[Spoilers] Batman issue #76

[Steven Caldwell]

Batman would never let anything get in the way of his mission. Including feelings for a woman.
King writes Batman as a sniveling teenager, not as a man.

[Korath]

So, I was hoping, against all reason, that in the light of re-reading Batman 75 after 76, things would read better. Spoiler alert : it didn't. Gotham-Girl's spiel still is pathetically unsufferable for all the wrong and right reasons, for instance.

But what shocked me most is that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were clearly serving Bane at the end of 75, strapping Two-Face to the chair for the Pirate to mess with. And in issue 76 they are on the run ?

What the hell is happening ? Can't King even manage that modicum of coherence or does he just don't care ? Is it artistic mistake (it can happen) ? Are the events of 76 in Gotham before those of 75 ? How does any of this make sense ?

[Celgress]

Hear, hear !

There is no problem with a woman being depicted as as competent - or more, than most men around her. There is nothing wrong with depicting male who actually own their feelings and express them, instead of repressing them. Those are not the flaws of King's run. The way they are used and presented are.

Amen, that all I can add to your statement. I've always thought Selina is Bruce's definitive love interest (sorry Talia fans). What I object to is how King has approached the subject matter. Everyone is acting OOC especially Batman, IMO. Every time I give King's run another chance things just get worse and worse. *shakes head in dispair*

[Darkcrusade25]

Amen, that all I can add to your statement. I've always thought Selina is Bruce's definitive love interest (sorry Talia fans). What I object to is how King has approached the subject matter. Everyone is acting OOC especially Batman, IMO. Every time I give King's run another chance things just get worse and worse. *shakes head in dispair*

Where can I vote for Julie Madison?

[Korath]

Amen, that all I can add to your statement. I've always thought Selina is Bruce's definitive love interest (sorry Talia fans). What I object to is how King has approached the subject matter. Everyone is acting OOC especially Batman, IMO. Every time I give King's run another chance things just get worse and worse. *shakes head in dispair*

I'm a Talia fan through and through, even if early on, King did manage to sell me on Bruce and Selina. Nowadays, I can't stand the two together, or Selina at all (I really tried her book but just didn't find anything of interest there).

But I think that King's writing style is very much like Ryan Johnson's in The Last Jedi : both wanted to introduce concepts and artistic choices not seen before in the franchise (such as Rose Tycho, for instance) which, on paper, sounded good and sound, but both terribly fumbled the execution by making the new characters/directions insufferable to so many that beyond a core group of fans (who will comprise the majority of the Bat/Cat mini and finally help us know how much King's star has dimmed - or not- when it comes to the Bat-corner of the DCU) people have rejected their approach rather brutally and the new additions which should have helped modernize and craft a franchise more in tune with today's sensibilities have failed to do so.

[jetengine]

Alpha and Beta etc were man made constructs and incorrect ones at that. Nature doesn't work that way.

Anyway Captain Atom being used as a jobber again *sigh*, also hom somehow needing an IV line and having swellings despite being an energy being in a metal suit ? *sigh*

I mean he COULD have just nuked Gotham Girl.

[Ansa]

I have no problem with Batman expressing his emotions, repressing them is not cool, it's actually pretty unhealthy.
My problem is how incompetent, immature and unheroic Bruce is in this run. He's an adult man in his late thirties, who is responsible for a lot people, some of them quite young. He has already faced many crises in his life. At this point I would expect an adult to handle his problems in a more mature way.
Instead we get the same old: "Hey it's okay if he treats people like crap and hits his friends and family, something bad happened to him! You have to feel sorry for him and understand his situation!"
No. This is an adult character, not a child. I want him to take responsibilty for his actions and apologize.

[Celgress]

I have no problem with Batman expressing his emotions, repressing them is not cool, it's actually pretty unhealthy.
My problem is how incompetent, immature and unheroic Bruce is in this run. He's an adult man in his late thirties, who is responsible for a lot people, some of them quite young. He has already faced many crises in his life. At this point I would expect an adult to handle his problems in a more mature way.
Instead we get the same old: "Hey it's okay if he treats people like crap and hits his friends and family, something bad happened to him! You have to feel sorry for him and understand his situation!"
No. This is an adult character, not a child. I want him to take responsibilty for his actions and apologize.

I couldn't have put it better myself especially the underlined bit.

[Restingvoice]

It wouldn't fly in any genre besides comics. I take that back, it did work in Twilight, which is a better love story than King's BatCat.

Gasp! Don't you think that's too far? You're ruining the meme!

^^

[Ansa]

Even in this issue, we have a show case of how utterly toxic Bruce and Selina's relationship is as if they had a healthy relationship, Damian and Tim would have been contacted by Catwoman about Bruce. Clark and Lois would have been contacted. The fact that at no point does Selina consider the other members of Bruce's family and social circle indicates that relationship is unhealthy.

Selina can't contact the rest of the batfamily, what if they end up doing something useful? Only Selina is allowed to help Bruce!

I think I already talked about this in another threat, but King pushing this "Only Selina" thing isn't doing this ship any favours in my opinion. Pushing other characters down to prop up another one tends to sour people on the character you are trying to promote.

[Scott Taylor]

It is kind of hilarious that Bane's entire way of holding control revolves around keeping Alfred under the threat of death. Superman could take whoever is holding the trigger, save Alfred, punch Bane out, drink a cup of coffee, poop on Psycho Pirate's mask, kiss Lois Lane and clean up every piece of trash villain in the entire city and put them all safely back in Arkham before Dick could finish the sentence "how about if we call Superman?"

But nope. Instead the ultra-mastermind plan of Bane that he has been apparently working on for years is the oldest, stupidest villain trick in the book.

"I'll kidnap Alfred, haha, he'll never be able to overcome that!"

[Celgress]

Selina can't contact the rest of the batfamily, what if they end up doing something useful? Only Selina is allowed to help Bruce!

I think I already talked about this in another threat, but King pushing this "Only Selina" thing isn't doing this ship any favours in my opinion. Pushing other characters down to prop up another one tends to sour people on the character you are trying to promote.[

True, it feels forced to the reader because it is forced. This is bad writing 101. I've seen this sort of thing in tons of fanfics to the point of I've lost track of how many (which is in part why many people hate and look down on fan works)

[BatmanJones]

Thank goodness there's an analysis and enjoyment thread.

[Godlike13]

Just let the old man die. Dude sent kids to thier death, he made Damian basically live on the street because his father couldn’t remember him, it’s time Alfred takes a break.

[Arctic Cyclist]

Thank goodness there's an analysis and enjoyment thread.

Well. It's an enjoyment thread at least. Calling it an analysis thread is stretching it, even for comics.