Too Many DC Focus on the Batman and family

[paulojrmam]

I also preferred David's Batwing and he deserves better treatment. Don't know why they must take everything different about characters and crush it. Now Batwing is another cosmopolitan Bat-character in Gotham. And Duke is another metahuman in Gotham. He was better before he was a meta. And instead of continuing with his Signal day vigilante in Gotham career, they'll put him in the Outsiders. And yes, Batman appears in too many comics he shouldn't be in, like the Justice League of America for example. He's not the only big character, they should alternate more between him, Supes, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern... good thing at least it's Diana and not him in the Justice League Dark.

[millernumber1]

I am more than a bit puzzled why "there is too much Batman" is being argued on a Batman forum. I think "I don't like a lot of Batman that is being published right now" would make more sense, and even then, why not let some stuff be published that you don't like as long as you have some you do?

[Restingvoice]

I’m tired...I’m just tired of DC and WB pushing all of these Batman themed titles and stories on us. Whatever happened to simplistic nature of Batman ?


Just catching random crooks and rarely fighting Super mental criminals. Now its seems that almost anyone who has encountered Batman is damaged in someway or another....tell me you see a pattern in some form ?

I mean unless we get a major DC Crisis level retcon of the entire DCU history...again...I can’t see how ine can be a fan of Batman and not get bogged down with his many history and family members.

Also before anyone mentions too Many Green Lanterns...remember that there are sectors and adventures in space and the fact that Earth is the place for many cosmic trouble as of late.

As Fans of Batman: What do you think of this ?

There are multiple questions and problems there, two in your first sentence, for a moment I got confused by what you're asking. So I guess the problems are:
1. There's too many Batman stories.
2. Batman stories have become too psychological and there's rarely simple crimes anymore.
3. There's too many family members and history.

What do I think:
1. Each superhero family group have their own section. If you're not looking at Batman section, you won't find him unless it's a Justice League or Trinity partnership. Unless you're talking about the movies, where the DCEU's tone and visual was presumably shaped by the success of The Dark Knight trilogy. Which is in example of business move affected by success.

2. This, from what I've seen is caused by the success of those type of stories and even Batman villains in the past. Be it The Killing Joke, Mad Love, or Heart of Ice. So they double down on that because sales and fans response show that they want those stories and talk about them more than simple stories about catching crooks. The simple stories don't stand out as much in comparison.

3. I agree. Every new creators now want to add a character to the lore, although some of the recent ones were created by limitations imposed by DC itself. DC banned the use of previous Batgirls, so Snyder created Harper Row. DC allowed Morrison to kill Damian, so both Tomasi and Snyder added their own Robin candidate... and then Damian was resurrected, forcing Tomasi to canned Carrie Kelley and Snyder shifting Duke to a different role.

As for the aforementioned previous Batgirls and Robins, they exist because the old one grew up, died, or retired, so as a business that sells eternal iconic character, they make a new one, while a few years later, the old ones were brought back from the dead, or because they already have fans that demand them to be brought back.

So as far as I can see, they're all logical development of this kind of business, except the number of family members where they are also mixed with creator ambition, executive bias, lack of foresight, and lack of understanding to what the fans want.

[skyvolt2000]

That was sort of my point.



You can get away to referring to it as a solo mini-series if it was maybe called "Batman Presents: The Signal", but having the "and" in the title doesn't sound like a solo-title.

MARVEL did the same thing with a certain Wakandan King.

Black Panther WOW & The Crew were books that did NOT star Black Panther. Both were STEALTH books for Midnight Angels & Storm & Misty Knight. Mind you all this was BEFORE a movie was green lighted.

Exactly. "BATMAN" is plastered up there in big letters, "and The Signal" squidged into the Bat-Logo. DC needs to believe in Duke more, and treat him with more respect. The co-star role in a mini-series should have led to an ongoing Signal solo title.

Remember that was done for a reason.

If you just did Duke's name-the line starts to the LEFT of folks who take issue with it.

The co-writer got harassed by "gators" and this marked his first noncreator owned gig.
Unlike Tim, Dick & the others-when they co-starred in Batman it was not limited to one panel cameos. Under Rebirth banner all you had to sell Duke on was his backups in All Star Batman.
You had store owners out for BLOOD over folks in billion dollar movies having books. They were going to really go Nuts if you tried a Duke book.
Not to mention the Duke Thomas hating club that boycotted and even RALLIED folks to boycott any book he was in.

Batman's name allowed that book to overcome that nonsense.
It did well on Amazon as a trade and kindle digital.
Yes it should have lead to a solo attempt instead of him getting trashed in the Outsider arc of Detective.

People keep saying Duke deserves better but why? What makes this character so special? Now he’s a meta with a weird power that I’ve already forgotten but other than that, why does this particular character deserve some better treatment?

Because the MAIN Batman book is not bothering to do anything with him.

And I am going to speak from a selfish point here-DC needs to invest in a black character to COUNTER MILES MORALES. The demand for black male lead books (at least trades mind you) is there now.
Why is DC letting not just Marvel but OTHERS fill that demand. If it's not going to be John or Cyborg, Black Lightning or fake Wally-why not Duke?
Why not Batman & Signal ongoing? Not Batman handing the Gotham hood to Duke and say have fun. Lets see Batman train Duke differently. There is too much MONEY to be made.

DC should not let Marvel make it all with Panther, Miles, Riri, Shuri and the rest.

[mikelmcknight72]

The fact of the matter is, anything associated with the Bat family has a better chance than most of decent sales. DC, like many print comic publishers, is not exactly having a great time in the print market. Batman is likely a huge part of how they are staying afloat and able to keep making comics. If Batman can help DC actively publishing until things pick up, I say go for it.

Personally, I like the idea of Batman better than the actual execution, as I'm not a fan of the Batjerk/Batgod characterization. I tend to read more of the classic Bat comics before that characterization became the norm. I tend to prefer for most of my heroes to be not even close to anti-heroes, with just a few Guy Gardner/Wolverine type characters thrown in. The Flash (any of them), JSA, LSH, Superman, and characters like them are what I enjoy most.

[Aahz]

And I am going to speak from a selfish point here-DC needs to invest in a black character to COUNTER MILES MORALES. The demand for black male lead books (at least trades mind you) is there now.
Why is DC letting not just Marvel but OTHERS fill that demand. If it's not going to be John or Cyborg, Black Lightning or fake Wally-why not Duke?
Why not Batman & Signal ongoing? Not Batman handing the Gotham hood to Duke and say have fun. Lets see Batman train Duke differently. There is too much MONEY to be made.

DC should not let Marvel make it all with Panther, Miles, Riri, Shuri and the rest.

Is the demand really there? Of course i can only look on floppy sales (trade numbers are hard lo get) but i I look at the floppy sales from february:

Miles Morales Spider-Man #3 sold 35,408, that's decent, but it also only the 3rd issue of the series.

Black Panther #9 sold only 23,052 that's kind of the lower end of what you need to keep an ongoing going on

Ironheart #3 sold only 14,189, that's already deep in the cancellation range

Shuri #5, sold only 13,105


Sales for Cyborg and Black Lightning were also really poor.