Who Should Write Batman After Tom King?

[BatmanJones]

Christopher Priest.

I agree he's the best choice among DC's current stable of writers though I also like Tom Taylor or Mark Russell for the job.

My preference would be that King writes Batman forever though. His run on Batman has been my favorite of all time and no other run even comes close. I say that with tremendous respect and admiration for the work that Kane/Finger/Robinson, O'Neil, Englehart, Moench, Miller, Dixon, Morrison, Snyder, and so many other writers have done with Batman and family.

As the CBR homepage often does I'll use a Bob Dylan lyric to describe my feelings about King's run as compared to many, many brilliant runs: "The game is the same, it's just up on another level."

CBR's article of today on Batman in 2018 sums up my feelings perfectly:

https://www.cbr.com/batman-high-water-mark-2018/

DC's Batman Reached a New High-Water Mark in 2018
by Renaldo Matadeen – on Jan 06, 2019 in CBR Exclusives

As one of DC's flagship titles and characters, Batman will always garner immense scrutiny. Over the years, these stories -- as good as they've been -- have just never felt like anything groundbreaking enough to truly place the Dark Knight in a spotlight of his own.

RELATED: Tom King Is Revolutionizing the DC Universe By Making It More Human

Until 2018, when Tom King, Mikel Janin and company took the emotional stakes up a notch by deconstructing the man under the cowl like never before. In doing so, the bar has been raised so high for Batman that it'll be interesting to see how other creatives teams (even the current one) try to top this year's work.

Now, that's not to say we didn't enjoy the emotionally-driven stories from previous writers, because we can point to Grant Morrison's killing of Bruce Wayne and taking him on a trip through time and Scott Snyder's assault on the entire Bat-family at the hands of Joker as tales that shook us to the core. But in terms of really redefining the Dark Knight, 2018 feels like the first year this has happened since the "Knightfall" saga in the '90s. And that's because it wasn't about Batman having contingency plans left, right and center, or being unbeatable. It was all about him failing and his humanity slipping away.

The BatCat wedding, for instance, got mainstream press like never before, as the world wanted to see Bruce and Catwoman finally tie the knot. It didn't happen, which ticked off a large portion of fans, but it showed the unpredictable nature of love and got so many people invested. And the way some of the haters even jumped back on the title after Selina left him at the altar made it clear King's decision wasn't for gimmicky shock value -- it was substance over style. He's already said they'll end up together at some point, but right now it's about deconstructing a psyche we previously thought invulnerable.

RELATED: Batman: Tom King Has Transformed Bane Into the Greatest Bat-Villain, Ever

Bruce's psychological breakdown in the wake of this has been remarkable because so many watershed moments have emerged as a result. No longer is he invincible mentally and physically, which has had a ripple effect throughout the entire Bat-family. The depressed hero lost his grip on understudies like Batwoman and Red Hood, and he isn't even sure if he can groom the next generation of vigilantes (ergo why he's recruited Black Lightning to lead the Outsiders). Damian's also started torturing criminals, and Bruce even redeveloped trust issues with his Justice League colleagues.

This all stems from the way King has taken away Bruce's belief in the future, not to mention seeing Dick Grayson take a bullet to the head, which is the ideal way to send Batman off his rocker. In fact, just a couple issues later, the Dark Knight punched Jim Gordon out and became an enemy of the city, making it clear that 2019 will be about finding that light once more inside.

It won't be easy, as we've even seen the genius Bane outdo the Joker and rise up as the architect of all Bruce's suffering via a meticulous plan involving multiple allies; something no other villain has ever come close to achieving. The point is, we've never seen Bruce's universe crumble like this, and it all feels natural. It's as if King took breaking points from the last decade to create one huge seismic shift. And putting him through these tests like never before makes the book appeal on a deeper level, rather than being just another superhero book.

RELATED: Batman Has Become An Official Enemy of Gotham City

No other DC book was able to pack with such aplomb the hooks, twists, romances, horror, comedy (yes, we're looking at you Kite Man), violence towards criminals (like KGBeast and Mr. Freeze) and threat of the final boss lurking like Batman in 2018. The scary thing is it's merely the beginning for yet another tumultuous chapter in Bruce's life. By finely needling down into the very concept of family and love, King made the book not just a fight for the very soul of Bruce, but for the the soul of Gotham, which, for the first time, feels like a losing battle.

[babybats]

I understand that King can be enjoyable to some, but imo everything this article excerpt lists as revolutionary, game changing moments in his run have been done before by many, many other writers. You can praise a creator without talking up his accomplishments so extravagantly. You could say that you like the way he did it better, but not that he was the only one who's done it when he's not actually treading new ground.

[BatmanJones]

I understand that King can be enjoyable to some, but imo everything this article excerpt lists as revolutionary, game changing moments in his run have been done before by many, many other writers. You can praise a creator without talking up his accomplishments so extravagantly. You could say that you like the way he did it better, but not that he was the only one who's done it when he's not actually treading new ground.

Your point is well taken but, to me, he is absolutely treading new ground. Other writers have done similar things to some of the things in his run but no other writer has done so many impactful things in a single run, all toward a single purpose. CBR's articles on the whys and wherefores (which is why I left in the "Related" stories) make these points more eloquently than I could on my own, being that I'm an artist (theatre) by trade and not a critic or critical writer.

As I always say, when I share my responses to any art I'm only sharing my responses. Others will necessarily have other ones. Nothing I post is meant to be read as 'objective.' All responses to art are subjective and so all are 'correct.' If you disagree with me, you're right too. There's no such thing as objective right/wrong wrt any piece of art in my mind.

And I feel the need to repeat that my appreciation for what King's done with Batman in no way diminishes the incredible work others have done with the character. But, personally, I disagree that what King's doing has been done before. And Batman has never, IMO, been put through the ringer so thoroughly as to become legitimately depressed and out of control in the ways he has been lately. To me, it's not about any one or two or ten things he's done; it's about the cumulative effect of the entire run which is less than 3/4 through and too about the long game he's been playing.

With regard to a long game, Morrison and O'Neil have come closest to the grandiosity of what King's done with the character and Englehart is close behind them, but I take the character personally to an unhealthy degree, I've read every Batman run, and this one is not just different for me; it's vastly different than any that has come before it.

I've always said that Batman is as complex a character as is Hamlet but that's never felt so true to me as during my reading of King's run, particularly since the reveal at the end of #50. Before that I only knew I loved it; I hadn't known how precise and necessary each and every issue has been to the story as a whole.

Saying that makes me want to write about a problem I perceive in serial storytelling now that we have the internet and receive so many reviews and responses to single issues of a work-in-progress. On the Comic Book Review aggregate site, for example, there are tons of reviews of single issues but collections only receive scores for how the single issues were reviewed.

A story like this benefits tremendously from taking a much longer view, and without being bought in enough and patient enough to do that, I doubt anyone could have the same response I'm having.

Of course he's retreading some old ground but he's doing it in the service of a much grander story than is included in any single issue or collection of issues. My response is to the entire run to date.

[BatmanJones]

Having read through the whole thread I'd like to add my voice to those suggesting Tomasi (already writing a fantastic Batman story now and proven as a tremendous Batman writer) and especially to Jeff Lemire.

For me the character/emotional beats of any comic book are so much more satisfying than any fights/action and almost nobody does that stuff better than Lemire.

To think of him bringing the complexity and heart he's brought to Black Hammer universe to the Batman family would be a dream come true.

I just hope DC doesn't course correct by bringing in a purely fun-loving writer or a purely great adventure writer or a purely great writer of detective/mystery stories to Batman, because Batman at its best is all of those things and so much more.

[Timothy Hunter]

There are links to interviews in his Wikipedia page. And again the issue of Hitman is very Well liked. I'm less sure about Section 8, but I do recall comments That he was the only hero not made fun of.

There is more textual evidence for him liking Superman, not so much Batman.

Alright found what you're talking about. I just find it odd that he despises virtually all superheroes out of principal, yet has respect for arguably most famous and milquetoast of all the superheroes, Superman and Wonder Woman.

[TheCape]

Priest, he probably would make a deconstruciom of Bruce or would try to present his most ugly side, althougth it doesn't sound very flattery in paper, i'm sure that he would be able to make the whole thing fun.

[Timothy Hunter]

How about artists?

Having Todd Mcfarlane as a monthly Batman artist would be terrific, and would probably be an even more astronomical news story than Bendis moving over to DC. As a means of persuading him, DC could give him a position such as head of merchandising or give him a pop up imprint a la Wonder Comics or Sandman Universe.

[Adset]

i can only imagine bendis' transition to the bat-books is already set; it just depends on if he immediately follows king, or if we get a year or two of filler before a new EVERYTHING CHANGES LINE-WIDE REVAMP INITIATIVE. impossible to say how long his run on the super-books will last, or how invested/successful his Wonder line will be. as anyone familiar with his marvel stuff will tell you, bendis on too many books makes for a bunch of bad books. energized/focused bendis is what we should strive/hope for, so i'll take some filler if it means we need to bridge a gap between he and king.

[rev516]

Paul Dini if he ever comes back. That man is the writer that got me into Batman and he made Bruce Wayne my favorite character in comics. He has an excellent handle on Bruce.

[SiegePerilous02]

Alright found what you're talking about. I just find it odd that he despises virtually all superheroes out of principal, yet has respect for arguably most famous and milquetoast of all the superheroes, Superman and Wonder Woman.

Well if a writer does their research, they will see neither of them is in any way, shape or form milquetoasts. Superman, the core idea anyway and when he's written at his best, is a hyper masculine badass that also isn't an entitled ******* and is cocky/confident without being full of himself. He's just a good guy. And despite there being examples of superheroes before him, he is definitely the trend starter for the genre as we know it today and is the closest to being a completely original idea in the sea of superheroes that dominate the market. I think Ennis respects that.

Wonder Woman he says he respects the ideas behind her, if not always the character herself. I don't think anybody can deny that that the idea of a completely original and independent female superhero in this market is incredibly important.

For Batman, I don't know if there's anything there for him to like. He's not the hyper exaggerated embodiment of the working man's spirit or the epitome of female power and liberation that subverts typically masculine superhero conventions.

[Batknight]

How about artists?

Chris Samnee is all but destined to be a main Batman artist one day.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Chris...9VFO6wMpOkvCM:

[adrikito]

Christopher Priest.

I can see them giving it to Bendis.

I would like this but...

Unfortunatelly I can see Bendis obtaining this comic too..

[Coco Loco]

i can only imagine bendis' transition to the bat-books is already set; it just depends on if he immediately follows king, or if we get a year or two of filler before a new EVERYTHING CHANGES LINE-WIDE REVAMP INITIATIVE. impossible to say how long his run on the super-books will last, or how invested/successful his Wonder line will be.

Yup. It’ll be Bendis if he is available, probably taking over both Batman and Detective, following the model he’s used on the Superman titles.

If Bendis is not available, I’d look for DC to go for a bigger name than most of the suggestions here. Throw a bucket of money at someone like Jason Aaron. See if Geoff Johns is interested. Or someone could emerge between now and 2020, kind of like King did near the end of Snyder’s run.

Artists - depends in part on who the writer is. If it’s Bendis, Maleev seems like a pretty natural fit. Maybe Sook since they seem to have some chemistry. If the books are still double-shipping they will, of course, need multiple artists.

[Jackalope89]

Yup. It’ll be Bendis if he is available, probably taking over both Batman and Detective, following the model he’s used on the Superman titles.

If Bendis is not available, I’d look for DC to go for a bigger name than most of the suggestions here. Throw a bucket of money at someone like Jason Aaron. See if Geoff Johns is interested. Or someone could emerge between now and 2020, kind of like King did near the end of Snyder’s run.

Artists - depends in part on who the writer is. If it’s Bendis, Maleev seems like a pretty natural fit. Maybe Sook since they seem to have some chemistry. If the books are still double-shipping they will, of course, need multiple artists.

I've already dropped the Super books because of Bendis. I don't want to drop the Bat Books completely because of him.

[Restingvoice]

I've already dropped the Super books because of Bendis. I don't want to drop the Bat Books completely because of him.

Why what happened?
Besides Jon aged up