[Spoilers] Batman 82 Preview and Discussion

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Old Thomas who is also an alchoholic, and began his batman career well into his adulthood, suddenly is an ultimate badass who can take out bruce and somehow entire bat family on his own.

So much this.

[Tenzel Kim]

I'm just waiting for the moment when we learn this storyline is still part of Knightmares and Batman will be waking up for real wondering how he'd ever stay in that simulation for so long...

[Tzigone]

I'm just waiting for the moment when we learn this storyline is still part of Knightmares and Batman will be waking up for real wondering how he'd ever stay in that simulation for so long...

Dallas did make an impact, didn't it? I'm with you - this has been a bad run and I'd like it wiped away. Of course it would be even more meaningless then, but...meh. I mean, especially if we're getting another reboot anyway (unsure on how transition to 5G will play out). Think we'd need to go further back than Knightmares, though.

Still, the end is in sight. On that note - have we heard anymore about the BatCat series planned? How wary do we need to be?

[dietrich]

Dallas did make an impact, didn't it? I'm with you - this has been a bad run and I'd like it wiped away. Of course it would be even more meaningless then, but...meh. I mean, especially if we're getting another reboot anyway (unsure on how transition to 5G will play out). Think we'd need to go further back than Knightmares, though.

Still, the end is in sight. On that note - have we heard anymore about the BatCat series planned? How wary do we need to be?

I believe King suggested it'd be more focused on Catwoman. He's hoping to do something special and bold. hoping to create he's own TDK or something like that. [it's on his twitter]

Selina isn't a character that I'm invested in so got no stakes. he can get as creative and bold as he wants. It should be fun to watch.

On the latest batman did Thomas just shoot Bruce or was it just bane?

Catwoman was ..... this issue. Gotham is her's? What are you even doing Tom?

[Huntsman1117]

I didnt hate this issue, but I understand why so many people hate it, and hate all of King's run. I appreciate what King's ultimate goal is, but it isn't well-executed. I like Tom King and Joelle Jones, and I want to like 'Batman' and 'Catwoman' comics and continue reading, hoping for the best. But both of these writers need to pick up the pace and come up with some more exciting plots and storylines. I hope it's all worth the wait. I love Batman and Catwoman and want to see them move on to bigger & better adventures.

[Ansa]

On the latest batman did Thomas just shoot Bruce or was it just bane?

I think he shot Bruce two times in the gut.

[Ansa]

I'm still not interested in their relationship and just hope we can ignore King's Batman and Catwoman book as much as possible.

[Dthirds3]

So did thomas control bain before or after the button

[gregpersons]

The only issue I have with that is that since they de-aged Barbara she's almost the same age as Cass and Steph. Makes the mentor thing kinda weird.

They should all be relatively the same age... Barbara is 25, Steph and Cass are 18 and 19... a bit like a graduate student mentoring a college freshman.

Babs doesn't have many enduring female friendships outside of the Birds of Prey -- in a revised continuity, Steph & Cass make sense as supporting characters to Barbara Gordon/Batgirl.

[dietrich]

So did thomas control bain before or after the button

I think after when he realised that his son wasn't heeding his advice to stop being batman and be a father to his kids.

It's not been clarified. My take Thomas decided to use Bane's and his plan to break batman wish was already in progress to help Bruce give up and have a normal life.

[Starrius]

I'm still not interested in their relationship and just hope we can ignore King's Batman and Catwoman book as much as possible.

I am a BatCat fan, and Bruce/Selina is my 3rd favorite comic book pairing after Peter/Mary Jane (always be my favorite comic book couple) and Dick/Kory (I have no hope for them in comics..I love the Wolfman run comics).
I don't like how King is writing them. I don't like the dialogue including especially the "Bat", "Cat" in civilian identities.

[Gridde]

Is it just me or did Bane really come across stupid in this?

King spends (or in this case, waste) 70+ issues building this guy up as the ultimate mastermind only to have Batman "trick", him in the most obvious fashion and even had Batman saying, "I never said Bane was smart!". I've seen video game bosses who were portrayed more formidable than this. And the "twist", is still no justification in clowning Bane out like that.

Yeah, this is what kinda dumbfounded me. Bane and his plan have now received more hype and buildup than any other villain I've ever read in comics (if we take basically King's whole run so far to be leading to this) but this issue made it seem like the only advantage he had was Venom? As soon as he loses that, "let's just beat him up" is apparently all the strategy it takes to defeat him.

And then there's the awkward reminder that "old guy who has been doing this for a couple of years" Batman beat up Tim, Damian, Cassandra, Barabara, Duke and Helena at the same time. While already injured. I'd have found it just about believable if he'd used dirty tricks and mind games to take on Damian and Tim, but what we actually got was ridiculous.

I feel I'm in the minority who have actually really enjoyed King's run, but the last two issues have almost ruined the whole thing for me.

Edit - Was Steph there too? Just adds to the stupidity if so

[Arctic Cyclist]

I believe King suggested it'd be more focused on Catwoman. He's hoping to do something special and bold. hoping to create he's own TDK or something like that. [it's on his twitter]

Selina isn't a character that I'm invested in so got no stakes. he can get as creative and bold as he wants. It should be fun to watch.

On the latest batman did Thomas just shoot Bruce or was it just bane?

Catwoman was ..... this issue. Gotham is her's? What are you even doing Tom?

He said he wanted to do the new Batman and Robin which is a whole different game than The Dark Knight. In other words, he thinks his BatCat will be capable of outselling the primary Batman title, will create a new and aggressive fanbase that didn't exist before by drawing in orginal readers (people who have never bought or read comics before, or haven't since finishing puberty), and create a situation and relationships that cannot be erased when the reboot happens that is also capable of carrying over into other media to the extent of carrying the entire animated range and showing that it's viable.

It's a bold goal and well beyond wanting to be Millerverse which is loved by people in the industry and fanboys, but not something that can draw in new and rabidly devoted readers who cheerfully boosted the sales of other books like the two Batman and Robin series did.

[Starrius]

He said he wanted to do the new Batman and Robin which is a whole different game than The Dark Knight. In other words, he thinks his BatCat will be capable of outselling the primary Batman title, will create a new and aggressive fanbase that didn't exist before by drawing in orginal readers (people who have never bought or read comics before, or haven't since finishing puberty), and create a situation and relationships that cannot be erased when the reboot happens that is also capable of carrying over into other media to the extent of carrying the entire animated range and showing that it's viable.

It's a bold goal and well beyond wanting to be Millerverse which is loved by people in the industry and fanboys, but not something that can draw in new and rabidly devoted readers who cheerfully boosted the sales of other books like the two Batman and Robin series did.

I don't think King can do that. His run seems to be very polarizing. I haven't seen so many complaints about a comic run such as this.
I constantly see people bitching and griping about his comic issues.
I like Bat/Cat a lot, and they are my 3rd favorite comic pairing.
I don't like how he writes them including especially their dialogue.

[Robanker]

Tom King's Batman is just the worst, most bloated run the character has ever endured. It's a complete mess that is both overthought and underwritten. It misunderstands nearly everything about the character, his supporting cast, and reads like everyone involved just wants so desperately to be immortalized they're going to be the ones who essentially bungled Batman for a decade, requiring years of heavy lifting to fix. It's like this entire creative team is out to outdo One More Day.

I know that's not what's going on. I sincerely doubt anyone went into this thinking "let's make pure, unfiltered character assassination" but that's certainly how it reads. I feel awful for people who got swindled out of their full payment over this run. What an absolute tragedy. And it's not even over.