Oh no. Now I'm worried, AGAIN.
Oh no. Now I'm worried, AGAIN.
My favorite characters of all time are Bruce Wayne and Dracula.
Okay, that convinces me it's the marriage actually. It'll just happen in the Bat/Cat book (or at the end of the Batman run, and the new book is them being married).
Haven't read those two series, maybe I should. I do enjoy the different approach King has, and in spite of my confusion over Mr. Miracle's ending I did find it enjoyable.
This latest issue was, in nearly all respects, just a recap of the entire run with a backdrop of Bane fighting Batman. That it was told in Flashpoint Batman's voice doesn't add much. And Bane's plan doesn't feel all that impressive because so many things "just worked out" without his direct manipulation. He didn't really earn his victory here so much as luck into it by being right about a series of assumptions. Most of which we've seen villains make before and fail miserably.
Plus it still feels like RIP, to me. Not much here is new or unique compared with that, and RIP was a much tighter and well constructed story.
But those negatives aside, this story still may end up being worthwhile depending on how Batman comes out of it.
Every day is a gift, not a given right.
This is what I'm thinking as well. I think after all the build-up to #50 and then the non-wedding, his last issue of Batman (85 I think?) will hit us with the opposite: no dress/tux/party buildup and a quick 1 page wedding (perhaps they elope between the pages even). Then, the Bat/Cat book picks up either on their honeymoon or immediately when they get back.
"Darkseid...always hated music..."
Every post I make, it should be assumed by the reader that the following statement is attached: "It's all subjective. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you, and vice versa, and that's ok. You may have a different opinion on it, but this is mine. That's the wonderful thing about being a comics fan, it's all subjective."
I'm cautious on a wedding actually happening, but at least with the existence of Batman/Catwoman book after, I can rule out death as the big event, thank goodness, because that will be the most boring. A wedding would get the best result since that's what this run's hype has been all about and will at least bring back people who stop reading or wanted to read but cancel it because they cancel the wedding.
I agree that it's not foolproof, but I think if you factor in "Bane KNOWS Batman and Catwoman psychologically really well" you can handwave it a bit.
As for the Joker and Harley influencing Selina - I've been thinking that since #50's final page, and it made perfect psychological sense to me then.
I think that could have been a bit better, but I'm okay with the "it was all the master plan" thing. I mean...it's basically what I've been saying for at least 15 issues.
This is a very good point - I don't know about where, exactly, Bane thought that his plan would actually nudge Bruce towards proposing. That is probably the most tenuous point, for me. I know Gotham Girl is part of the plan, but it still feels a bit of a stretch there.
King said on twitter that Bane beating Batman is right after the last issue, but Thomas's dialogue is right after #50.
I do recommend those two series!
As for Bane "winning" - remember what Thomas said in #69: When you think you've won, you'll actually have lost.
It's very much a re-iteration of all of the Batman "death" stories, for me. It's Knightfall, and RIP, and even Endgame (though I think it's actually a rejection of Endgame and Superheavy's foundational thematic points). It's not nearly as tight as RIP, certainly, but I find it a lot less confusing (I've read RIP 3 times, I think, and I still don't really get it.)
Plus, King's Batman is one who I actually love as a main character. Morrison and Snyder's Batmen are just too...distant for me to love. (I also really like Dixon Batman, and see King as something of an heir to his writing, even though he makes several foundational assumptions about Batman that Dixon does not.)
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
Inspired by the new Swamp Thing tv show on DC Universe, I'm rereading one of the best standalone issues in King's run, The Brave and the Mold. With the massive focus on Thomas Wayne right now, do you think that the complicated, deadly relationship Swamp Thing had with his father in that issue was a foreshadowing of what we're seeing with Thomas and Bruce right now?
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
Considering that issue came literally right after the part of the Button when Thomas returned, I think it was definitely intentional foreshadowing. I remember on my first read of it I was confused about what the overall message by the end of it was, but I think by now I've got good grasp on the intentions.
I also still need to read King & Fabok's Swamp Thing Winter Special which I've heard got nothing but positive responses.
So, based on this storyline, and Knightfall, do we have a good grasp of what a "Bane Gambit" now looks like?
Retro315 no more. Anonymity is so 2005.
retrowarbird.blogspot.com
King's Batman is pretty interesting and a very personal and vulnerable take on the character. It reminds me some of the 1970s work by Englehart. Morrison and Snyder both commonly used Batman more or less as a cog in a great machine, and he was a lot closer to Bat-God than I like. Dixon also has a lot in common with King, I agree.
Amazing how versatile the character can be.
Every day is a gift, not a given right.
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
Some mathematical equation for "Hopelessness/Loss of Hope" linking to father issues? Or for Johns' initial interpretation of retelling superhero origins requiring every single one of them to have father issues being rooted in his youthful love of Watchmen and its generational "parent issues" in the first place? See also: Justice Society, and everything else.
So Doctor Manhattan is Johns himself?
Retro315 no more. Anonymity is so 2005.
retrowarbird.blogspot.com
King posted a tease for City of Bane: