Batman #125 Preview

[phonogram12]

Why am I not surprised at that.

God, people really do suck, don't they?

Completely disingenuous. Just because they are keeping away from each other temporarily in order to sort out their problems doesn't mean they broke up.

Honestly, unless outright stated they wouldn't be with anyone else, Selina seems like the ethically non-monogamous type.

[MajorHoy]

Superman is probably the kind of character you can give the "happy ending" aspect for a more extended period of time. But I'm honestly not sure that decades from now he will still be married with a son. This whole thing of giving him a kid and revealing his identity to the world still feels like a gimmick that isn't sustainable in the long run. Guess time will tell.

I gave up (again!) on Superman when Bendis took him over.

The whole idea of publicly revealing his identity crap seemed so unnecessary and stupid, especially since they had just gone through that with Superman prior to the end of the New52!

Thank the gods that DC didn't give Batman to Bendis to do whatever he wanted, especially after King already screwed up the franchise.

[InfamousBG]

I liked the issue. It just the start. The Selina thing was odd.

[Captain Nostalgia]

5 star issue for me, I'm loving it that Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez are taking on Batman, I loved his Daredevil.

DC is finally assembling a core of quality writers (Zdarksy, Ram V, Mark Waid & Tom King as the core) Joshua Williamson and Tynion are both solid. I'm enjoying G Willow Wilson's Poison Ivy and Simon Spurrier's Suicide Squad blaze. Vendetti's still kicking around (His Hawkman was awesome)

Very, very happy with what I'm seeing. Now if we could only get less trinity titles and more B and C lister titles back on the shelves all would be great!

[InfamousBG]

5 star issue for me, I'm loving it that Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez are taking on Batman, I loved his Daredevil.

DC is finally assembling a core of quality writers (Zdarksy, Ram V, Mark Waid & Tom King as the core) Joshua Williamson and Tynion are both solid. I'm enjoying G Willow Wilson's Poison Ivy and Simon Spurrier's Suicide Squad blaze. Vendetti's still kicking around (His Hawkman was awesome)

Very, very happy with what I'm seeing. Now if we could only get less trinity titles and more B and C lister titles back on the shelves all would be great!

Yes I agree with you to a point. I would love to see a Green Arrow title. Same with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. A new ongoing Hawkman would be great as well.

[Matt Rat]

The Bat/Cat book ended just last week and in the final issue Bruce literally tells Selina there's nothing more important in the world to him than her. A week later a new Bat writer comes along and the first thing you see of Selina is she's sleeping with someone else, while Bruce thinks to himself after calling her that his mind should no longer be focused on the past.

The Bat/Cat book ends with Bruce and Selina happily married, it's entirely it's own universe. If we went by developments there and counted them as mainline canon, then Tom King's future for the two had Bruce and Selina ultimately end up growing old together before Bruce dies of cancer surrounded by his wife and Bat-family and Selina ends up gunned down in an alleyway and dies only surrounded by cats.

As for Peter and MJ...we don't know if the MJ that's split from Peter is her or Moira Mactaggart impersonating her just yet, seeing as MJ being captured by Moira was published the exact same week as ASM#1 during Free Comic Book Day. All roads lead back to the two being together eventually, if ten years apart couldn't do it, nothing will, and during that entire decade we still got Spider-Marriage content in series like Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man, Renew Your Vows, and the ASM Newspaper Strip. Marvel remained committed to the two being together, just not in mainline canon.

Bat/Cat is really no different. Everything is temporary, and they WILL get back together.

[Captain Nostalgia]

Yes I agree with you to a point. I would love to see a Green Arrow title. Same with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. A new ongoing Hawkman would be great as well.

Great minds think alike! I would love to see all of those titles to, providing there is a really good writer on it of course.

[Johnny]

The Bat/Cat book ends with Bruce and Selina happily married, it's entirely it's own universe. If we went by developments there and counted them as mainline canon, then Tom King's future for the two had Bruce and Selina ultimately end up growing old together before Bruce dies of cancer surrounded by his wife and Bat-family and Selina ends up gunned down in an alleyway and dies only surrounded by cats.

As for Peter and MJ...we don't know if the MJ that's split from Peter is her or Moira Mactaggart impersonating her just yet, seeing as MJ being captured by Moira was published the exact same week as ASM#1 during Free Comic Book Day. All roads lead back to the two being together eventually, if ten years apart couldn't do it, nothing will, and during that entire decade we still got Spider-Marriage content in series like Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man, Renew Your Vows, and the ASM Newspaper Strip. Marvel remained committed to the two being together, just not in mainline canon.

Bat/Cat is really no different. Everything is temporary, and they WILL get back together.

I'm aware the Bat/Cat title wasn't canon, I'm talking about the optics of telling this grand love story that initially transpired in a book that was canon, and then a new run starts and suddenly it's like none of that even mattered. Bruce and Selina having different partners is obviously nothing new, they will always have them, then crawl back to each other and then split up again, repeat. It's the editorial choice of going back to the well immediately after a run that took their relationship further than ever before ended, that seems rather questionable here.

[Astralabius]

I'm aware the Bat/Cat title wasn't canon, I'm talking about the optics of telling this grand love story that initially transpired in a book that was canon, and then a new run starts and suddenly it's like none of that even mattered. Bruce and Selina having different partners is obviously nothing new, they will always have them, then crawl back to each other and then split up again, repeat. It's the editorial choice of going back to the well immediately after a run that took their relationship further than ever before ended, that seems rather questionable here.

I somewhat get why you think this is annoying, but at the same time I noticed pretty quickly that this is just what DC does when I started reading?
My first book was Batman and Robin 2011, a book focused on building a father-son-relationship between Bruce and Damian that has Bruce moving heaven and earth to bring his dead son back...only for that book to be cancelled right after Damian got back and then all following writers either ignored Damian or had him at odds with Bruce.

And I'm not even going to try and explain all the issues I have with what DC did to Jon's potential when they gave the Superman line to Bendis.

DC not following up on character developement or work on relationships from previous runs is pretty much the norm in my opinion, not the exception.

[TravelerInTheDark]

It's one thing to be genre-aware. Another to be compliant. Not like DC losing my $20 a month is going to affect them in any real capacity. But when fans are unhappy with something, it's worth making it known.

The constant "back to the basics" limitations that certain characters are inflicted with isn't really something I feel like being particularly accepting of. It's worth complaining about, as it's a disservice to the fans who buy into these stories and characters and become invested. I know that I particularly am not owed anything of course, but DC writers and editors have to know that this sort of thing breeds discontent and fatigue among the readerbase. One of the selling points of these stories is the long-form continuity and character development providing a richness and depth to these characters that you don't really find a lot in most media. They want you to become emotionally invested, and then punish you for doing so.

I mean its especially insulting in how hand-wavy it all is. We have Selina choosing some scummy, murderous stalker that basically nobody likes or wants to read about over Bruce. After ALL they just went through. And there was no breakup, no falling out, nothing honestly believable or understandable about it. Bruce is by all appearances still very much in love with her and hasn't really done anything wrong...It just happened and we kinda have to accept it. They did the same thing with Hawkman and Hawkgirl a while back (that still was never explained). Over at Marvel they did the same dirty deed to Peter and MJ recently from what I read.

It shouldn't be so abundantly clear that fans care more about these characters than the writers and editors do.

[Johnny]

It's one thing to be genre-aware. Another to be compliant. Not like DC losing my $20 a month is going to affect them in any real capacity. But when fans are unhappy with something, it's worth making it known.

The constant "back to the basics" limitations that certain characters are inflicted with isn't really something I feel like being particularly accepting of. It's worth complaining about, as it's a disservice to the fans who buy into these stories and characters and become invested. I know that I particularly am not owed anything of course, but DC writers and editors have to know that this sort of thing breeds discontent and fatigue among the readerbase. One of the selling points of these stories is the long-form continuity and character development providing a richness and depth to these characters that you don't really find a lot in most media. They want you to become emotionally invested, and then punish you for doing so.

I mean its especially insulting in how hand-wavy it all is. We have Selina choosing some scummy, murderous stalker that basically nobody likes or wants to read about over Bruce. After ALL they just went through. And there was no breakup, no falling out, nothing honestly believable or understandable about it. Bruce is by all appearances still very much in love with her and hasn't really done anything wrong...It just happened and we kinda have to accept it. They did the same thing with Hawkman and Hawkgirl a while back (that still was never explained). Over at Marvel they did the same dirty deed to Peter and MJ recently from what I read.

It shouldn't be so abundantly clear that fans care more about these characters than the writers and editors do.

[Felipe Silveira]

Jimenez's art took away some of the "something new" starting.

[Micael]

Since Selina is seemingly out of the picture of the foreseeable future should we expect a return of playboy Bruce Wayne?

[Nero]

For the most part, I dig what Zdarsky brought to the table with Batman.

I had no problem with what happened between Batman and Catwoman because their relationship has always been on and off for years.
I enjoyed seeing Tim Drake return as Robin and fighting alongside Batman.
The only thing I'm not exactly sold on is what happened with the Penguin, there's no way that's going to stick therefore I don't see the point in even going there.

Also with Failsafe, am I the only one who's getting some serious D.A.V.E vibes from him?

[TheKryptonMan]

He could be worth like $750 million, and funding the Batman stuff just fine.

I still think it was super dumb that the money went to the Foxes. I'm not sure how that all makes sense.

I do think that Bruce should be a billionaire, a millionaire nowadays is nothing in so called " High Society " for lack of a better term. As I remember it was Selina that gave Lucius the bulk of the money during Joker War. Well that was Tynion's idea to begin with.
I think that Bruce should have a global influence , but I'm not that crazy about Batman Inc. anymore. I liked it when Morrison introduced it though.