So who is psyched for the next 50 issues of Batman?

[Hulkout42]

Thank god i didn't pay for this, seriously DC pulling a Marvel left me reeling.
I mean unless this was a set up for some big battle against Bane and his posse and they later they do get hitch i am really disappointed in DC.
I really wanted some change in the characters.

[MajorHoy]

Thank god i didn't pay for this, seriously DC pulling a Marvel left me reeling.
I mean unless this was a set up for some big battle against Bane and his posse and they later they do get hitch i am really disappointed in DC.
I really wanted some change in the characters.

You don't think Batman's going to be EVEN MORE whiny and mopey than he's ever been portrayed before?

Isn't that going to be a "change"?

[Grayson - The Dark Heir]

Not sure about all 50, but I'm really excited for #51-52 where we get DickBats and #54-55 where we get Nightwing.

[Rac7d*]

Not sure about all 50, but I'm really excited for #51-52 where we get DickBats and #54-55 where we get Nightwing.

yeah they got me with that, it be real conveiant if sales took a dive when dick had so spotlight ont he main stage, and it all happeneing before his shows debut

[nonsense man]

Proves my point he needs guest stars so no one knows how bad his batman is

[themasething]

Oh my god what is King doing

https://78.media.tumblr.com/def73f7b...ralo1_1280.png

“My job as a Batman writer is to show you something you’ve never seen before. A Batman who has been left at the altar, who was that close to happiness, and then to have it yanked away from him, that’s something you haven’t seen before,”

Except we've seen this plenty of times before, just not on this grand of a scale. Too many times we have seen Batman or Bruce Wayne get so close to being happy, being allowed to do something other than being the "grim/dark avenger of the night" who sits on rooftops brooding over Gotham or the criminals contained in it, and having it all being ripped from him to reset him back to being that "grim/dark avenger of the night" persona all over again. He's had multiple chances at having a family, but nope, gotta rip that to pieces because that's not the Batman who came to popularity in the 90s. Just like Peter Parker on the Marvel side, no writer has the balls to stand up to Editorial and tell them that they can do great work with the character if they just allow the character to move on from the point that raised them into pop culture phenomenons.

I also think by issue # 100, after this epic 50 issue tease, we might get a properly married Batman and Catwoman

Given how many regular readers/buyers of the Batman series have been burned by the events in #50, why should they risk their money again with #100? "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". Comics aren't the 25 cent purchase anymore, they are bigger money purchases (especially "special issues" like issue #50 was). If you screw the main readership once, then they will take their money elsewhere.

Setting your audience up to want something, and then not delivering it is probably the clearest example of a bad plot twist, but writers keep right on doing it for some reason. It really never works, but for some reason writers feel compelled to try.

It's the "Controversy creates Cash" mentality, or the "Outrage Economy" if you will. In this day and age there is a lot more money to be made out of people getting outraged and upset by something as it generates more press and coverage than actually doing something good. So writers are instructed to insult the fanbase as much as possible, then double down when **** hits the fan financially.

You see this all the time recently with writers who's books are starting to dwindle and end up being cancelled. Most of the time they start by doing something designed to piss off the fans (such as changing a character in some way, either sexually, gendered or race based), which gets the mainstream press involved to put out stories about how "the fanbase is up in arms about this progressive change". Once the book started to fail, you'll see the writer start pushing tweets such as "The white basement dwelling man-babies couldn't handle my piece of masterpiece art" out there which provides some pressure on the publishers to keep the books around a little longer. Finally, the book is cancelled, the writer will double down on the blame tweets, pushing the blame onto the fanbase rather than their own mistakes.

There is a chance you'll see the doubling down on the fanbase being "bullies" and "not handling the story in the context I want them to see it in" as soon as the return numbers come back on this book, or once the Catwoman books take a hit.

You could walk into Dan DiDio's office and announce that you're bored with Batman. But all he'd have to do is point to the sales numbers, then point you toward the door.

You don't monkey around with something as successful as Batman just because you feel bored. The sales numbers will let you know when to change something.

The sales numbers for #50 will come in strong, mainly because of the way comic book ordering happens. Local Comic Shops will have ordered big on the fact that this was a 50th issue special, and the storyline was so well done leading up to the issue. These orders would have been done 3 months ago, and would already be paid for. So of course the numbers are going to be good. The problem is that now the LCS is sitting on unsold copies of Batman #50 that they have paid for, but aren't making money from. So the LCS takes the hit, not the publisher.

The pressure from #50 is going to come in the next 3 months, when the fallout causes people to cancel orders in droves. You won't see the effects of #50's fallout till somewhere in the next 4-5 issues. Then the numbers might drop a ton and cause the publisher to go into panic mode.

[KC]

If they are anything like the terrible 50 issues that King has already given us, not me. I am also glad that I will be saving all that money. I honestly hope DC boots King off the book before he can reach 100.

[Ten_to_Three]

I've seen a number of people say King's contracted to write 100/103/106/etc. issues. Can someone confirm this? And what's the nature of this contract? Does this mean no matter what King'll be writing the next 50/53/etc. issues?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Some have commented that maybe by the end of King's run, Batman and Catwoman will end up getting married, but I think by that time readers won't care.

I'm sure King will have Batman give voice to all the fan outrage once Batman himself finds out that he's been manipulated by Bane. It will be a way for King to get readers back on his side by having Batman go apeshit on Bane. I'm sure King will build Bane into someone readers despise just so he can give the catharsis of having Batman kick the crap out of him to the cheers of all the readers that King himself pissed off.

Basically, King is manipulating the readership the way Bane is manipulating Batman.

However, I really wonder how many readers will stick around for all that. This Batman storyline reminds me of two things: Spider-Man's Clone Saga and Superman marrying the frog-eating Lois clone on Lois and Clark.

With the Clone Saga, readers began to hate it once it dragged on and on and Peter was revealed to be a clone that we've been reading for the prior 20 years. However, even though people hated the story, they mostly stayed with it until it was over. THEN, readers used the ending of the Clone Saga as a jumping-off point, and not even a new number one drawn by John Byrne could get sales back to what they were. The same kind of thing happened with One More Day. Sales took a big hit, and it took years to recover.

With Lois and Clark, Season 3 showed the very first time that they were married in Superman's almost 60 year history at the time. The ratings shot up for the marriage episode and remained high even after everyone groaned when clone-Lois ate the frog. However, once the story was over, ratings dropped, and when the series came back for Season 4, they stayed low and when they were married for real, no one cared by that point. L&C had actually been renewed for 2 seasons after Season 3's success, but Season 4's crash forced ABC to cancel it and pick up another Warner Bros. show to fulfill the 2 season obligation. Botching Superman's wedding to Lois is one of the biggest screwups in Superman's history.

I think the same thing will happen with Batman. People may stay on for awhile, but eventually they'll drop off, and those who stay to the bitter end of the Bane Saga will jump off after that. Any real wedding will be given the same shrug as the L&C wedding was.

[Carabas]

I haven't been following King's run at all, but now I'm tempted at ordering the first two trades from Amazon.

I'm beginning to suspect King is taking a leaf from Brubaker and Rucka, and doing a huge epic with the planned eventual outcome of Batman not being such a sourpuss anymore.

[nonsense man]

Well rucka and Brubaker's batman was written competently and had some victories Tom Kings version does not that is why it is a poor to crappy imitation of those other writers runs

[Carabas]

Well rucka and Brubaker's batman was written competently and had some victories Tom Kings version does not that is why it is a poor to crappy imitation of those other writers runs

People whose opinions I generally trust have said you are wrong about this.

Also, have you read that run recently? Rucka took him from defeat to defeat.

[RepHope]

Well rucka and Brubaker's batman was written competently and had some victories Tom Kings version does not that is why it is a poor to crappy imitation of those other writers runs

Oh no Batman LOST a fight? Oh God how will he ever recover from such a hit to his reputation? Seriously mate Batman losing a fight is nothing new.

And what the hell are you even whining about? Batman judo flipped Grundy. He unbroke his own damn back. He headbutted Bane and KO’d his ass. He took out Deathstroke AND Deadshot. King’s Batman has won way more than he’s lost. He’s only ever been beaten due to surprise (Joker) or because he didn’t really want to fight (Talia).

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I think it wasn't so much that people "want a happy, married Batman" as much as the fact that DC HYPED THE HELL OUT OF A SUPPOSED WEDDING with the "Wedding Prelude" specials, the invitations for the stores, the wedding music list, the gazillion variant/special covers that stores already over-ordered, etc., and THEN DC leaks what will actually happen to major media the weekend before the issue hits the stores!!!

Yeah DC really screwed the pooch. I don't really blame King as I don't think it's his fault DC took this opportunity and ran with it like they did. I'm already seeing discounted prices for the book. Not great /:

[millernumber1]

I've seen a number of people say King's contracted to write 100/103/106/etc. issues. Can someone confirm this? And what's the nature of this contract? Does this mean no matter what King'll be writing the next 50/53/etc. issues?

Well...King's said it a lot, and very publically, so there's a probability that he has a pitch approved. But I don't think they have a contract at this point, especially since I haven't heard that his exclusive was renewed yet. Maybe it was and I missed it.

But Tynion and Gleason both said publically they wanted to be on for a specific amount of time, and despite both titles selling well, they didn't get to those numbers. So...stuff changes. It's comics.