The Fate of Batman

[Diabolical]

I'm at a similar point ~70ish. The nightmare arc confused me for a bit, until I realized what the hell was going on. Some were good, some were meh.
I need to get back to catching up.

[jjreason]

Got through JR Jr's 2 issues, 80 & 81 - what an eyesore. At one point he drew old Batman catching an arrow with what looked like a left hand on his right arm - completely unacceptable by any standards, but absolutely jarring when compared to what Daniels & Janin were producing. Jesus. Just a few issues left and I hope he doesn't draw any more of them.

EDITED: And one (except for Annual 4 which I'll read in the morning). Will need to read it again down the road without the year long break between 50 & 51 some day. ><

EDITED: Annual 4 was great, and in a new but continuing tradition I had a very emotional reaction to the ending of the Tom King short story in the Catwoman 80th anniversary issue. Glad I saved that for the end of this reading session. Mikel Janin has skyrocketed to near the very top of my list of favourite current artists working in the medium.

All I've got left is BatCat #1 & I'm not sure if I read it now or save it until I have a few issues built up.

[Diabolical]

I finished the City of Bane arc (#85) last night, which was also the end of King's run. Great overall run. Nice to see a writer go for the long haul and not 12 issues and done.
I'm going to read the one-shots/annuals before moving on to #86.

BTW, Punchline's first cameo appearance, issue #89 is going for $60 (standard) and $45 (variant)

[jjreason]

More support for the whole "DC is doing everything in their power to kill the comic industry" conspiracy theorists:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-incr ... to-6-each/

That's $10 Canadian. Per normal issue.

[anarky]

So, Tim Drake is bi now?

Seems like a reach to me. I don't mind new LGBTQ characters, I don't mind retconning characters as LGBTQ if there's nothing to contradict it. But Tim has been consistently straight for decades and this comes a bit out of left field.

Also Chuck Dixon is probably incredibly pissed about that right now.

[Tom Foolery]

If any Robin is bi, it’s Dick.
That dude’ll fuck anybody.

[anarky]

Seriously. I'd rank the Robins by likelihood of bring bi as:

Dick
Jason
Carrie
Damian
Stephanie
Tim

Note which one is dead last.

[Tom Foolery]

The finale of Batman/Catwoman came out today. Honestly, the last four or five issues all felt like the same issue. The jumping around in time didn’t help. So I was worried it wouldn’t stick the landing. I was satisfied with the conclusion, but now I have to wonder if it’s in the main continuity and official canon or not. If it isn’t, I feel like the entire maxi-series was a waste of time.

[jjreason]

Now that the series is complete I'll give it a read.... someday. At least I have all 12 issues (plus the Christmas special) set aside so I know where to find them when I want them.

[Tom Foolery]

Chip Zdarsky started his Batman run today in issue 125. Pretty big start. Tim Drake gets shot in the throat and the Penguin kills himself in order to frame Batman. Also, it looks like the finale of Bat/Cat isn’t canon. Or at least not yet. Bruce calls Selina and she’s schtupping some other dude. I feel like that scene was dropped in there to definitively let readers know, the ending of Bat/Cat wasn’t in continuity. The new “villain” Failsafe was the least interesting thing about the issue.

[Tom Foolery]

New creative team on Detective this week. Ram V and Rafael Albuquerque. Story was okay.
They also debuted a new Logo. I usually get the Variant covers, which minimize the title on the cover, but the new dress jumped out at me on the regular cover. I dig it.
In the back there was a tribute to Neal Adams. Don’t know if it’s in every DC book this week/month. I just happened to see it in Tec.

[Tom Foolery]

Batman:Killing Time wrapped up last week. If you dig Tom King writing Batman, you’ll enjoy this mini. It was better than Bat/Cat which fizzled IMO. Art was by David Marquez. I won’t spoil the bad guy reveal, but the narrator kinda makes it obvious if you’re paying attention. The beginning of issue 5 is brutal. Overall, very good stuff.

[Diabolical]

Batman: One Bad Day - Riddler
A fantastic one-shot. This might be the best Riddler story I've ever read. Tim King has done some solid Batman, but I think this is his best.

[Tom Foolery]

Batman: One Bad Day - Riddler
A fantastic one-shot. This might be the best Riddler story I've ever read. Tim King has done some solid Batman, but I think this is his best.

Agreed. King said it was basically Riddler’s Killing Joke. Did Batman KILL him at the end??!

I thought King was doing all the One Bad Day oneshots. Kinda bummed when I realized each one is by a different set of creators.

[Diabolical]

Batman: One Bad Day - Riddler
A fantastic one-shot. This might be the best Riddler story I've ever read. Tim King has done some solid Batman, but I think this is his best.

Agreed. King said it was basically Riddler’s Killing Joke. Did Batman KILL him at the end??!

Definitely Riddler's Killing Joke. From the tone of the story, the One Bad Day title, the direct reference to the events of KJ, and that ending (which, despite being a great story, that is my only gripe - it was too on the nose to be homage). And I do think that was the heavy implication is that Batman killed him, unlike KJ, which is still debated to this day

I thought King was doing all the One Bad Day oneshots. Kinda bummed when I realized each one is by a different set of creators.

After reading this one, yeah, I'm bummed they aren't all by King, but hopefully they're all good.