Rumor: Tom King reported to be finished with Batman 85

[Mr Abductor]

WHY? Tell us why this happened!! Right after all those interviews.

Now we get NO resolution to the Batman/Catwoman relationship.

What do you mean, since she's gonna stay a villain, Bruce is probably gonna have her slapped behind some bars, i'd call that a resolution to their relationship lol

[Talon1load]

So? The individual issues are still in the monthly top 10 lists and outselling guys like Bendis, Morrison and Johns

Which is expected for Batman. Still, the numbers don’t lie. His sales on individual issues are down from where they have been in he past and where DC wants them to be now.

[Mister Mets]

If his Batman run doesn't cross the 100 mark is there as much a point to the needless padding? Like I guess 100 issues will be 100 issues, but man, shooting for issue numbers instead of end goals was pretty dumb to begin with.

It just makes me saltier about the needless padding. You could cut a solid 24 issues from the current 71 issues and still have told essentially the same story.

There could be artistic reasons for wanting the length of a run determined in advance. It provides control for pacing.

I don't have any facts to support it, so it's just a feeling, but I don't see DC being surprise about HIC's backlash. It was pretty obvious that fans wouldn't like what was done to Wally West and I thought the controversy was quite deliberate by DC. And Tom King has been pretty open about his 100 issues run, so I don't know how big the change he intended can be so DC is now getting cold feet. Maybe he planned it recently and DC didn't want to go along (which means the run works without that change) or he hid it until now and pitched the run without it (the run can still work without it). About sales, and knowing there's a big market not contemplated in them, unknown to us as fans, I don't think they have fallen much, because it's still a top title sold twice a month, and I find it odd if really that's the reason (if the rumor was true, of course), because DC knows is a long planned run that is almost 3/4 done and they have indulged King talking about it, which makes me believe they gave King reasons to believe he wasn't going to get cut short

His description of the change seemed to be something that happens after the larger Bane arc, so it could be that the Bane arc works fine.

The bigger deal was probably creative differences. The point on sales was that he might not have been in a position to push something potentially controversial.

[Celgress]

I'm not sad if this is true. The man caused me to quit reading Batman comics (Batman is my favorite superhero of all time) something I never thought possible. How he handled the BatCat Wedding and the Bane mastermind reveal (please) were beyond atrocious, IMO.

Edit -I only hope DC replaces King with someone like Spencer who can both return Batman to his roots and rejuvenate the title making it enjoyable again. In spite of a somewhat lackluster Hunted, I haven't consistently liked reading Spider-Man this much in years.

[Bruce Wayne]

His sales on individual issues are down from where they have been in he past and where DC wants them to be now.

That doesn't mean anything. The sales for everyone all of these guys I listed (Bendis/Morrison/Johns) are down from when they started on their books. That is usually what happens once you have a creator on a book for a long period barring a relaunch or creative team change.

[Denirac]

I'm not sad if this is true. The man caused me to quit reading Batman comics (Batman is my favorite superhero of all time) something I never thought possible. How he handled the BatCat Wedding and the Bane mastermind reveal (please) were beyond atrocious, IMO.

Its 100% confirmed by CBR

[Jman27]

I wanna see his story play out but I guess I underestimate how much people do not like the author.

[numberthirty]

50 years of reading most of DC's books religiously, especially Batman. I have never been more invested in Batman or more disappointed in DC. I freaking hate this.

The beauty of it is that this makes it pretty easy to justify not giving the company so much as a dime on anything but a King title going forward.

[JasonTodd428]

Or DC approved it but WB stepped in because it was supposedly going to change te IP for generations

IF the comics and the movies had more synergy I might agree with WB taking a stance like this but they just don't. Nothing King could have done to change the status quo of the character in the comics would have adversely affected the Batman movie franchise long term. There is a new upheaval in comics every week so whatever King might have done would have been forgotten within a week by the media anyway.

Literally only because of double shipping. Single issues are way down. Let’s have some context here.

Just for the sake of context then Snyder's run selling regularly in the 100s was the exception for Batman not the rule. Also numbers are down across the board not just on Batman in particular.

[kjn]

https://www.cbr.com/tom-king-leaving...medium=ios_app

ITS OFFICIAL

CBR might pretend it is, but they still don't give a named source, direct quote, or referral to an official statement from DC.

Note: I believe Bleeding Cool's report to be largely correct, but what CBR posted was not a confirmation either, merely irresponsible parroting of rumours.

[Celgress]

Honestly I wouldnt mind Bendis taking a Detective Style approach depending how he handles Bruce in Leviathan and could see Bendis Batman spinning from that, Other than that Definitely Tom Taylor

I'd be okay with Bendis taking the helm. He writes a great street level hero (see his Ultimate Spider-Man run). Heck, he'd be a better fit on Batman than Superman, IMO, all things considered.

[numberthirty]

CBR might pretend it is, but they still don't give a named source, direct quote, or referral to an official statement from DC.

Note: I believe Bleeding Cool's report to be largely correct, but what CBR posted was not a confirmation either, merely irresponsible parroting of rumours.

Yep.

"Official" is someone from DC on the record. Not really what is in that piece.

[Konja7]

CBR might pretend it is, but they still don't give a named source, direct quote, or referral to an official statement from DC.

Note: I believe Bleeding Cool's report to be largely correct, but what CBR posted was not a confirmation either, merely irresponsible parroting of rumours.

In fact, CBR say a DC source tell them that this was true. CBR just doesn't say the name.

I wouldn't say it is official, but I guess CBR trust this source.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

Scott Snyder maintained 100k in sales and even he couldn’t do anything that changed the character permanently and has relied on events/JLA/elseworld to continue his story. Grant’s Batman Inc is defunct and could be Considered elseworlds for its future Timeline teased in Batman 700. Kings run dropped from 100k to 85-88K so he didn’t have much ammo for a major change and his story had a ending so I don’t think the next Batman writer if he got to 105 would have liked to start with a major change. If a major change to the mythology were remotely possible Damian would regularly have been a part of both Snyder or Kings run instead of rarely being featured despite the fact he was 10 and now just 13. Golden Age Dick was always around Batman and current day Batman is preferred to be more solo, King just didn’t have as much sales success to sit at the position he wanted. Going to WB / AT & T seems like overstepping you’re boundaries and thinking you can’t be stopped. Hulk outselling Batman and his performance being less than that of his predecessor warrants not keeping him on and allowing his major change.

[JasonTodd428]

Honestly I wouldnt mind Bendis taking a Detective Style approach depending how he handles Bruce in Leviathan and could see Bendis Batman spinning from that

After the mess Bendis has made of the Superman title I'm leery of him taking over Batman. He's been great on Action but Superman is so full of plot holes, mis-characterizations and is also so decompressed that nothing at all seems to happen that moves the story forward that I had to drop it after several issues.