How to fix Batfamily

[Godlike13]

The problem i see is that the Bat family is rather bloated right now. A lot of redundancy, and too many character that are just around but not really doing much or doing anything of real worth. They should figure out creative, quality, things for these characters to do. If they need to go out of the box, then go out of the box. And if they can't do that with a particular character then they should think about making some cuts.

[ZuLuLu]

The only character that need fixing is Tim other that leave as is, just tell good stories.

[JBatmanFan05]

DC is just not gonna mess with the well-selling Batfam much and that's already been hinted at with Tynion and others boasting of future plans for Cass & all.

Tim Drake is the only character screaming for fixing, and we'll see if that happens.

[JasonTodd428]

And instead of fixing the family, I'd redeploy certain books and characters. I don't know if the new Red Hood and the Outlaws book is going to be under Bat-editorial's control, but I think it should be; I think even people who think Scott Lobdell is a consistently good writer (aka the exact opposite of my opinion of the man's skills) would probably think he'd benefit from being under a less chaotic editorial board. Red Robin needs a book that has a strong writer and enough downtime to feature him in civics and at home; his parents being alive serves no good purpose if he can't even hang out with them. And feel free to fiddle with his origin; Lobdell's sucked, no bones about it. The main thing, though, is to get his personality back under better portrayal; if you want him to be a little arrogant, follow FabNic's depiction where it's more restrained and sometimes exposed and earned via a strong career before hand, but he should be a bit of a dork, especially around the ladies.

I agree with all your points especially this paragraph and the bolded in particular. I really do think that the RHatO book would benefit greatly from being under the Bat editorial umbrella instead of where it is now and that Lobdell might as well. Others would disagree with me on that point of course but I'd see it as a good move along with giving a new writer a chance to continue to build on what Lobdell's already done with the character. And for the love of all that's holy Red Robin needs to get away from the Teen Titans and back into his own solo book. What Tim needs at this point is a solid writer to pull him out of the hole the Teen Titans writers have dug for him. Give him a family life since his parents never died (dump the witness protection angle if it's not going to be used anyway) and let him have friends outside of the superhero business. The fact that he had a normal life outside of being "Robin" is what appealed to a lot of fans back in the day and I'd really like for Rebirth to restore some of that to the character.

[Nite-Wing]

People never say Batman needs to be fixed they say the Batfamily needs to be fixed
Why am I supposed to worry about his supporting characters when the main character is perfectly fine
DC more than likely has the same mindset since they have done some incredibly dumb things with Huntress,Jason, and Tim since the new 52

The fans on the internet are overly invested in the side characters who are frankly not that popular to begin with
All of this leads to the conclusion that there's a problem everytime someone's favorite character is dropped or not put in every issue of Batman

How would I fix the Batfamily?
Retire them for a bit (Damian especially)
Focus on new characters (Harper,Duke,Julia,etc)
then bring them back in small amounts (for instance Tim or Jason should not be in books outside the bat office)

[Vic Vega]

I see a bunch of resolutions, but it was never said what the problems are...

I think people are assuming that Duke, Harper and possibly Tim are on their way to limbo with this latest revamp, reboot Rebirth whatever.

[Dzetoun]

I think people are assuming that Duke, Harper and possibly Tim are on their way to limbo with this latest revamp, reboot Rebirth whatever.

If people are assuming that, I strongly suspect they are going to be badly disappointed (or relieved, depending on whether they like the characters or not).

[JasonTodd428]

If people are assuming that, I strongly suspect they are going to be badly disappointed (or relieved, depending on whether they like the characters or not).

I don't see any of those characters as being ones that are on their way to limbo. You would think that they are safe but the reality of it is that we really don't know if they are really. I didn't think a bunch of characters would be sent to limbo when the reboot happened either and look what happened there. Yeah, I know Rebirth is supposedly a different animal then a reboot but still there are no guarantees.

[WonderNight]

i fell like there are too many former robin's and they make it harder for each one to stand apart. but one of the things i believe dc should do split the family up in defferent groups and roles. batman gets the new kids duke, harper and robin, batgirl gets luke and cass, red hood gets red robin, nightwing gets spoiler and helena. then just being them all together for big bat events like eternal.

[bat39]

Well, I haven't really kept up with the contemporary Bat-books for a while so I'm not really well up on how things stand right now.

But as far as how the Bat-family should be handled post-Rebirth goes, here are a few ideas I have-


1. The 'core' Bat-family should comprise of Batman, Robin (Damian Wayne), Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). There should be at least one book where Batman usually operates solo, but if he works with a Robin, its mainly Damian. Nightwing and Batgirl are frequent allies who should pop up in the Batman books. They're the ones currently closest to Bruce (as the 'original' sidekicks/partners) and the ones who he has on call whenever he needs help.

2. Jason, as Red Hood, will mostly be about his own business and occasionally, he will encounter Batman or another Bat-family member. But he certainly isn't part of the 'family' currently and won't be part of every Bat-family team-up.

3. Tim, as Red Robin, will mostly be about his business either with the Titans or a solo book. He won't currently be part of the 'family' but he should show up to interact with Bruce and Dick more than Jason certainly and he's still trusted by Bruce and the other Bat-family members. (Also, I'd like another revision of his origin to make it as close to the pre-52 version as possible and do away with this "he was never called Robin" bit which is pretty pointless).

4. As far as Bluebird, Spoiler, Batwoman and Batwing go, they mostly operate on their own. They aren't really part of the 'family', they're just other vigilantes who operate in Gotham with Batman's blessing and are trusted by the Bat-family to varying degrees. I suppose Cassandra Cain falls into this category as well if and when she becomes a Gotham-based vigilante.

[sunofdarkchild]

There's very little that needs to be done.

Get Tim and Steph together again. They've screwed Tim up so much that's the only way to fix him.

Cut back on the use of Harper Row. Batman and Robin Eternal would have been much better if she wasn't in it and her parts were split among Dick, Jason, Tim, and Steph. She simply isn't a good enough character to have so much spotlight and it is taking away from the rest of the family.

Find a place for Steph and Cass. If they go the Birds of Prey Junior route like recent issues of Batgirl implied that would be fine. That would also be a good place for Harper. Steph can appear there and alongside Tim at the same time.

Dick, Damian, Babs, and Jason are fine as they are. Considering the size of the family the fact that only 2 characters are underused, 1overused, and 1 misused is pretty good.

[ZuLuLu]

There's very little that needs to be done.

Get Tim and Steph together again. They've screwed Tim up so much that's the only way to fix him.

Cut back on the use of Harper Row. Batman and Robin Eternal would have been much better if she wasn't in it and her parts were split among Dick, Jason, Tim, and Steph. She simply isn't a good enough character to have so much spotlight and it is taking away from the rest of the family.

Find a place for Steph and Cass. If they go the Birds of Prey Junior route like recent issues of Batgirl implied that would be fine. That would also be a good place for Harper. Steph can appear there and alongside Tim at the same time.

Dick, Damian, Babs, and Jason are fine as they are. Considering the size of the family the fact that only 2 characters are underused, 1overused, and 1 misused is pretty good.

We could argue that Batman and Robin Eternal should have been a different story all together but how exactly would Harper part be split among Tim, Jason,Dick and Steph. Which of these character backstory would we have changed completely to fit the role Harper is playing in B&RE?

[sunofdarkchild]

We could argue that Batman and Robin Eternal should have been a different story all together but how exactly would Harper part be split among Tim, Jason,Dick and Steph. Which of these character backstory would we have changed completely to fit the role Harper is playing in B&RE?

When I dropped it there was nothing that would have required changing anyone's backstory. So a different story it is (especially since Damian wasn't in any of the issues I read).

[TooFlyToFail]

Tim doesn't need to be in his own solo. It'd just be a poor man's Nightwing, which was a poor man's Batman.

He works best, in his current situation, in a team. Just not the Teen Titans. It's run its course. However, just put him on the WAR team, along with Duke, and Harper.

Cass being on BoP is too safe, and obvious. BoP is good enough with Babs, Steph, and Canary. Cass is a super badass, and is always struggling to walk the fine line of morality....so put her with Jason, and the League of Assassins. Jason would be there to make sure that Talia has changed, and Cass there to be Batman's eyes on Jason, and to find her father, who's become part of the assassin/mercenary world.

[The World]

If there's something wrong with the Batfamily why is it expanding to the degree that it is.