Batman Annual 3

[Chubistian]

Written by Tom Taylor, art by Otto Schmidt, a nice story about Alfred and his relationship with Batman. I really liked this one, script and art were great! What are your thoughts about this Annual

[Arsenal]

So if we can get more of this Batman, that’s be great.

[Rakzo]

Is funny. Based on the last cliffhanger, I thought that Taylor was going to write a story about the return of Thomas Wayne which would have been logical considering his connection to the character (Mind you, Taylor wrote Earth 2 Thomas who was different from Flashpoint Thomas but still).

That being said, this is still an immensely satisfying story. Taylor uses his expertise at creating great moments to deliver an emotional dynamic between Bruce and Alfred that captures their relationship perfectly and culminates in a pretty appropriate tone. Schmidt's artwork is amazing too.

Seriously, Taylor has given me the most entertainment that I've gotten from Batman in a while and makes me realize that he would have been a much better fit at following Snyder's "big blockbuster" direction than King.

[Kurisu]

A nice breather with some sweet Alfred moments. Would have much rather had King used this to continue his story though.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I enjoyed the story, it was a nice Alfred story. Art was so so, but not bad for an annual.

[BatmanJones]

Terrific. What a great week for Batman comics.

[Eto]

According to his twitter, he's planning a project where he'll kill of characters. Hmm
Tom is becoming more like Tom.

[millernumber1]

Written by Tom Taylor, art by Otto Schmidt, a nice story about Alfred and his relationship with Batman. I really liked this one, script and art were great! What are your thoughts about this Annual

Thought it was very moving. The villain's backstory and motivations were pretty painfully generic and cliched, but that was supposed to only be a backdrop, so it wasn't too big a problem. The only real issue I had was that this is ostensibly part of the Tom King Batman run, and this Batman is NOT the one that King is writing. I don't think Tom King's Batman would ever be able to take a day off to let Alfred recover (even though he should). This felt much more like Tynion's Batman, who hugs his partners when they grieve.

Art was really great! Matched really well with the warmth of the story.

[failo.legendkiller]

Nice father day story.
I'll never get used to "Cassandra and Duke to patrol the city in my stead".
I'm missing the old times when a Robin (or a Nightwing) was the one to cover for Batman.

[Spencermalley935]

Pretty touching and all-around well-crafted issue. Makes me hope Tom Taylor will work on more Batman-related projects in the future.

[Timothy Hunter]

According to his twitter, he's planning a project where he'll kill of characters. Hmm
Tom is becoming more like Tom.

Are you referring to King or Taylor?

[regg215]

Fantastic issue. Say what you will about King's run(I personally love it but get the complaints) on Batman but the 3 annuals during this run have all been absolutely outstanding. The ace story, the catwoman story and this were all great. Tom Taylor is not exactly my favorite writer be he absolutely knocked this out of the park. I thought this really built off of the great moment with Bruce and Alfred in #50 and showcased everything great about the alfred/bruce dynamic and really showed how much they both need each other. With this, Tec' and Batman who laughs, this was a great week to be a batfan.

[nonsense man]

Every body elses except kings is great and this annual and detective shows it

[JLH]

For some time now I've been enjoying DETECTIVE COMICS but been overall bored by BATMAN so it didn't surprise me that I put off reading the BATMAN ANNUAL until after I'd read the other eight or nine titles I'd picked up at the same time. What did surprise me was how much I loved the story. What an unexpected treat.

[Arctic Cyclist]

According to his twitter, he's planning a project where he'll kill of characters. Hmm
Tom is becoming more like Tom.

Could you please clarify this statement? Because Tom Taylor is a master of getting readers emotionally invested in characters, their relationships, and goals before brutally killing them off. Anyone who has read the Injustice comics knows that Tom Taylor exists to make us feel heartbroken and sad, but we can't stop reading him because he's a damn good writer.

Do you mean Tom King is attempting to be like Tom Taylor? Is that even possible? We had around 20 issues (plus 75 years) of trying to convince us that BatCat was as emotional and deep as the 5-15 that introduced Orca/Croc and left readers shipping them and cheering for their happily ever after. Taylor understands and embraces emotions and characters, he lets them drive the story and plot while keeping it tightly constructed.

Which is why it hurts when he kills off the ten people we've been falling in love with, or shatters a relationship beyond repair on a regular basis.

... And he probably shouldn't be allowed a main universe book because he's so damn good at that and also seems to enjoy killing off characters even more so than George RR Martin and the HBO Game of Thrones writers.

I'd still devour his books though. As this annual shows, he's a master of writing the Batfamily, even the rarely included ones. His takes on Bruce and Alfred are the absolute best.