The Fate of Batman

[anarky]

So, is DC using the shootings as an excuse for Batman Inc being late, or is Batman now being scapegoated?

[Diabolical]

Sounds like there is something in that issue that hits a bit too close to reality, so they're holding off for a few weeks.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

And here I thought you'd come to post with joyous rapture that Morrison announced his tenure with Batman had a definitive endpoint.

It's funny, but Morrison said when he started on Batman like six years ago that he had a definite story to tell with a beginning, middle, and end.
I guess he failed to mention the "end" was to leave the franchise a big, steaming pile of mess.

Quite frankly, I think the reason he's leaving is the same reason George Perez left. Editorially mandated poop smeared on paper. He just doesn't want to say so until after his final issues are on stands.

[anarky]

I only pay attention to the aspects of Batman that don't involve Morrison. That shit never happened. Not even Arkham Asylum. Whoever hired the dude who thought it was a good idea to have Two-Face pissing himself because he didn't have the coin to decide whether to go to the bathroom should be shot.

It's pathetic that they're pulling advertising, talking about banning costumes at movies altogether, and can't fucking talk about discussing gun control of some sort. I'm not even saying we need it, but, seriously, you're willing to fucking ban costumes?

[RoIIo Tomassi]

My dad pulled the whole "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" card when we were discussing this the other day.

I responded with the classic Eddie Izzard line "The guns certainly helped."

But that's a discussion for a different thread.

[anarky]

I just find it really quite sad that we can't even discuss it. Isn't that the cornerstone of democracy?

Probably belongs in the "I hate politics" thread, but it bugs the shit out of me that the farthest right seems to believe that Obama has spent his entire career dismantling gun rights, when he's not only not done that, but has explicitly said so. I guess if you don't believe him when he says he's a Christian from Hawaii, it's not too big a stretch to ignore his record, eh?

[RoIIo Tomassi]

BTDubs, I went in to pick up my comics yesterday, and saw a big ol' stack of Batman Inc 3 on the shelf. I told my Comics Guy about the tizzy of DC wanting to pull the issue for the month. He just shrugged and said he didn't know nothing about it. Ha ha.
Anyway, I flipped thru the issue, and as far as I can tell somebody had a gun. That was it. That was the big "problem" with it. DC are a bunch of candy asses. They were just trying to drum up interest in their shitty comics.

[anarky]

Omigod! A GUN? Not a gun! Not in Batman! My God, that's unbelievable!! Jesus tapdancing Christ, a fucking gun in a Batman book? Dear sweet lord, what is this world coming to? Next thing you know, they'll be doing horrible stuff like (I hope you're sitting down, because this is really fucking disturbing) kryptonite in a Superman book! Or, Jesus help us, a guy in Transformers who might turn into a gun, even if he really doesn't!

For fuck's sake, I read every damned Batman title back when they didn't suck. At one point, there were four, plus Robin and any one-shots or mini-series. And it was pretty standard for every single fucking one of them to show a gun every single issue. Every. Single. Issue. What the fuck are the villains using now if not guns? Oh, it's Morrison, so I'm sure Two-Face just pisses on them.

BTW, when did they announce it, and how? Unless they have a way to contact each retailer and be guaranteed it'll be read, but they already shipped the book, it's their tough shit.

[anarky]

Doing a search online, Bleeding Cool has the spoilers (and scans). Pretty fucking lame. I wouldn't even consider commenting on any comic forum, but people are getting into a hizzy over it.

Not like any new readers would be reading it anyway. Even if someone did stroll into a comic shop, any owner worth his salt would say, "These all stand alone. Despite this one being #3, you have to have read five years worth of bullshit to understand it. And it wouldn't hurt to read the previous fifty years worth, focusing on the bullshit (because Morrison picks and chooses and inevitably picks the bullshit), to understand this bullshit."

[RoIIo Tomassi]

They announced it Monday or maybe Tuesday, which is after the books are all boxed up and ready to be shipped out, maybe even already on their way.
I think they assume all dealers hang out on Internet Comic sites. My guy doesn't. He's been selling comics for 30 years now, so he doesn't give a crap about the 'hype du jour' that DC and Marvel peddle these days. I'll often be the first one to let him know that DC and Marvel are cancelling all their books and restarting at number 1s. He'll just shrug. Cracks me up.

Remember when DC shipped some book a week early, but wanted retailers to hold it until the following week because it was a "skip" week?
He's always. "Pfft. Whatever." and puts the book out. It's product. It came this week. So he puts it out for sale.

[anarky]

Skimming through the arguments on CBR, it looks like an awful lot of people don't understand the hassle of removing something that's ready to be shelved (along with a few hundred other titles, in alphabetical order, natch) or the costs and hassle of keeping inventory longer than necessary.

Never mind that, if the books are in the stores, some people will sell them, so you risk chasing your regular customers away, even if for just one book.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Spoiler filled review of Batman: Earth One. The Graphic Novel from Johns and Franks. Holy shit, it sounds awful.
Particularly the parts about Jim Gordon being a corrupt asshole and the finale where Penguin beats Batman within an inch of his life and Alfred saves Bruce by killing Oswald with a shotgun. What. The. Fuck? That scenario is so Anti-Batman they should be prosecuted.

[Diabolical]

The free preview they released was a clusterfuck of a story. No surprise the rest is so stupid.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I read that freebie and I kept thinking 'Batman's mask has horrible peripheral vision. He's gonna get snuck up on and his ass beat if he's not careful'

[anarky]

Honestly, I read that earlier, and decided it was so un-Batman that it wasn't worth mentioning.

Not sure about Martha being an Arkham, either, but the whole mess seems so fucked up the ass that there's no point in dwelling on it. It'll be like Superman: Earth One, and be successful enough to warrant a second one, then fade into nothingness. It sounds like it makes all this Court of Owls bullshit sound like fucking Year One.

I don't understand why "for the current generation" means even grittier and bullshittier than what it supposedly meant twenty years ago. Can't we fucking have heroes anymore? Yeah, they can be imperfect--they should be--but I'm sick of the "every hero is an asshole or a loser" approach. A corrupt Jim Gordon is absolutely not Jim Gordon.