I Stand Corrected

There is actually a third possibility for Batman's future, now, as seen in this Newserama video. In their regular 20 Questions with Dan Didio (the editor in chief of DC Comics), they asked what would happen once Bruce returned, and if Dick would give up the cowl.

Didio said, basically, 'Why can't we have two Batmen? It won't tie up as neatly as you think.'

We'll see how this plays out.

When Bruce Comes Back

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.

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.

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?

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.

Where in the World is Cassandra Cain?

I really love the new Batgirl series. I like how it's a fresher look on the character. I do feel, however, that the one-panel explanation for why Cassandra isn't the one under the mask doesn't do the character justice.

The problem for me is that Cassandra says that she was fighting for Batman. They've spent all this time building up the fact that she wanted to be Bruce's successor, and now that he's dead she suddenly decides that it isn't what she wants at all. I can understand if she's just in shock (which might be interesting if they have her come back and try to take Batgirl over again), but it was just too abrupt.

And where did she go?

Who Is Batgirl?

The one real mystery to come from "Battle for the Cowl" is Batgirl's identity. I mean come on, we all knew Dick was going to take up the mantel of the Bat, and that Tim was going to become Red Robin. Batgirl is the only secret DC has truly succeeded in keeping.

As for who could be under the mask, there are four contenders:

Cassandra Cain: Okay, so they've basically said that it won't be her. But I think that she's still in the running. This wouldn't be the first time DC's done something like this and said "Gotcha!" after the whole comic industry had gotten worked up over it. Plus, Cass hasn't been Batgirl for that long. She still has a lot of stories to tell. It was only recently that she learned to speak, and the fact that Shiva is her mother came even later.

Barbra Gordon (Oracle): Don't be convinced by the "Oracle: The Cure" postings up all over the internet. Nothing in that miniseries stated that Barbra had regained the use of her legs, or even remotely considered taking up the Batgirl costume again. More than likely, she will be involved with the "Batgirl" series as a mentor to whoever is in the costume. She did it for Cassandra, and Misfit. She also may take on a protege, the newly-awakened Wendy. But Batgirl? She's beyond that now.

Charlotte "Charlie" Gage-Radcliffe (Misfit): A distant maybe, Charlie qualifies as a possibility because she was under Oracle's tutelage, and she also was a sort-of member of the Birds of Prey. In her first apperance, she dressed up in a variation of Barbra Gordon's Batgirl costume. There are a few things keeping her from the role, however. The first is her status as a wild card, both in personality, and in the fact that we haven't really seen enough of her. True, Cassandra showed up out of nowhere, but that's better than a girl who's made a few apperances, had a couple lines each time, and really hasn't settled in yet. Plus, she has superpowers, which sort of defeats the whole "anti-superpowered batfamily" thing. at this point, it would be much better for her to expand her own persona.

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler): Recently returned to Gotham, Stephanie is the perfect candidate to take up the mask. Most believe her dead, her current persona has a lot of baggage attached, like pretending to be Penguin's lackey in "Gotham Underground" and the fact that her identity was publicly revealed back in "War Crimes". Also, she's been trained by Batman, Cassandra, and Barbra, not to mention the fact that she was Robin for 71 days. With the mask of Batgirl she gets a fresh start, and that is, after all, why she came back.

The Batgirl identity has always been the one bat-name that Batman could never fully control ever since Barbra sewed the first constume herself, and fought crime unsanctioned. The new Batgilr will doubtlessly be a delicious surprise.