Rumor: Tom King reported to be finished with Batman 85

[lilyrose]

By the way, King turned in the outline for his last 30 issues (75-105) way back on March 3rd. So whatever story stuff was in there, they've all known about it for a while now.

[Celgress]

For me I liked his run at first then the he started milking the **** out of his BatCat story and promises never delivered. For him to change Batman for generations is something I don't trust him with. And then there is the question of then what. What if he changed Batman as he said. Is it something planned by DC or it's something he just wants to do?. I always thought what if Bruce married Selina are we going to see a timescape or not?. I guess TK is better off writing a maxi series or even an elseworld where he'll find more freedom to do what he want.

This sums up my position as well. I no longer trust King with Batman or Batman's supporting cast. As others have pointed out in this thread (which I agree with) from Batman to Catwoman to Gotham Girl to even Bane he has not been good for the characters. Everyone in Gotham is acting OOC under King, IMO.

[Inversed]

Actually they have about 7 months of material (assumes double shipping and him leaving at #85) before the new writer comes onboard. So they probably have time to start assembling a new creative team and get them to create new material. If it's someone fast like Bendis paired with a fast artist, they probably won't have problems with a time crunch.

BC says in their article they believe they're gonna have random fill-in creative teams take over for 86-99, and then have Bendis or whoever start up with 100, which would be a completely bone-headed move. And while I believe DC would want Bendis for Batman, I don't believe it's gonna happen now, just because with both Superman books, Wonder Comics, Jinxworld, his inevitable future mini-series, and the rumoured Legion book post-Doomsday Clock, he's already got alot of his plate, and I assume DC's gonna want someone who makes Batman their primary focus, with the writer now also having to worry about them having a much tighter control on what he can and can't do. Could probably be too much trouble for both parties.

[lilyrose]

Sigh. I don't know what these guys know (they claim to have "reason to believe" something), but for what it's worth: https://screenrant.com/batman-comic-tom-king-canceled/

See what they note at the end there- specifically referencing Bruce/Selina marrying or having a kid as somehow hindering DC from going forward with the character.

Was it really that? Having him actually get married was what they got cold feet on and removed him from the book for? Look, I want the real ending in whatever form it takes. But having it be an Elseworlds story really is hanging a sign on it that says "THIS IS NOT REAL"

Again, I'll take it if this ends up being what we get. But it just makes me roll my eyes at DC's refusal to allow something as positive as a marriage to happen in the main book and let it affect the future. They need to let it be canon. Someday, yeah, somebody will undo it I'm sure. But would it be SO BAD to let it stick for a while and force successors to deal with a married Batman? Why would that be such a terrible thing?

[Mister Mets]

I find it interesting that DC approved a 103 issue run of a guy who has only done 12 issue minis except Grayson were he had co-writers. I would think before approving that they would have said hey do 25 issues lets see how it goes. It is a bit of poor management on DCs end for not making sure he can do this long term and make it work.

I doubt they approved a 103 issue run in the beginning. But he could reasonably expect to stick around if he keeps the book at the top of the sales charts.

[Frontier]

BC says in their article they believe they're gonna have random fill-in creative teams take over for 86-99, and then have Bendis or whoever start up with 100, which would be a completely bone-headed move. And while I believe DC would want Bendis for Batman, I don't believe it's gonna happen now, just because with both Superman books, Wonder Comics, Jinxworld, his inevitable future mini-series, and the rumoured Legion book post-Doomsday Clock, he's already got alot of his plate, and I assume DC's gonna want someone who makes Batman their primary focus, with the writer now also having to worry about them having a much tighter control on what he can and can't do. Could probably be too much trouble for both parties.

If Bendis is on Legion then I expect (hope) it'll be just as a co-writer and not actually being the main writer.

Maybe like what Jason Aaron and Al Ewing are doing on the upcoming Valkyrie book (I think that's what they did with Naomi as well).

[MajorHoy]

Is DC ever going to say anything about this? How long can King himself keep quiet? He's already liking some tweets regarding this whole situation, like one that says it'd be nice for them to announce that there's going to be an actual ending, so fans aren't scared that it'll just be an unfinished, 85-issue run (Gerads liked that tweet too, so maybe there's something coming?)

Only some fans are worried / obsessed with that concern.

A good chunk of the universe really has other, more pressing things to worry about.

[dornwolf]

Poor poor Tom only writer ever in comics to be punted from a book with more stories to tell. No other writer has ever been so hard done by.

[Pohzee]

Poor poor Tom only writer ever in comics to be punted from a book with more stories to tell. No other writer has ever been so hard done by.

Do previous wrongs make current wrongs write?

[Nero]

Sigh. I don't know what these guys know (they claim to have "reason to believe" something), but for what it's worth: https://screenrant.com/batman-comic-tom-king-canceled/

See what they note at the end there- specifically referencing Bruce/Selina marrying or having a kid as somehow hindering DC from going forward with the character.

Was it really that? Having him actually get married was what they got cold feet on and removed him from the book for? Look, I want the real ending in whatever form it takes. But having it be an Elseworlds story really is hanging a sign on it that says "THIS IS NOT REAL"

Again, I'll take it if this ends up being what we get. But it just makes me roll my eyes at DC's refusal to allow something as positive as a marriage to happen in the main book and let it affect the future. They need to let it be canon. Someday, yeah, somebody will undo it I'm sure. But would it be SO BAD to let it stick for a while and force successors to deal with a married Batman? Why would that be such a terrible thing?

Probably because if it ain't broke, why fix it? Why should successors have to be forced into dealing with a married Batman? Why should DC? Prior to King making it an issue, it was never made into one like this before. If anything, King has only convinced me that Batman and Catwoman doesn't need to be married. It wouldn't surprise me if that were also the case with the higher ups

After everything Batman has been through, he's going to "break" over losing a woman he's had an on and off again relationship for years? I don't buy it. Batman doesn't need Catwoman any more than Catwoman needs Batman. What Batman needs is to be Batman and that's something King fails at getting and that's probably the main reason why DC cut ties. Good on them.

[Digifiend]

This sums up my position as well. I no longer trust King with Batman or Batman's supporting cast. As others have pointed out in this thread (which I agree with) from Batman to Catwoman to Gotham Girl to even Bane he has not been good for the characters. Everyone in Gotham is acting OOC under King, IMO.

That's impossible in Gotham Girl's case, as she only debuted in the first arc of King's run, and is his original creation. She can't be out of character.

[Restingvoice]

Probably because if it ain't broke, why fix it? Why should successors have to be forced into dealing with a married Batman? Why should DC? Prior to King making it an issue, it was never made into one like this before. If anything, King has only convinced me that Batman and Catwoman doesn't need to be married. It wouldn't surprise me if that were also the case with the higher ups

After everything Batman has been through, he's going to "break" over losing a woman he's had an on and off again relationship for years? I don't buy it. Batman doesn't need Catwoman any more than Catwoman needs Batman. What Batman needs is to be Batman and that's something King fails at getting and that's probably the main reason why DC cut ties. Good on them.

Because they don't own the characters. The company owns the characters and they can determine which direction they want to go. The writers give them ideas and they decide if it should be executed

So if they decide Batman should get married, then the next writer has to adjust to that status quo. That's their job.

Likewise, if they decide Batman shouldn't get married, then the writer has to follow that.

Likewise, if they decide the Batman status quo should reset, then the next writer has to follow that.

They're given a certain freedom in order to utilize their creative ideas, but ultimately DC writers are employees.

[Fergus]

These are two unrelated events (Harras not liking King's run and King wanting to do something major).

I disagree. This has office politics all over it. I wager going above the EIC's head (and then bragging about it to the press) would have contributed to his dismissal.

There's a chain of command after all and it's not like folks like Morrison had to go to WB when they made big changes to the Batman.

The might claim sales but sales have been falling for quite sometime so there had to be another trigger.

[Fergus]

Sigh. I don't know what these guys know (they claim to have "reason to believe" something), but for what it's worth: https://screenrant.com/batman-comic-tom-king-canceled/

See what they note at the end there- specifically referencing Bruce/Selina marrying or having a kid as somehow hindering DC from going forward with the character.

Was it really that? Having him actually get married was what they got cold feet on and removed him from the book for? Look, I want the real ending in whatever form it takes. But having it be an Elseworlds story really is hanging a sign on it that says "THIS IS NOT REAL"

Again, I'll take it if this ends up being what we get. But it just makes me roll my eyes at DC's refusal to allow something as positive as a marriage to happen in the main book and let it affect the future. They need to let it be canon. Someday, yeah, somebody will undo it I'm sure. But would it be SO BAD to let it stick for a while and force successors to deal with a married Batman? Why would that be such a terrible thing?

Marriage doesn't equal positive automatically. Why do you assume this? Marriage could be negative it all depends on the writer.
Batman was cohabiting with Selina under King. That's pretty much marriage and he did not seem any happier. If anything he seemed depressed, was isolated and he did not give up Batmaning.

I un derstand that you are a fan of the relationship but you can't assume that getting married to one's on-off GF for decades is going to bring about sudden positive change.


Yes it would be terrible to FORCE successors to deal with writing a relationship if they don't want to. Every writer should be allowed to creative licence [like King was] why box them in.

That's why it's called "putting your toys back in box"

[Inversed]

This was posted in the other fourm page, but Dan DiDio responded to a couple people regarding the rumours, where he says he's "not going anywhere" and "everything is really good with Tom right now".

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx0T5VPBpI9/

Still pretty vague regarding what exactly is going on, but this is basically a confirmation that Didio isn't responsible for the decision.