Who Should Take Over Batman After Tom King?

[Mr. White]

He did great on Daredevil. I don't why he wouldn't be great with Batmen.

I've been saying the same thing for years.
Question is - is he (Bendis) able to re-capture that aspect of his career?
He has a lot in his "negative" column.

[WonderScott]

Oooh... Babs Tarr doesn't fit Batman. Her art's too cutesy.

Part of me likes that factor and/or the job pushes her in a new way to have her style fit Batman. Tarr does an amazing job at character design and depicting different body types, ethnicities, and characters' personal style and fashion. That's something I'd love to see in the book.

[WonderScott]

I'm gonna need to read a book from Tom Taylor when he's not free to kill characters because that limitation is gonna change how someone would approach the character and their world

My first experience reading Taylor was his stint on Earth 2, which I really enjoyed. He brought the characterization and surprises and soap opera and fun and wasn't all nilly-willy-killy on that title then.

[Daniel22]

I'd go for:

Gail Simone/Nicola Scott
Tom Taylor/Xermanico
Mark Russell/Dale Eaglesham
Kelly Sue DeConnick/Joëlle Jones
James Tynion/Babs Tarr

Or a mix-and-match of any of the above.

I want high action/adventure and a ridiculous amount of soap opera and the development of surprising relationships and friendships and enmities (by force or by chance) between Gotham's leading heroes, villains, and citizenry. A bit more developement of characters' alter egos when they're not leaping off a building or writing riddles or planning death traps or attending charity balls, etc. Show me the wild side of Gotham that's not depressed and broken and somehow chooses to live in a city with occasional mud monsters running amuck, deadly plant ladies choosing peonies over people, sociopathic former sidekicks, psycopathic clowns, and the constant anxiety of their elevated commuter train getting blown up at 6:12pm by a missile-launching robot penguin. Show me Gotham's weirdness.

That's a fantastic list imo! Mark Russell in particular is a great choice. I'm not sure we've had anyone like him write the main Bat book. Simone is another choice I whole heartedly agree with. Of the current DC regulars, I'd say Russell, DeConnick, Simone, Orlando, Priest or Joelle Jones would be my top picks. A highly unlikely choice but one I would love to see is Matt Hawkins. Other outside long shots I like are Eve Ewing, Nnedi Okorafor, Saladin Ahmed, Tini Howard or Vissagio. The main thing I don't want is someone from the Tomasi/Venditti/Lobdell/Jurgens/Rucka/Humphries group. I prefer someone who I feel has a fresh and exciting voice.

[numberthirty]

He did great on Daredevil. I don't why he wouldn't be great with Batmen.

I've been saying the same thing for years.
Question is - is he (Bendis) able to re-capture that aspect of his career?
He has a lot in his "negative" column.

Moon Knight

..........

[Zaresh]

Moon Knight

..........

Yeah, as much fun as his Moon Knight was, it was anything but what it should've been, I think.

Also, you can see how he writes mystery in a not-street-level way with Leviathan and Action Comics/Superman.

He did write a very entertaining DD, but I don't think the strengths that made that run so enjoyable are the same one would find in a run for Batman. But I don't know, it's just my opinion.

[Vordan]

Bendis’ Batman Universe has been pretty good so far I’d say. I think he could do a good job on the title, but I doubt DC will give him Batman and Superman.

[Mr. White]

Moon Knight

..........

True. One of his better series, just like his very short-lived Spider Woman.
Though I always thought MK dressing up as the others was a step to far.
Would have been better (IMO) if they served as "Angels on his shoulder".

[Mr. White]

Yeah, as much fun as his Moon Knight was, it was anything but what it should've been, I think.

Also, you can see how he writes mystery in a not-street-level way with Leviathan and Action Comics/Superman.

He did write a very entertaining DD, but I don't think the strengths that made that run so enjoyable are the same one would find in a run for Batman. But I don't know, it's just my opinion.

This is accurate.

[Yohei72]

I'd go for:

Gail Simone/Nicola Scott
Tom Taylor/Xermanico
Mark Russell/Dale Eaglesham
Kelly Sue DeConnick/Joëlle Jones
James Tynion/Babs Tarr

Am I the only one who finds Tynion the epitome of "blandly competent"? I'd rather have any of those other writers rather than him. It's like getting Gore Verbinski to direct your movie. No one has ever been excited to hear Gore Verbinski is directing a movie except maybe Gore Verbinski, and I'm not even sure about that.

[Godlike13]

No, you are not the only one.

[Restingvoice]

Tynion is best at writing horror stories. When writing Batfam he likes to write curb-stomp battles, which I don't enjoy. At all. Those are his best and worst part for me. Between those, it's just okay.

[Yohei72]

Tynion is best at writing horror stories.

Which examples would you recommend? Now that I think about it, I only know his Batfam work.

[Vordan]

Which examples would you recommend? Now that I think about it, I only know his Batfam work.

Justice League Dark has been good so far imo. He’s also putting out a new creator owned horror title Something is Killing the Children.

[Yohei72]

Justice League Dark has been good so far imo. He’s also putting out a new creator owned horror title Something is Killing the Children.

Hm, I read the first issue of JLD and got the same "Eh, it's okay" feeling I usually get from him. Maybe I'll give it a second chance in trade.

But that second one certainly has an attention-catching title. I'll keep my ear to the ground for it, thanks.