Who Should Take Over Batman After Tom King?

[theoneandonly]

I wonder how long it will take for kings fans to make petitions for him being once again made the writer of Batman.

[Korath]

Writers smart enough to do exceptional Batman should also be smart enough not to take over the series with the ghost of a martyred writer hanging over it. Taking over after a long run is hard enough without also facing the side-eye of other creators sympathizing with King and fans of the last run feeling that your book is fake.

That's why, if I were DC, I would put the Batman title on hold for two to three months, as a way to truly re-generate hype for the upcoming issue 1. There is no need for a Issue 100 fanfare if King isn't on the title. He IS Rebirth Batman, for better or worse, after all.

[godisawesome]

Is Paul Dini available?

His runs on Tec and Streets of Gotham were fantastic, he's an old hand at pretty much all Batman characters, and if nothing else, he's exactly the kind of guy who could hold down the fort if they want some other superstar to come in.

And I would most definitely be down for seeing what kind of big story ideas he could be sitting on.

[Fergus]

I wonder how long it will take for kings fans to make petitions for him being once again made the writer of Batman.

There's already one going on the catwoman subreddit

[theoneandonly]

There's already one going on the catwoman subreddit

ah so it begins!

[Batman Begins 2005]

Is Paul Dini available?

His runs on Tec and Streets of Gotham were fantastic, he's an old hand at pretty much all Batman characters, and if nothing else, he's exactly the kind of guy who could hold down the fort if they want some other superstar to come in.

And I would most definitely be down for seeing what kind of big story ideas he could be sitting on.

I'd love it to be Paul Dini.

[lilyrose]

Still think Tom Taylor would be good. But whoever it is will only be there for 15 issues, right? It's just gonna be a bunch of filler stuff to get to 100

[Dzetoun]

For what it's worth, Bleeding Cool addresses this in its follow-up article out today. It's nothing official, but their guess is that Bendis will be taking over at issue #100. As they point out, DC got him from Marvel on very favorable terms, but so far the books he has written have not gotten great sales (despite garnering a lot of attention and praise). Putting him on Batman would be a way of justifying his expense to the people up the corporate chain.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/05...m-king-batman/

That leaves the question of who would take over for the 15 issues between #85 and #100, but as they point out, DC has no shortage of candidates for a seven-month run.

[lilyrose]

The fact that they'd prefer a bunch of filler for seven months over letting King just finish out his story is utterly baffling.

Unless they don't like his story, in which case why would they let him finish it somewhere else? A Catwoman or a spinoff title would still affect the Batman book wouldn't it? Or is it a watered down version of whatever it was he was planning, that can't affect the Batman one?

[Arsenal]

If Bendis is doing Batman I guess it’ll go back to monthly because I doubt he can keep it bi with all the other books he’s working on.

[Frontier]

Is Paul Dini available?

His runs on Tec and Streets of Gotham were fantastic, he's an old hand at pretty much all Batman characters, and if nothing else, he's exactly the kind of guy who could hold down the fort if they want some other superstar to come in.

And I would most definitely be down for seeing what kind of big story ideas he could be sitting on.

I think Dini is the type to do a solid and enjoyable fill-in or a strong satellite title.

If he's willing to do more works on the comics side, I say let him.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I would not mind Bendis, his story in the 100 Page Giants is not too bad. Bats is not a dickbag, and it's kind of been a fun romp.

[Timothy Hunter]

A great portion of people in this thread are acting like Bendis on the main Batman title is an inevitability. I disagree. I think it us evident at this point, that instead of being the A-lister he used to be half a decade ago, Bendis no longer the flaming hot money maker he used to be and he is now merely solid, upper B-list talent. Somewhat like Tomasi, Tynion, and Williamson. Of course he has a respectable amount of power: he has his own imprint, he's basically in control of the entire Superman franchise, and very soon he is to write an event comic. However, his star has faded. DC is milking the hype around Bendis transitioning to their company as much as possible, but I am confident that status quo will quickly fade away.

[jules]

The sensible thing to do would probably be to recruit a new writer to start their run in issue #100, then fill the gap by inviting back 2-3 previous Bat writers to do 4-6 issue minis to take the book through issues #86-99. It’d carry the book through a transition period, share the load around so that no one person ends up risking their career to a backlash, and if it was writers who’d previously had the gig, they’d have nothing to prove.

It’d also pick up the pace in the way that a 15 issue run might not.

[Timothy Hunter]

A great portion of people in this thread are acting like Bendis on the main Batman title is an inevitability. I disagree. I think it us evident at this point, that instead of being the A-lister he used to be half a decade ago, Bendis no longer the flaming hot money maker he used to be and he is now merely solid, upper B-list talent. Somewhat like Tomasi, Tynion, and Williamson. Of course he has a respectable amount of power: he has his own imprint, he's basically in control of the entire Superman franchise, and very soon he is to write an event comic. However, his star has faded. DC is milking the hype around Bendis transitioning to their company as much as possible, but I am confident that status quo will quickly fade away.

I think it would be more appropriate, instead of handing Bendis Batman after his Superman has concluded, for him to be given the reigns to the non Bruce Wayne Bat-Family ongoings:

Catwoman
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Liam Sharpe

Red Hood
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev

Batgirl
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Bernard Chang

Nightwing
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Brian Hitch