Ram V and Rafael Albuquerque on Detective Comics

[millernumber1]

You can't arrest or even "defeat" a demon.

Anyway, this issue succeeded highly in mood and tone and ambiance. It was a little thin but 20 page opening chapter, these days, you know. It's not that it felt totally decompressed, just felt like an intro or opening segment. The ... villains? ... seem interesting and stylish and weird. The operatic elements are there. And the Barbatos Nightmare was lovely.

I think perhaps my continued resistance to Barbatos having any kind of specifically directed purpose behind the Wayne murders probably stems from my own spiritual beliefs, in that I don't think demons are just metaphors. But that probably gets way, way off topic. I wouldn't mind the idea of a curse or even a demonic influence on Gotham as a whole, though I'd generally prefer to avoid it unless the writers are willing to explore the other side of that spiritual equation, which they generally don't.

I have no idea what's really going on, but in this podcast I listened to last night, Ram V dropped some major spoilers:

https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/new...tham-nocturne/

spoilers:

He said that the new villains are not necessarily criminals, but rivals to Batman, and Batman will face people who do his job maybe better than he does. He also says that there's definitely a connection to the Arkham family and the new villains. I don't really care about the latter, but the former thing is interesting, and a bit worrying, since we just had that basic idea twice, with the Peacekeepers/Magistrate and Ghost-Maker. But I hope that Ram V will find a new angle to explore with it.

end of spoilers

He definitely listened to me some, and later I first knew how much he listened when he ended up using the known killer (Joe Chill) and didn't suggest an open case in either Batman's mind or the police's. I can't remember exactly, but I think Scott landed on sorta maybe suggesting that the Court of Owls created and sustained the bad socioeconomic conditions in Gotham that may possibly have propelled Chill to do what he randomly did.

I don't like to go back and re-read those emails, given the acrimony, but, like in this thread, I think I moved Scott perhaps the most by pointing out the Jeph Loeb S/B thing with Loeb, at a continuity time when Chill was not yet back in clear canon after Zero Hour, having Batman think for a moment that John Corben Metallo was the Wayne murderer. I think Scott really agreed with me that we can't, as a practical matter, have writers just keep being able to pull stunts like that (which have the dangerous effect of giving the impression that Batman spends his whole crimefighting life waiting around for a big break in the Wayne murder case as if that's the main thing that keeps him crimefighting, this vengeful drive to resolve that case).

From old article referencing an old now-gone podcast:
"Scott mentioned on our podcast that he didn't want to change the killing of Thomas and Martha or Joe Chill's part in it."
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/artic...r/1100-144031/

https://ordinary-times.com/2020/04/0...nymous-figure/

I don't mind the Court (or the League of Assassins in the Nolan films) creating the CONDITIONS for the Chill murder. I object to how The Batman spoilers:

makes it a targeted hit

end of spoilers, rather than a "normal" crime that causes Batman to war on ALL crime.

There was a distinct worry in the way they used the uncertainty about the Joe Chill killings in Bruce Wayne: Murderer? to move Bruce both towards and away from sanity - it generally just doesn't seem to be a helpful or healthy way to alter or think about the Batfamily.

Yup, Zero Hour change, and for me, it's one of Denny's rare big blunders. Sadly, I once read an interview* with Dixon, who I mostly love, and he made a comment that suggested he might have been a driving or supporting force for the change: Dixon said that Batman would stop crimefighting if his parents' killer was caught/solved. And that's a view I very much don't share (not to mention being a view contradicted by Bill Finger himself in 1948).

*google results are suggesting to me that it will be most difficult to find this interview again, though here's an interview where Dixon says his Batman ending would see Bruce retire https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/...batmans-story/

Yeah, I agree completely with you here. Though I think that the temptation to write Batman retiring if he solves his parent's murders is too tempting, which is why I think the way it's normally written - not a mystery, just a mundane tragedy that ended Bruce Wayne's family - is the best way to do it.

Yea I think the idea was that if the killer was unknown, Batman was symbolically avenging his parents’ death with each criminal he stopped, because any of them could be “the one”. I agree it was a misstep, much like the ill-fated “he’s an urban legend and no one thinks he is real and we definitely don’t understand what urban legends are” idea.

Oh, man, I always try to forget about the idiotic "urban legend" thing (partly because the "solution" to that "problem" was War Games). I agree very much - the "urgan legend" status quo and any uncertainty about who killed Batman's parents are mistakes, unnecessary, and weaken the themes of Batman.

[HsssH]

I have no idea what's really going on, but in this podcast I listened to last night, Ram V dropped some major spoilers:

https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/new...tham-nocturne/

spoilers:

He said that the new villains are not necessarily criminals, but rivals to Batman, and Batman will face people who do his job maybe better than he does. He also says that there's definitely a connection to the Arkham family and the new villains. I don't really care about the latter, but the former thing is interesting, and a bit worrying, since we just had that basic idea twice, with the Peacekeepers/Magistrate and Ghost-Maker. But I hope that Ram V will find a new angle to explore with it.

end of spoilers

October solicits mention pretty much same thing.

[millernumber1]

October solicits mention pretty much same thing.

I have to admit, I have found the solicits for Tec extremely confusing, so the interview was very clarifying.

[InfamousBG]

I actually really liked the new issue.

[millernumber1]

I actually really liked the new issue.

Are people not liking it?

[MajorHoy]

Are people not liking it?

Have not bought and read it, but the description sounded a bit . . . presumptuous.

Gotham Nocturne part 1 of 4: “Overture.” It’s a new era for the detective of the night as we introduce award-winning new series writer Ram V (Catwoman, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr), and artist extraordinaire Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire, Superman/Batman)! Together, they’ll be turning Gotham into a tragic yet beautiful gothic opera for our eyes and ears to feast on.
Something is terribly wrong with Batman. No matter the tests Bruce takes, nor the numbers he counts, the greatest detective in the world can’t pin down the source of this creeping dread—of his own inner demons and a looming mortality. Meanwhile, real demons roam the shadows as an ancient melody haunts the Gotham night. Here now the curtains rise and as the eerie tune streams in…who is human, who is demon, who is to tell? As Batman investigates the songs and the demons of Gotham, he is forced to confront the oldest question…whether there has been a demon within him all along…and if so, what does it want?…and why hasn’t it taken over yet?

https://www.cbr.com/dark-crisis-just...ons-july-2022/

[millernumber1]

Have not bought and read it, but the description sounded a bit . . . presumptuous.https://www.cbr.com/dark-crisis-just...ons-july-2022/

I agree that the solicitations have been pretentious and confusing. But the book itself is very emotionally enjoyable to me, the interplay of narration and visuals. And Ram V's interview makes it a lot more clear what's going on.

[TheKryptonMan]

I actually really liked the new issue.

I also really liked the new issue and direction.
I wonder if Ram in using Barbatos, is trying to continue something that Morrison started ?
Is Bruce possessed by Barbatos and therefore getting older and slower faster ?
Nightwing called him "old man " , which was funny.
I always love when Grayson and Bruce interact , since Grayson was Bruce's first sidekick.

[Zagre]

yeah, this war right up my alley.

[Hypo]

Detective Comics #1063 Variant by Yoshitaka Amano

[Frontier]

Detective Comics #1063 Variant by Yoshitaka Amano

Makes me want to read a Gothic Batman manga...

[Captain Nostalgia]

I actually really liked the new issue.

I did to. Ram V's writing was really good for a first issue. The back issue by Spurrier not so much, but overall I can't wait for the next issue.

[Iclifton]

Good first issue. This is probably the best the two main Batbooks have been in a very long time.

[HsssH]

Ram is saying that the first issue sold out and is going to second printing: https://twitter.com/therightram/stat...05195041619969

[Captain Nostalgia]

Ram is saying that the first issue sold out and is going to second printing: https://twitter.com/therightram/stat...05195041619969

That's great, quality writer! He deserves all the success.

I have a feeling that Zdarsky and Ram V, might give us the two best Batman runs we've had in a long while.