Why so many NEW Batfamily members? and Harpers actual status..

[byrd156]

I don't care for Batwing unless it's David doing the whole Batmen of all Nations thing. That stuff was awesome, Luke Fox was just a lesser version. Harper I didn't care about and she disappeared pretty soon after she showed up it felt like. Duke feels so boring, he feels like watered down Tim but shoe horned into Bruce's past.

Also DC stop naming new Bat characters after Bat equipment. Batwing, Signal, what's next? Batboat?

[Jackalope89]

I don't care for Batwing unless it's David doing the whole Batmen of all Nations thing. That stuff was awesome, Luke Fox was just a lesser version. Harper I didn't care about and she disappeared pretty soon after she showed up it felt like. Duke feels so boring, he feels like watered down Tim but shoe horned into Bruce's past.

Also DC stop naming new Bat characters after Bat equipment. Batwing, Signal, what's next? Batboat?

Nope, BatDude, the Battiest surfer on the West Coast! With his Batmask and surfboard, evil dudes beware!

[Aahz]

Talon is the only recent addition to the mythos that I can think of whose been virtually forgotten.

- Strix is also gone (not sure if she counts)
- Julia Pennyworth got at least pushed to the side line, and it is hard to tell what will happen with her now the Batwoman series has finished.
- the Batman Inc. guys are also in limbo.

Honoestly after flashpoint the first steps should have been:
- to reestablish the relations between the "surviving" Batfamily members
- to bring Batwoman into the family
- to have Jason rejoin the family (with way more focus and better coordination between the writers than it was done)
- and after that they could have started to create new charcters

[Aahz]

Also DC stop naming new Bat characters after Bat equipment. Batwing, Signal, what's next? Batboat?

How about Proto the Bat-Bot or Mogo the Bat-Ape?

[dietrich]

Just because Duke has living folks doesn't make him a watered down Tim. All the bat boys have similarities.

I find Duke interesting and he brings something fresh to the bat bunch. He is the 1st meta bat boy. Not just his personality but his meta ability is very interesting. it's just a shame that only a few writers have given him a chance or used him in a meaningful way. King just used him as a wall dressing and his mini wasn't given enough time to take root.

I don't mind new/many family members so long as writers don't ignore them. maybe move some of them out of gotham like they did with the two Robins [one in Tec the other in YJ]

[failo.legendkiller]

Every writer wants to establish his creation in the batman myth, Snyder pushed his characters in a moment where no room was left and many people wanted their old favorite fixed (after N52 chaos) before even think to introduce new ones. This generated anger on them. Harper paid the bill more than Duke.
Honestly I don’t care about neither and i don’t like Duke being metahuman. This kind of thing belongs to Metropolis, I prefer Gotham to stay more human as possible.

[exile001]

I find Duke interesting and he brings something fresh to the bat bunch. He is the 1st meta bat boy. Not just his personality but his meta ability is very interesting.

Duke's meta? Did it happen in the Signal mini or am I just forgetting?

[dietrich]

Duke's meta? Did it happen in the Signal mini or am I just forgetting?

No it happened in the Metal Preludes. His mini explored it a bit.

[Godlike13]

Not gonna lie, meta Batfamily members to me seems like missing the point.

[skyvolt2000]

Oh look yet ANOTHER Duke Thomas bashing thread.

Anyway the reason you see so many new folks is because some of the established ones are NOT favorites of certain DC management.

As in Cass & Stephanie-who were banned from usage and deemed TOXIC enough to be edited out of books including Lil GOtham.

So if you can't use them-someone has to take their place thus you get Harper. Now that they are at least around-she's not needed.

Or you have folks who don't want certain guys used because that would mean giving credit to that creator and/maybe royalties or more exposure.

Which might be the cases with Orpheus. Whose creators is over at Archie doing stories that don't get published and the other (the artist) hasn't done a comic in now 19 years. Who might be mad that Orpheus nor Sovereign Seven can't sniff a trade.
Odd a character that boasts black creators is not active.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I think Soveirgn Seven is a creator-owned title so maybe its down to Chris Claremont and Dwayne Turner if they want to do more?

Harper is now a civilian and I don't think there are that many. So far its just Duke and Gotham Girl (she probably doesn't count anymore). I don't think Mother Panic counts as she's just another vigilante who doesn't care for Batman. Technically she could have been a creator-owned character or one that could have existed in another company (I wish she was in Valiant honestly).

We Are Robin was awesome tho.

[Cmbmool]

Too many Robins, too much extended Batman family members....something needs to give at DC to give Batman some Stability in his line-up, his history and his allies.

I prefer SOMETHING to limited the Batman family a bit to just Bats, Nightwing and Robin....Batgirl's more of a mess than Robin considering how much they forget the TRUE history to Batgirl, both name and the legacy behind it all.

Also while I am an African American reader I am not a big fan of the whole Signal thing and Batwing was like a failed experience to the Batman mythos.

Harper Row left while the getting was too good to be true.

[Jackalope89]

Well, right now its down to Babs, Damian (in Detective Comics at least), Alfred, Cass, and Duke.

Not sure what Steph is up to right now.
Bruce and Jason are on the outs (to say the least, though when beaten so bad you need months to properly recover...)
Dick isn't even Dick right now.
And Bruce just punched Tim in the face in the latest Batman volume. So, yeah.

Selina, well, she was convinced not to marry Bruce for "reasons", though it clearly is basically torturing her psychologically and emotionally since she ditched Bruce.

Harper is just doing her own thing, last anyone saw her.

[byrd156]

Nope, BatDude, the Battiest surfer on the West Coast! With his Batmask and surfboard, evil dudes beware!

I would love a Hawaiian Batman that was a surfer. Whether it's a Batman Inc or Elseworld, DC you can have that idea for free. You're welcome.

[Arsenal]

I would love a Hawaiian Batman that was a surfer. Whether it's a Batman Inc or Elseworld, DC you can have that idea for free. You're welcome.

Hawaiian Batman patrolling the islands using his trusty batboard.

DC just take my damn money already and make this happen.