still annoyed that Conner's Bruce is clean-shaven in this issue, while Panosian has a bit of stubble going on. Consistency, people. :P)

spoilers:

I wonder how long Bruce has been strapped into that Knightmare machine when we see him at the end, since he appears to be clean-shaven there. Perhaps it's lifetimes in a span of a few seconds?

end of spoilers

[millernumber1]

A bit annoyed that Amanda Conner didn't do the pencils for the entirety of #68, but to the issue's credit, Dan Panosian takes over at a critical point in the narrative where an art shift fits.

(though I'm still annoyed that Conner's Bruce is clean-shaven in this issue, while Panosian has a bit of stubble going on. Consistency, people. :P)

spoilers:

I wonder how long Bruce has been strapped into that Knightmare machine when we see him at the end, since he appears to be clean-shaven there. Perhaps it's lifetimes in a span of a few seconds?

end of spoilers

I think the fact that there are THREE fill in artists hints at either Conner running out of time/being schedulled poorly (given the editorial shifts with Conroy leaving Tec and likely making the other group and regular editors scramble to juggle the second biggest regular book (Detective). Per my analysis, Panosian actually only did one page, the one where Selina and Lois are getting the massages, and the next two pages are John Timms, who does the rougher look for Bruce (which I agree, is a good art shift because that's when King shifts to the more Knightmare section of the dream), and Mikel Janin did the final page of Bruce alone.

I loved a bunch of the wordplay in the book - Clark talking about marriage and Bruce ending the chess game with the word "Mate", the title of the issue being "Solitude" when Lois and Selina spend so much time in the Fortress of Solitude, etc. I actually feel a bit of tension between Conner's more Disney-esque visuals and King's strange blend of poetry and recursive "realism" - it just feels like something more polished should be coming out of Conner's perfect lip drawings.

However, Conner does a much better job than some of King's collaborators with nine panel grids - she really uses positioning, blocking, and symmetry beautifully.

[Chubistian]

I didn't like the art change, but the styles were so different that it was hard to not make it noticeable between Amanda and Dan to John Timms (that is the penciller who's art doesn't fit with the previous two). Janín's page was from the "outside", so no problem there personally.

About the rest of the issue, it was cool. I dig how in this fun chapter we keep on getting pieces of Batman feelings and doubts. Some really enjoyables moments from both pairings. I see King decided to go with a more abysmal difference between Clark and Supes, like the one in the Donner's films. I'm fine with this take on the duality of Superman and his alter ego as I am with a more similar way of writing Clark & Superman too, closer to how Byrne did

[millernumber1]

I didn't like the art change, but the styles were so different that it was hard to not make it noticeable between Amanda and Dan to John Timms (that is the penciller who's art doesn't fit with the previous two). Janín's page was from the "outside", so no problem there personally.

About the rest of the issue, it was cool. I dig how in this fun chapter we keep on getting pieces of Batman feelings and doubts. Some really enjoyables moments from both pairings. I see King decided to go with a more abysmal difference between Clark and Supes, like the one in the Donner's films. I'm fine with this take on the duality of Superman and his alter ego as I am with a more similar way of writing Clark & Superman too, closer to how Byrne did

You can also make some allowance for this issue's portrayal of Superman because it's all in Bruce's head, so it's not what SUPERMAN thinks, it's what Batman thinks Superman thinks.

[Coco Loco]

About the rest of the issue, it was cool. I dig how in this fun chapter we keep on getting pieces of Batman feelings and doubts. Some really enjoyables moments from both pairings. I see King decided to go with a more abysmal difference between Clark and Supes, like the one in the Donner's films. I'm fine with this take on the duality of Superman and his alter ego as I am with a more similar way of writing Clark & Superman too, closer to how Byrne did

I really liked this issue a lot, probably the best so far of the Knightmares issues. King tackles head-on the idea that Batman can’t be happy and still be Batman, but takes it a step further. Clark’s line about Bruce wanting to have to be Batman is a great one but you can see that he’s wrong. The world’s most boring bachelor party is presented as this stiff, horrible thing, and you can see that if you take Batman away from Bruce, there’s not much there there. But Clark extrapolates from that that Bruce must be miserable, and if you watch him closely, he’s NOT. Bruce is quite happy to sit around and eat soup and play chess. When Clark thinks he’s got to leave and go stop an asteroid, Bruce doesn’t budge. He’s content to let Dick handle whatever comes up.

Clark’s line to Bruce reads like the emotional climax of the issue, but it’s not the ending. The ending is them going to the Fortress, and Bruce and Selina reuniting and reaffirming their love for one another. Clark is projecting who he thinks Bruce is onto Bruce, but he doesn’t truly understand him. The only one who does is Selina.

And then you add on the layer of it all being in Batman’s head, and it’s just his perception of how other people perceive him, so it’s inherently biased and flawed. So in Bruce’s mind, “they think they know me but they really don’t”, but maybe HE’S the one who is wrong.

Such a nuanced, thoughtful issue, and a much more substantive exploration of Bruce’s psyche than just “Batman’s the real guy and Bruce is the mask”.

[Scott Taylor]

I did enjoy the emphasis on Batman being more Bruce Wayne than Bruce himself. Within the context of the wedding and how that all went down, it shows how the notion of Batman going away potentially would leave a completely unknown person in his place.

[K. Jones]

I really liked this issue a lot, probably the best so far of the Knightmares issues. King tackles head-on the idea that Batman can’t be happy and still be Batman, but takes it a step further. Clark’s line about Bruce wanting to have to be Batman is a great one but you can see that he’s wrong. The world’s most boring bachelor party is presented as this stiff, horrible thing, and you can see that if you take Batman away from Bruce, there’s not much there there. But Clark extrapolates from that that Bruce must be miserable, and if you watch him closely, he’s NOT. Bruce is quite happy to sit around and eat soup and play chess. When Clark thinks he’s got to leave and go stop an asteroid, Bruce doesn’t budge. He’s content to let Dick handle whatever comes up.

Clark’s line to Bruce reads like the emotional climax of the issue, but it’s not the ending. The ending is them going to the Fortress, and Bruce and Selina reuniting and reaffirming their love for one another. Clark is projecting who he thinks Bruce is onto Bruce, but he doesn’t truly understand him. The only one who does is Selina.

And then you add on the layer of it all being in Batman’s head, and it’s just his perception of how other people perceive him, so it’s inherently biased and flawed. So in Bruce’s mind, “they think they know me but they really don’t”, but maybe HE’S the one who is wrong.

Such a nuanced, thoughtful issue, and a much more substantive exploration of Bruce’s psyche than just “Batman’s the real guy and Bruce is the mask”.

It's not exactly a shock given the lead-ins, but Dick's absence from these Knightmares is noteworthy for more than just the obvious reasons. Your best friend just got shot in the head ... you went on a tear across the world for revenge ... you're having nightmares ... and Dick isn't in any of them? But he is conspicuously "taking care of things" while your dream sequence plays out. I think it's at least clear that Batman trusts Nightwing more than anybody on earth. More than Superman (who is personally trustworthy but as a god on Earth, Bruce is constantly skeptical or worried about mind-control), his fiance (who he can (or thought he could) trust with his heart but not with his wallet, so to speak - which I'm sure is why he likes her so much). His son, who comes with a whole bag of reasons not to completely trust. Yadda yadda.

[Arsenal]

According to King, the City of Bane arc will last 8 issues.

[millernumber1]

According to King, the City of Bane arc will last 8 issues.

Now that's interesting. That means we're definitely having a bunch more artists than just Daniel.

This artice: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/0...on-this-summer

has some nice info about City of Bane. I'm not thrilled that it's tying into this Lex Luthor plot from Justice League, but I'm betting it won't be too big a deal.