DC vs. Vampires #4 Preview

[Jabare]

You all are playing yourselves. I will bet my entire comic collection Dick is not a vampire

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Hope the "vampire king" isn't the most obvious choice. No need to make that guy the big behind the scenes manipulator every single time. Just let him keep chasing his equations in peace for once.

Unfortunately, this books seems to be going for the most obvious choices, so I think it's highly likely. My hopes for this book pretty much disappeared the moment Batman told Ollie that Hal was a vampire, which is a complete waste of potential.

[Lal]

You all are playing yourselves. I will bet my entire comic collection Dick is not a vampire

There are some evidence suggesting he could be. He doesn't really help the batfamily with the investigation, he only saves batgirl from the vampire after the vampire says he doesn't care about the order to not hurt the batfamily. He already knows Dala, and his and Babs interactions are both getting focus and are quite out of character.
He also appears as a vampire on the variant cover of issue 6, the one revealing the vampire king's identity, and Babs appears on the main cover of that issue. We do know that variant covers don't always mean something, but it did mean something in issue 1 with Hal.
Nothing is concrete proof, but it's at least possible.

[Morgoth]

I just hope, that it's not The Joker, anybody else will be fine.
I've already came to terms with the fact, that it's going to be another story about Batman and street-level characters fighting against meta-humans, this time as vampires, but if it turns out to be another Batman vs The Joker story, well... It's just impossible to make something more genetic and tasteless.

[Johnny]

Unfortunately, this books seems to be going for the most obvious choices, so I think it's highly likely. My hopes for this book pretty much disappeared the moment Batman told Ollie that Hal was a vampire, which is a complete waste of potential.

Hard-Travelling vamps would've been something else.

Now that I think about it, after Hal killed Zan in the first issue, he called the vampire king and then had to explain to him who exactly it was that he killed since he apparently didn't know who Zan even was. If the vampire king is a fellow hero, Leaguer or even Bat family member, he should know about the Wonder Twins. This could very well indicate it could indeed point to an obvious choice like The Joker, since it's someone who doesn't even bother to know who some of the less prominent heroes are. Darkseid usually does his homework since his many defeats have taught him not to underestimate the Earth heroes despite that he sees them as so beneath him. Someone like Joker on other hand wouldn't even care enough to know who some of the heroes that could cause him problems down the line even are.

[CPSparkles]

Seems very likely the big bad is a Gotham character, and the entire "leave the bats alone" order that the vampires received in the previous issue further suggests so.
Personally, so far I think Nightwing is the most suspicious of the characters, and he's definitely capable enough to pass Batman's tests.

With Tynion writing my money is on Tim Drake being the big Bad Boss.

I mean that was what Tynion had planned for Tim in rebirth with the evil badass version of Tim before dc Took him off tec.

[CPSparkles]

How is that the same? Batman is on a different level than Wonder Woman. They don't do that in the current meta.

Batman can get one-upped by the Big bad like the Joker or the ultimate mastermind in service of a story, but that doesn't happen to him by a peer or secondary character when he's the lead. Dick hasn't been on Bruce's level for over ten years now. (excluding the Titans show or Young Justice). At best he's an equal or someone Bruce passes the torch to. (At best.)

The only time you'd see that happen is if Bruce is guest-starring in someone else's title. And I'm struggling to think of an example outside of Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia.



This. From a corporate perspective, Batman is DC's most valuable property. Now DC isn't inflexible. That doesn't mean he has to be infallible or can't be in crisis, but certain things don't happen to Batman. They've got to maintain a certain mystique. DC can have fun with him like in Lego Batman or the Harley Quinn show, but even then, they don't let the creatives do everything with Batman.

Have you not been following the batman Titles. he gets his arse kicked by secondary characters all the time especially under certain writers cough... Tynion ...Cough!

Dc was fine with it being now canon that Bruce punches his kids as a form of communication. He was one upped by Tim Drake, was saved multiple times by harley, had to be taught by catwoman how to REALLY throw a Batarang and let a 13 yr old take the blame for his bad planning.

All in his own title.

Batman is their most valuable property but Dc lets writers mess up his character and mystique all the time.

[Saithor]

Please tell me they are seriously not going to make the vampire king the Joker? How many earth wide level threat alternate jokers will that give us at that point?

[Jabare]

Have you not been following the batman Titles. he gets his arse kicked by secondary characters all the time especially under certain writers cough... Tynion ...Cough!

Dc was fine with it being now canon that Bruce punches his kids as a form of communication. He was one upped by Tim Drake, was saved multiple times by harley, had to be taught by catwoman how to REALLY throw a Batarang and let a 13 yr old take the blame for his bad planning.

All in his own title.

Batman is their most valuable property but Dc lets writers mess up his character and mystique all the time.

examples of this "all the time"? Because it really doesn't happen in his titles. I'd like to see someone actually find a scan of Dick or Barbara winning against Bruce in the last five years. It just doesn't happen. Bruce being abusive or a bad communicator or guardian is not new. That's part of his character. The price of being Batman, but he makes up for it with everything else he does. You can't have him be too perfect.

Also just FYI, DC has been trying to push Harley as the number one heroine for a minute. If Birds of Prey was successful you'd see that even more.

[Frontier]

examples of this "all the time"? Because it really doesn't happen in his titles. I'd like to see someone actually find a scan of Dick or Barbara winning against Bruce in the last five years. It just doesn't happen. Bruce being abusive or a bad communicator or guardian is not new. That's part of his character. The price of being Batman, but he makes up for it with everything else he does. You can't have him be too perfect.

Also just FYI, DC has been trying to push Harley as the number one heroine for a minute. If Birds of Prey was successful you'd see that even more.

Not last five years, but last issue of the New 52 Nightwing run that preceded Grayson had Dick beat Bruce in a bare brawl.

[Avi]

Not last five years, but last issue of the New 52 Nightwing run that preceded Grayson had Dick beat Bruce in a bare brawl.

Dick's physical and mental prowess under the pen of Seeley & King was on an entirely different level compared to what we have right now. But even while Grayson got published Dick's competence barely bled over to other titles he appeared in.

At that the fight occurred in Dick's own title and it wasn't a serious fight even if a violent one. Dick didn't knock Bruce out. He or Bruce said it's enough and then they stopped.

And as you point out it has been more than 5 year. Almost 8 by now.

[Jabare]

Not last five years, but last issue of the New 52 Nightwing run that preceded Grayson had Dick beat Bruce in a bare brawl.

I know but that was a Nightwing’s title and it felt more like a close draw to me. And to give proper context I believe Dick had just been temporarily killed by Lex Luther in Forever Evil to stop a bomb. That was to kind of build him back up after he was humiliated and used as a prop. Plus it was only a spar. Furthermore Dick is the lead of the book which goes back to my point.

I use to read all the bat books years ago and still read some now and then. You can nitpick certain things about Batman like his attitude or communication skills but outside of his attitude and excessive compulsive actions he’s usually the man. Especially in his tittle or team tittles and events that feature him. All those other nitpicks or character flaws just come with being Batman and they’ve been tied to his character for the last 30 years. Sometimes they get spun into strengths (Bruce Timm) but they usually aren’t traits fans find off putting.

If he’s guest starring in someone else’s tittle then there is a small chance another hero or peer might get the better of him. Assuming they’re in conflict, but a few writers actually let Batman get along well with others.