To put it mildly, the Batman universe has been going through a ton of changes lately. I would recap again, but I'm sure everyone is getting sick of that. Now, its been announced that Bruce Wayne is returning to the normal DCU, and (99.9% sure about this) to the role of Batman. I am very, very pleased with this, except for one thing.
We all know that Bruce Wayne is a control freak. And Dick has gone, and, through this past year, rearranged pretty much everything having to do with the Cowl. Once Bruce returns, what's going to happen to everything that's changed this last year?
There are three possibilities (varying in probability, however) that I see:
1. Bruce returns....and swiftly dismantles everything Dick has done. The Batcave will be quickly returned to its proper place and all of the new mannerisms "Batman" has acquired will be dispensed with. The only changes that (possibly) stick are Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and Damien as Robin (again, possibly).
2. Bruce returns, resumes activites as Batman, and decides to continue acting like Dick so the public does not see yet another shift in Batman. Slowly, he reintroduces his version of Batman.
3. Bruce returns.....and that's it. He (for some unknown reason that I'm sure Grant Morrison will be able to explain) chooses not to return to the role of Batman. Maybe he assumes some sort of Oracle-ish role (although it looks like that's where Wendy's headed, so I don't know why he would), or maybe he just gets an actual life for the first time in twenty-plus years. Either way, Dick remains as Batman and the new Batman stas quo remains in effect.
Frankly, I'm hoping for the first one. I have never been Dick Grayson's biggest fan, although that's a story for another post. I really hope no one at DC pulls something screwy and suddenly Bruce decides to not be Batman.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Return of Bruce Wayne
Well, its finally happened. A new miniseries, called Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne will chronicle Bruce Wayne's journey through time and space in order to get home. There's two drawings, one of which is a caveman Batman and the other is a pirate Batman (who looks remarkably like Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean).
And the best part? The wonderful genius Grant Morrison is writing it! Yeah!
Yup, the guy who completely screwed up the universe is now going to put it back together. Why should we even let this guy near a book having anything to do with space and odd physics? Wasn't Final Crisis enough?
Also, a caveman Batman? Dear God.
Apparently this isn't going to be a short book, either. There are six issues, with the first being 38 pages and the rest being 30. Grant also says he's trying to do some "big ideas" in this book. Wonderful.
Don't get me wrong, I respect the guy. All-Star Superman was very good and won some awards. Batman and Robin has been enjoyable. But whenever he seems to get within a football field of something "groundbreaking" "new" or "experimental" all of that flies out the window, and we're left with some sort of crazy stuff that destroys the universe.
I'm still going to pick this book up, of course. I just don't have high hopes.
You can read USA Today's interview with Morrison here.
The two images are from the article.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Terry McGinnis
DC will soon be doing a miniseries for the "Batman Beyond" Batman, aka Terry McGinnis. For anyone who hasn't heard of this, it was an animated seres about the future. You can see it here. Personally, I really didn't like it, and therefore am not looking forward to the miniseries, but I did realize something weird.
This is Batwoman:
This is Terry McGinnis:
Is it just me, or are these costumes creepily similar? It could just be an artist fluke, not anticipating someone from the DCAU to cross over to the regular universe, but it just seems odd to me. After all, no other Batman heroes expect for Robin (who we can agree has a pretty distinct costume) has red in the costume. Well, I guess there's Red Robin, but again, it isn't similar to these at all, and has yellow.
Me, I think there's going to be some significance. Why bring Terry McGinnis back now, anyway?
This is Batwoman:
This is Terry McGinnis:
Is it just me, or are these costumes creepily similar? It could just be an artist fluke, not anticipating someone from the DCAU to cross over to the regular universe, but it just seems odd to me. After all, no other Batman heroes expect for Robin (who we can agree has a pretty distinct costume) has red in the costume. Well, I guess there's Red Robin, but again, it isn't similar to these at all, and has yellow.Me, I think there's going to be some significance. Why bring Terry McGinnis back now, anyway?
Friday, December 11, 2009
Aha!
Something I forgot to mention: Tony Daniels came back to the batbooks on the last issue of Batman. Oh, and guess who came with him. Fright, whose return I have been calling for for months.