[Spoilers] Batman 82 Preview and Discussion

[marvelprince]

Lover of Kings run here, but this issue felt anticlimactic. The ultimate confrontation between Bane and Bruce should’ve been way more knock down and drag out. It kinda feels like he needed to just get to end so he pulled a GoT season 8 on the last few issues. I’m not too bothered with Old Man Thomas being so effective cause I think it’s also an effect of his run being shorten so I imagine a longer fight where a battered Thomas cheats his way to victory or assume something down the line will reveal the source of his strength. Catwoman claiming Gotham was also cool to me, she’s usually depicted as living in the heart of Gotham on its streets for years before Bruce became Batman. She’s got as strong as them I think.

[charliehustle415]

Lover of Kings run here, but this issue felt anticlimactic. The ultimate confrontation between Bane and Bruce should’ve been way more knock down and drag out. It kinda feels like he needed to just get to end so he pulled a GoT season 8 on the last few issues. I’m not too bothered with Old Man Thomas being so effective cause I think it’s also an effect of his run being shorten so I imagine a longer fight where a battered Thomas cheats his way to victory or assume something down the line will reveal the source of his strength. Catwoman claiming Gotham was also cool to me, she’s usually depicted as living in the heart of Gotham on its streets for years before Bruce became Batman. She’s got as strong as them I think.

I wonder if the characterization of Catwoman comes from the Arkham games, she was amazing in those games and her fighting style was on par with the bat family.

[Arctic Cyclist]

I think it's more that he's aiming to do a title that works both in-continuity but is also standalone enough to work as its own TPB... in the way that the Batman & Robin portion of Morrison's run is more enduring than, say, Batman RIP or Batman Inc.

Exactly. That's what he thinks BatCat will be. Which means it will need to do what Morrison's Batman and Robin did: dramatically outsell every other Bat title and compete with the major crossover events in popularity.

All the industry accolades in the world mean nothing if a series it can't develop and grow a rabidly loyal and devoted fan base that keeps growing organically years later without any online sales or other marketing. That's what both B&Rs did, King is saying that's what his BatCat maxi series will do.

Given that Morrison switched books before his sales started plummeting, it will be interesting to see how this turns out given that City of Bane appears to be ending on a long wet fart with pretty art.

[kilderkin]

This issue reaffirmed my view that this is singularly the worst extended run of the batman book I've ever seen

An incredibly anticlimactic face off and frankly I'm amazed kings run has lasted this long

[bat1987]

This issue reaffirmed my view that this is singularly the worst extended run of the batman book I've ever seen

An incredibly anticlimactic face off and frankly I'm amazed kings run has lasted this long

Agreed, King messed up everything that could have been messed up.
Sad part is, that King is not a bad writer Imo. I liked Grayson, Vision and Mr. Miracle. I really liked his Batman annual 4. But his main Batman book is just one anti climatic thing after another.

[kilderkin]

Agreed, King messed up everything that could have been messed up.
Sad part is, that King is not a bad writer Imo. I liked Grayson, Vision and Mr. Miracle. I really liked his Batman annual 4. But his main Batman book is just one anti climatic thing after another.

I thought miracle started superbly, but for me the ending was a huge disappointment, though I appreciate the series was well received

[Batman Begins 2005]

Agreed, King messed up everything that could have been messed up.
Sad part is, that King is not a bad writer Imo. I liked Grayson, Vision and Mr. Miracle. I really liked his Batman annual 4. But his main Batman book is just one anti climatic thing after another.

I loved Vision, liked some of Grayson. I was in favour of King getting Batman because of those but I've hated the majority of it. Only things I liked were his one and dones in Batman Annual #2 and especially Batman Annual #4.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Batman Annual #1 I also liked. There's a theme there. Glad King's tenure is nearly over.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

Batman main title is down to 60K & Nightwing is down to 20K. I would say while Tom King’s Batman has fans the results are a 40K per month loss & 13 to 20K loss in readers for the two titles most impacted by his tenure. I personally gave up on Nightwing with Ric & Batman after issue 50.

[bob.schoonover]

When you take into account the card stock cover, Batman is selling ~85K. Just like last month.

[katefan]

This issue reaffirmed my view that this is singularly the worst extended run of the batman book I've ever seen

An incredibly anticlimactic face off and frankly I'm amazed kings run has lasted this long

I think it was a matter of the editorial staff assuming the slackening sales would turn around. When it was obvious they weren't it was too late and so the abbreviated run announcement came later than we expected. Also it might have been a matter of them not knowing whom they could get to take up after King; that sort of decision could take months. Finally it could have been simple arrogance; who wants to admit they put the wrong guy on the job? That's admitting you're as much at fault as said guy.

[kilderkin]

Batman main title is down to 60K & Nightwing is down to 20K. I would say while Tom King’s Batman has fans the results are a 40K per month loss & 13 to 20K loss in readers for the two titles most impacted by his tenure. I personally gave up on Nightwing with Ric & Batman after issue 50.

I did the same with nightwing

[maninthemacintosh1606]

I have an obsessive fondness for the Iliad (was reading it at age 8, and read it so many times by now) so had to just say nothing King does or writes comes anywhere near the style or quality of the Iliad. just nope. Doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence. Maybe that is what he aspires to do, as he has very high aspirations apparently, but nope. If he thinks he is writing a modern epic poem with this, he may need to check what an epic poem is really like... His inability to write proper dialogues between characters alone disqualifies him...

I mean, if your main couple's main thing is calling each other "Bat/Cat" over and over, and your main villain is running around screaming "I am Bane" half the time to the point where even Batman was pretty much saying "yeah yeah, you are Bane, we get it" in this issue, you are NOT writing something epic. I am guessing his "I am Bane" is supposoed to be King's version of "Hulk smash" for the character where years from now people will still remember that phrase and associate it with the character but doesn't work (or he just thought, hey, people love "I am Groot" so will make my version of it, who knows at this point)...

Ha, man I was about to say the same thing - King's writing and the Iliad even in the same sentence, Jesus wept!

[maninthemacintosh1606]

Batman is Gotham, Gotham is Catwoman's; ergo, Batman belongs to Catwoman.

I'm going to be celebrating the release of Batman #86. Anything but King, please.

[Tzigone]

Batman is Gotham, Gotham is Catwoman's; ergo, Batman belongs to Catwoman.

I'm going to be celebrating the release of Batman #86. Anything but King, please.

Batman definitely is NOT Gotham to me. He is actually not even a resident, since he lives in the suburbs rather than Gotham proper (or at least the manor was outside city limits post-COIE, I'm just assuming it still is). I have a big problem with Batman acting like the king of Gotham or like he owns it or gets to decide what other heroes work there, so he is definitely not the personification of the place to me, even if he is the most prominent vigilante.