Tom King Batman: Reread & Bat/Cat Appreciation 2020

[Tsukiakari1203]

Selina and Lois hanging out was such a brilliant part of the run. That bachelorette party was a big highlight of Knightmares! With gorgeous art by Amanda Conner.

it was one of the best bits. I really liked Claire Clover and I hope she sticks around as a hero

[millernumber1]

Cat has a utility belt! For some reason I've either never noticed she had one before or its new.

I've taken a break from comics during COVID, but intend this series to be my first foray back into the fray.

Sounds like a great first foray back! We shall be here!

[charliehustle415]

The setup in City of Bane was criminally underused. I'm still furious that the Secret Files issue didn't have any stories like what you mention. Showing Gotham upside down.



Selina and Lois hanging out was such a brilliant part of the run. That bachelorette party was a big highlight of Knightmares! With gorgeous art by Amanda Conner.

City of Bane would have made an amazing year long event like No Man's Land.

Each month the Bat Family could have fought one super villain for a section of Gotham and the final fight would have been Bane.

I still don't understand why DC pulled the rug out from King there was so much potential and yes I know some hate his writing, but to kowtow to critics seems asinine.

Well at least he gets to finish his Bat/Cat story

[millernumber1]

City of Bane would have made an amazing year long event like No Man's Land.

Each month the Bat Family could have fought one super villain for a section of Gotham and the final fight would have been Bane.

I still don't understand why DC pulled the rug out from King there was so much potential and yes I know some hate his writing, but to kowtow to critics seems asinine.

Well at least he gets to finish his Bat/Cat story

Yeah, I'm really wishing they'd done something like that.

And glad that we have Bat/Cat coming.

[CPSparkles]

City of Bane would have made an amazing year long event like No Man's Land.

Each month the Bat Family could have fought one super villain for a section of Gotham and the final fight would have been Bane.

I still don't understand why DC pulled the rug out from King there was so much potential and yes I know some hate his writing, but to kowtow to critics seems asinine.

Well at least he gets to finish his Bat/Cat story

King said he had too much work on his plate to carry on Batman.

He also said that he managed to say everything he wanted to since the remaining 15 issues he had planned villain of the week type stories featuring various Batman villain's.

It does beg the question why has he been taking on multiple assignments if he had no time to do 15 issues of Batman.

There was also the New Gods movie he was supposed to be doing with Ava but I guess that was cancelled since we didn't get a peep during fandome.

Which might explain why he has more time. Personally i feel like King wanted to move on and had his eye on TV and Movies.

[Bad Witch]

The setup in City of Bane was criminally underused. I'm still furious that the Secret Files issue didn't have any stories like what you mention. Showing Gotham upside down.



Selina and Lois hanging out was such a brilliant part of the run. That bachelorette party was a big highlight of Knightmares! With gorgeous art by Amanda Conner.

You're right it was underused for sure. It only lasted a few issues as well. It was the most original and interesting thing in the whole run. Strange as gordan was breath taking. I could read a whole run of that. Definitely better than joker steals bruces money...

[RJT]

King said he had too much work on his plate to carry on Batman.

He also said that he managed to say everything he wanted to since the remaining 15 issues he had planned villain of the week type stories featuring various Batman villain's.

It does beg the question why has he been taking on multiple assignments if he had no time to do 15 issues of Batman.

There was also the New Gods movie he was supposed to be doing with Ava but I guess that was cancelled since we didn't get a peep during fandome.

Which might explain why he has more time. Personally i feel like King wanted to move on and had his eye on TV and Movies.

I do think the double-shipping of Batman probably had an impact as well. All of his other projects have been monthly miniseries, some of which, like Bat/Cat, have had their launch dates delayed. DC needs to have Batman coming out twice a month--it's relentless.

[Hilden B. Lade]

https://twitter.com/Clay_Mann_/statu...39403141844992

Some behind the scenes from Mann in regards to Selina's past and present looks in Bat/Cat.

(I wonder if Clay's new design will replace Jones' design as the default Catwoman look?)

[millernumber1]

https://twitter.com/Clay_Mann_/statu...39403141844992

Some behind the scenes from Mann in regards to Selina's past and present looks in Bat/Cat.

(I wonder if Clay's new design will replace Jones' design as the default Catwoman look?)

I'm into this new design!

[Tsukiakari1203]

I'm into this new design!

No armpit holes is a plus

[Hcmarvel]

Is that design seem slightly inspired by BTAS?

[Tsukiakari1203]

Is that design seem slightly inspired by BTAS?

yes which I'm mixed by. Not a huge fan of BTAS suit

[BatmanJones]

King said he had too much work on his plate to carry on Batman.

He also said that he managed to say everything he wanted to since the remaining 15 issues he had planned villain of the week type stories featuring various Batman villain's.

It does beg the question why has he been taking on multiple assignments if he had no time to do 15 issues of Batman.

There was also the New Gods movie he was supposed to be doing with Ava but I guess that was cancelled since we didn't get a peep during fandome.

Which might explain why he has more time. Personally i feel like King wanted to move on and had his eye on TV and Movies.

I don't buy any of these explanations. More and more, I feel like they were all cover for King's Batman fans like us and cover for King too from the embarrassment of being fired early from a pre-announced run.

King is a prolific writer and he's got so many projects going at once that I don't believe he couldn't have written 15 more issues. I also believe that he very much wanted to complete his story. (Batman/Catwoman is not a finish to his story; it's a meditation on the Bat/Cat relationship. It's not even in continuity. It's throwing fans like us a bone.)

But I get that the sales for their flagship title were down. I get why they did what they did.

My real frustration lies in the fact that, instead of getting that far along and not finishing the story, we got this purely mediocre run by Tynion.

Don't get me wrong. I like Tynion's writing a lot and I thought his Detective run was fantastic, but his run on Batman, while fine, is no great shakes and it doesn't at all justify kicking King off a title he was 85 issues into and had only 15 more to go. How much money did we each invest over 85 issues only to be robbed of the ending King had been heading toward for all that time?

And boy was that a terrible and terribly underwritten breakup between Batman and Catwoman in the last issue. This let's break up and revisit things in a year was so forced and so out of character with all that had come before, over the last 4+ years. It was that 1-2 page scene that led me back into this forum after months away and to search for this thread so I could vent my spleen about it.

[BatmanJones]

I have to say too that I found City of Bane to be obviously truncated and, as a result, the absolute worst arc of the run. You could just feel him trying to cram in an ending, any ending, to make sense of ending his run. After all that, Batman punches out Flashpoint Batman and Bane and things are okay again?

Moreover, I think we all know by now that Alfred's death was never meant to stick. He was going to be Clayface or some other explanation. King, in his last few issues, had not planned for Alfred's death so he had to fit that in too at the last minute. And it was DC that left him holding the bag that way in the last few issues because they hadn't planned for Alfred to die either. They decided to cram that in based off of fan response.

I have a good friend who, during the pandemic, has returned after a long time to reading comics and has asked me for recommendations. I've been lending him my Deluxe volumes though the final one(s) isn't out yet. He is utterly in love with this run and, in the course of telling me that recently and freaking out about everything he loves about it, said "This is so great that I'm worried he won't stick the landing. Please tell me he does."

What was I supposed to say to that? I know his tastes and I know how disappointed he'll be about all the threads that were just dropped in favor of a real rush-job. I just told him he should finish the run and tell me what he thinks of it. And I know I'm going to have to give him the same excuse that DC gave us: well, at least there's a 12 issue series of Batman/Catwoman coming out soon.

Heavy, heavy sigh.

[lilyrose]

It makes me so angry.

Tynion's run is terrible. Generic, boring, unoriginal, unmemorable. And why on earth do they even need to break up Batman and Catwoman? There's NO reason for that. None.

I know that if say, Tom Taylor had been hired to take over Batman he would have kept Bruce and Selina as couple. He writes them great (see Injustice) and he knows how to have them be a team without making the whole thing about their relationship. It's so frustrating.