Future Of The Bat Family?

[Claude]

So, we learnt today that Barbara Gordon is "moving away from the Bat Family" to have her own lighter, fun adventures.

Also, yesterday, the first issue of the series where Dick Grayson moves away from the Bat Family to have his own lighter, fun adventures came out.


Which, don't get me wrong, I'm all for. Batgirl needed retooling, and Grayson #1 was terrific.


But that's the Bat Family Grandees off the table. Or, at least, the conventional ones - unavailable for Bat Events, family meetings, and so on.... The kind of "togtherness" that Scott Snyder loves pulling.

And, of course, Robin is dead.


Wayne Manor is going to be repossessed - and used to house The Crazies after Arkham is destroyed.

Are we seeing the birth of Generation Two? After all, spinning out of Eternal we'll have Spoiler, Bluebird, and a re-integrated Red Robin in Gotham. We might end up with Damian back - but whether or not that's something that can be taken to be status quo in other books will remain to be seen.




Is the stage being set for a revamp of Gotham, it's characters and their lives?

[Godlike13]

The Bat family books are on fire right now. Grayson was fantastic and the Batgirl revamp sounds, and looks, very exciting. Honestly the events, family meetings, and so on became kind of a burden creatively, so if they want to pawn that off to the second tier members, and let Dick and Babs do their own thing for a bit, i am more than ok with that. Well as long as their sales are ok.

[ABH]

So, we learnt today that Barbara Gordon is "moving away from the Bat Family" to have her own lighter, fun adventures.

Also, yesterday, the first issue of the series where Dick Grayson moves away from the Bat Family to have his own lighter, fun adventures came out.


Which, don't get me wrong, I'm all for. Batgirl needed retooling, and Grayson #1 was terrific.


But that's the Bat Family Grandees off the table. Or, at least, the conventional ones - unavailable for Bat Events, family meetings, and so on.... The kind of "togtherness" that Scott Snyder loves pulling.

And, of course, Robin is dead.


Wayne Manor is going to be repossessed - and used to house The Crazies after Arkham is destroyed.

Are we seeing the birth of Generation Two? After all, spinning out of Eternal we'll have Spoiler, Bluebird, and a re-integrated Red Robin in Gotham. We might end up with Damian back - but whether or not that's something that can be taken to be status quo in other books will remain to be seen.




Is the stage being set for a revamp of Gotham, it's characters and their lives?

You may be onto something. Even the Thanksgiving teaser shows Batman sitting with the "kids", while most of his long(er)-term allies are standing at a distance.

[JasonTodd428]

Is the stage being set for a revamp of Gotham, it's characters and their lives?

If it is then I say it's about time for it. If DC wants Babs and Dick to do their own thing for awhile then I'm good with that. It'll give the second tier members a chance to develop and to shine on their own.

[Mgoldman14]

I'd like to see Titus, Batmans dog possibly get in on the action a bit more than just Frankenstein.

[sunofdarkchild]

Yeah. Given how much they botched both Dick and Babs I think it's a good thing those 2 are getting a mini-reboot doing their own thing while fresh blood is brought into the family that is less burdened by the 5 year timeline and early editorial mistakes.

[king of hybrids]

it would appear there is a concious decision to not do what the bat books did after COIE; which was drag the former sidekicks back to gotham with heavy chains of angst. lobdell on red hood is fun, the new team on batgirl looks fun, tim will have fun in the new titans, dick will have some fun before spyral screws with him.

a move to embrace a new generation properly, instead of merely because they can't use they guys they want; is a good thing

still wish they hadn't dumped carrie to appease miller though...

on the other hand... if DC do another crisis to keep up with marvel; then this is merely the writers being given some time to do what they want before the illusion of change thing hits

[oasis1313]

Wayne Manor is going to be repossessed - and used to house The Crazies after Arkham is destroyed.

Hadn't heard anything about this. Can someone elaborate? By the way, is the Joker conspicuously absent in this drawing?

[md62]

Moving the family "away" from Batman will decrease their sales in the long term.

[gimpboy76]

Wayne Manor is going to be repossessed - and used to house The Crazies after Arkham is destroyed.

Hadn't heard anything about this. Can someone elaborate? By the way, is the Joker conspicuously absent in this drawing?

Arkham Manor comes out in October

[The Red Monk]

I'm all for moving Nightwing and Batgirl away on their own.

I am also against bringing in "The 2nd Generation", especially since most of them, like Bluebird, are nothing special. Spoiler - meh. Red Robin - blergh. Can't we just have no new second-raters clogging up the Bat-Family for a while?

[RobinFan4880]

Dick and Babs need to get away and do their own thing. Bruce has a new crop of kiddos that need his attention.

[M L A]

I'm all for Dick and Barbara doing their own thing.
That's actually something I wish they had done at the beginning of the reboot. For the past couple years Nightwing and Batgirl were--dare I say it?--more like Batman-lite. They had a similar tone that the Batman books had, and it didn't help that the majority of their history was wiped out and they were all in Gotham. Nightwing got better at it when he moved to Chicago but then FE happened, sooo. They both might've gone over better for me if they had established themselves elsewhere or were not all dark, grim, and kinda depressing.

But yeah I imagine Steph, Harper, and Tim are going to be more in the spotlight now that Dick and Barbara are gonna go off doing their things. Cullen, Jason, and Carrie being "maybes". Damian being a "very likely".

Am I okay with it? For the most part. Grayson and the Batgirl revamp sound very interesting to me, and I pray to any deity that they stay to themselves (i.e., no crossovers every couple issues). Steph is good, I want to see more of the real Tim, and Harper hasn't been in much for me to tell (same with Cullen and Carrie). The unfortunate part being I doubt that Dick or Barbara will be all that close to any of the people mentioned above for a while (and that'll probably makes things feel more empty to me).

[godisawesome]

Actually, looking at Batgirl's new costume and direction, combined with Arkham Manor's debut, I'm figuring that Batman Eternal will end with the Wayne fortune locked down in some fashion and a decentralized scheme for the Batfamily. Hopefully, the need for resources will push Babs to begin using some 21st century computer skills and rise a few levels into a heavy hitter of some sort (Oracle was badass and portrayed as better than Batman at something. Let's see that again.) At some point, someone's going to figure out Dick's alive, and I really hope its Damian, Tim or Babs. Hopefully they use any eventual return he has to use the blue suit. I also hope that both books' new directions see more of the "Blackadder" approach to drama and comedy; there's enough fun and light material that the heavy stuff actually hits hard.

And yes, I want to see some more Generation Three interaction. I despise the feeling some have that they're somehow extraneous or useless, and I see their interaction as being key to revitalizing a significant portion of the fandom. Red Robin needs to have someone write him only as a Bat-member, Stephanie Brown and Cassnadra clearly have a fandom waiting to get books, and Bluebird has spin-off potential. I'm not saying that they all need solos, but if Gotham Academy works and if Batwing got an extended life because of the Bat-sigil, than someone should take advantage of the Generation Three fanbases and court them for some kind of book.

[Claude]

And yes, I want to see some more Generation Three interaction. I despise the feeling some have that they're somehow extraneous or useless, and I see their interaction as being key to revitalizing a significant portion of the fandom. Red Robin needs to have someone write him only as a Bat-member, Stephanie Brown and Cassnadra clearly have a fandom waiting to get books, and Bluebird has spin-off potential. I'm not saying that they all need solos, but if Gotham Academy works and if Batwing got an extended life because of the Bat-sigil, than someone should take advantage of the Generation Three fanbases and court them for some kind of book.

Yeah, a "Streets of Gotham", "Shadow Of The Bat" or "Gotham Knights" series rotating arcs between the New Generation characters and having them bump into each other would be a heck of a trick to miss. They don't all have Solo Potential - or, at least, potential to have differentiated solos from each other - but they need somewhere to tell their story once Eternal is over.

And much as I liked that Birds Of Prey rumour, I don't buy right away that they'd all form a team together. Plus, it would restrict bird-themed-but-you-know-they'd-keep-them-away characters like Red Robin and Talon's roles in Gotham.