CBR article on King's Batman

[Kurisu]

King threads always turn into hellmouths of garbage so I tend to avoid them, but I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the run, BatmanJones!



I agree with you about not looking at the run with critical eyes just yet. I wasn’t feeling Morrison’s work on the title until it ended, for example, now it’s my definitive Batman. If King sticks the landing in this last act (and admittedly, I’m concerned about the Thomas reveal, fingers crossed), he might just take the top spot.

On topic, I’ll add it’s certainly nice to see Bane treated as a legitimate threat after the otherwise excellent Arkham games nerfed his intellect. Here’s hoping it sticks with the following creative teams.

[Inversed]

Great post, Inversed. Great points. Agree we'll have to wait and see wrt all you raised.

I expect we will get to find out the answer to the question "Can Bruce be happy and still be Batman" and I don't think the wedding is off the table. Of course, I don't know what King's got planned but I felt more like the wedding/romance was interrupted than forever canceled. King's still got about 50 issues to go so I sort of do expect to see this central question addressed. And I expect we'll find out what Riddler, Joker, and Gotham Girl are doing on Team Bane. I could be wrong but King seems like a meticulous writer to me so I think we're going to get those answers.

Re: Selina deciding for herself vs. being manipulated by Bane from behind the scenes I'd argue he knew the best/maybe only way to do it without Selina feeling at all manipulated and feeling she did make the decision on her own. I'm not saying anything new when I say if there's one person she loves and trusts as much or more than Bruce it's Holly. And Holly was, of course, the one that planted the final seed. Seeing Holly kneel to Bane after convincing Selina to split was shocking and haunting to me.

But I'm not really examining the run critically until maybe when it's over. King got me where I live with I Am Suicide and since then I've just been along for the ride. King/Bane has Batman broken emotionally in such worse ways than anyone could have done physically and that appeals to my sensibilities very much.

And that's what makes this run so meaningful to me. I don't read superhero comics for the fights. I read them for the emotional depth they've come to carry. I'm sorry to say I can identify with everything Batman's being put through during this run, though there wasn't any master criminal behind things in my life. Most of the time, if I've had an arch-enemy, it's been myself.

Thanks for posting! Glad to hear you're appreciating the run.

King is known to be a troll, so I could easily see him throwing in a surprise wedding at the end, but even if there's not, I'm all good as long as they are both at the centre of the final story.

I'm at least glad they're getting the biggest question out of the way first, why the hell is Thomas Wayne there (even though we gotta wait like 8 issues to get to the answer)

The way I see it is, by having Selina's doubts be thanks to the manipulation of a villain, even if it comes out of the mouth of someone she trusts, to the readers its basically just a confirmation that them not getting married was the wrong choice, whereas if she had came to the decision on her own, it would be much more gray level in terms of a concrete answer. Although ultimately that probably was the smart choice, that through all the pain and darkness Batman is going through, we know that Batman getting married WAS the right choice, so you have that light of hope that they will find themselves again.

The biggest appeal of the run to me has been the relationship between Batman and Catwoman. So many other stories and iterations of the characters have always seemed to me as nothing beyond a respect for each other and a sexual attraction, not real feelings and love. King's run is the first time I've honestly felt that they did truly care for each other on a deeper level. You can see why they would fall in love, why they would have this type of relationship, not to mention its just really fun and nice to read, and its those character moments that really engage me into the story. King has said his run is ultimately about their love, so I'm hoping it'll be leading to more of them together. Since 51-74 is the Fall, 75-100 must be the Rise, and who else better to help with that.

On topic, I’ll add it’s certainly nice to see Bane treated as a legitimate threat after the otherwise excellent Arkham games nerfed his intellect. Here’s hoping it sticks with the following creative teams.

Funnily enough Arkham Origins had an excellent portrayal of Bane, until his mind had to be mushed in order to fit with the rest of the games.

[BatmanJones]

King is known to be a troll, so I could easily see him throwing in a surprise wedding at the end, but even if there's not, I'm all good as long as they are both at the centre of the final story.

I'm at least glad they're getting the biggest question out of the way first, why the hell is Thomas Wayne there (even though we gotta wait like 8 issues to get to the answer)

The way I see it is, by having Selina's doubts be thanks to the manipulation of a villain, even if it comes out of the mouth of someone she trusts, to the readers its basically just a confirmation that them not getting married was the wrong choice, whereas if she had came to the decision on her own, it would be much more gray level in terms of a concrete answer. Although ultimately that probably was the smart choice, that through all the pain and darkness Batman is going through, we know that Batman getting married WAS the right choice, so you have that light of hope that they will find themselves again.

The biggest appeal of the run to me has been the relationship between Batman and Catwoman. So many other stories and iterations of the characters have always seemed to me as nothing beyond a respect for each other and a sexual attraction, not real feelings and love. King's run is the first time I've honestly felt that they did truly care for each other on a deeper level. You can see why they would fall in love, why they would have this type of relationship, not to mention its just really fun and nice to read, and its those character moments that really engage me into the story. King has said his run is ultimately about their love, so I'm hoping it'll be leading to more of them together. Since 51-74 is the Fall, 75-100 must be the Rise, and who else better to help with that.

Funnily enough Arkham Origins had an excellent portrayal of Bane, until his mind had to be mushed in order to fit with the rest of the games.

Great post, thanks.

IIRC King has said more than once that his run is meant to be about Batman and Catwoman most of all, so I think we're going to get what you said you're hoping for. That's what I'm hoping for too.

I especially appreciated your thoughts on Bruce-Selina being true love for the first time in all their history. Many that don't like the run have argued that he's been in [true] love before but I honestly never read it that way with Silver St. Cloud or Vicki Vale or others. I think he's authentically in love for the first time in this run, with Selina. The others never could have understood him in a way that allowed him to let down his guard as he has with her. I know the difference from my own life, after many times of feeling like I was in love and later learning what it meant to experience authentic love which made me vulnerable for the first time ever in that way. That's how I view King's portrayal of the Selina-Bruce relationship and I do expect them to wind up together.

If he does that at the end of his run and leaves another writer to take over, he'll have left them with some very juicy stuff to explore, even if I personally wish he'd stay on Batman forever.

Thanks for your great thoughts.

[BatmanJones]

King threads always turn into hellmouths of garbage so I tend to avoid them, but I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the run, BatmanJones!



I agree with you about not looking at the run with critical eyes just yet. I wasn’t feeling Morrison’s work on the title until it ended, for example, now it’s my definitive Batman. If King sticks the landing in this last act (and admittedly, I’m concerned about the Thomas reveal, fingers crossed), he might just take the top spot.

On topic, I’ll add it’s certainly nice to see Bane treated as a legitimate threat after the otherwise excellent Arkham games nerfed his intellect. Here’s hoping it sticks with the following creative teams.

Thanks, friend. Great thoughts here. I agree, obviously. I especially appreciate your thoughts on looking at a run as a whole and not in pieces and I had the exact same experience with Morrison's run. I liked it as it came out but I had to read the whole thing put together before I could truly love it. Thanks for posting.

[Scott Taylor]

Personally I have been happy with the run and Bane's role in it, but have felt like Bane's place right now is largely unearned. We have not seen how he did it all, not really. And the cast of characters he has in his thrall just seems very unlikely to me. In Knightfall, the villains he had working for him were more B-listers that made more sense. We're still in the middle of the run and I am giving it time to develop more fully before final judgement.

To me the best parts of the run have been about Batman and his relationships.

[adrikito]

I adore Bane. I am happy to heard this article.

I consider him one amazing villain.