A certain Batman-centered tidbit from Rich Johnston’s Lying in the Gutters column has been making the rounds lately, sparking a lot of conversation.
I’m putting up a cut here for those fans who would prefer to avoid coming in contact with rumors or spoilers. All others, do proceed.
Crackerbob at For the Love of Comics is skeptical:
I just can’t bring myself to believe that DC would be stupid enough to kill off one of their marquee characters at roughly the same time that a major motion picture focusing on that marquee character is being released. It just does not make any sense.
The only thing that even remotely makes sense is that they’re positioning a new Batman for the JLA movie, since Christian Bale will not be in that movie’s cast.
That would still be incredibly stupid, though.
Jim from Comics And…Other Imaginary Tales thinks it’s a good idea:
By letting Bruce die we are given a chance for a new character to be Batman. Especially if we let it be Dick or Tim, because they will have a history to build on, but have to be different taking over the Batman role. The whole Azrael thing was a feint because who ever took over was never intended to stay as the Batman. By making it Azrael we could see that a harsher Batman made no sense , which would make Bruce seem new again, but it hasn’t.
I love Batman and love Bruce Wayne as Batman, but we can have new stories still be told about Bruce Wayne as Batman as specials and mini-series. With 52 worlds we can have a world that has Bruce just starting as Batman in 2008. The stories possibilities are endless and real change is the key to successful sales.
Josh Hill thinks the idea is ill-thought-out:
Everything being said, the idea is ill-thought out at best, and is definitely going to do damage to the series: from the eyes of Batman and DCU fans. And while sales will no doubt jump to witness the event, and the fall out, whether they will hold long enough to keep sales up until his return is another question. The death of Superman from the mid-90’s was an unmitigated failure, and does not bode well for Batman. On the other hand though, there are writer currently on DC’s payroll that may be able to pull this off with a level of skill that was lacking back then.
While Sonny Wilkins admires the story potential:
I have no problems with this. Considering who’s at the helm (great song), Grant Morrison, it’ll be cooked thoroughly. We’ve already had glimpses into: the future of Gotham, Damien’s destiny, and Bruce’s growing paranoia eating away at him, in the recent run of Batman. Three ghosts, which will he become? The gun-wielding madman, the whore rapist/murderer loaded on steroids, the Satan worshiper. Its clearly building toward something, maybe this is it? The death of an icon.
Of course, Batman would never die. He’s the companies franchise character; the Kobe to their Lakers, the Jeter to their Yankees, the Tiger to their Nike. They’d (DC) never sacrifice sales of that magnitude, no matter how good it could be. After the Resurrection of Ra’s, the Demon’s Head, Morrison will explore the myth of the Batman. At least, in his mind he will.
What do you think?
November 10th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
What a great way to promote The Dark Knight, by killing off Bruce Wayne! I think DC is aping Marvel’s killing off Steve Rogers here.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Sales are going to be huge. They should kill Batman every year.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Killing off a character with a Lazarus Pit as a recurring plot device is on par with killing a time traveler.
I trust Morrison to give us a captivating story. I only ask the story remain at the forefront of DC’s mind and not the “shock” aspect of which the media will be interested.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
This seems oddly familiar…..say, wasn’t Catwoman’s baby supposed to die?
Mama always said don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Especially when it’s in a column called LYING in the gutters. I’m still waiting for DC to announce that Buseik is writing FC.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I would suggest killing off Bruce Wayne so Batman could be active full-time.
The only thing that Bruce Wayne is good for is to attend or throw some party that will be robbed by some villain, or for Wayne-Corp to have some invention or business division attacked by some criminal.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I think DC purposefully started this rumor to flush out Rich’s sources inside DC.
November 11th, 2007 at 12:10 am
I can only hope that DC has the guts to kill Batman. I think this generation of writers and talent in the industry is finally figuring out that there isn’t an a necessity to protect our childhoods any longer.
If “superheroes” are going to survive–change has to take place. I think Dick Grayson should be a wary Batman–he may not like it and that’s where the story becomes compelling again.
Kill away DC, kill away–I’m down with this 100%.
November 11th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Steve Rogers is dead yet we have a mini-series currently going on starring… Steve Rogers.
DC went to all of this trouble to make multiple earths, just kill off the New Earth Bruce and let Earth 38 have a Bruce Wayne Batman book.
November 11th, 2007 at 12:36 am
I’m just waiting for DC to come up with a new trick. Let’s see, Marvel kills two characters during its latest big event and sales have been consistently high. DC kills off characters like they’re on an assembly line and sales are dropping…
If this is fake the really sad thing is that DC has created a rep where we believe they’re this stupid. Captain America’s death was organic to the story in the book that had been developed for two years before the issue came out. No way this is as well planned. Plus Dick Grayson is cooler as Nightwing.
November 11th, 2007 at 2:59 am
Killing off Bruce Wayne right before the new movie comes out seems pretty stupid. But given DC’s predilection for killing off characters as of late it’s not too far fetched. IMO I don’t like like it one bit and if it’s true I’ll vote with my wallet.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:44 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if they did one of those plotlines where Batman was faking his own death and the audience knew it from the start. The Knightfall story was recent enough that I can’t see them making a big deal out of replacing Batman again.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Killing off Bruce Wayne, Pa Kent, and the New Gods are all lead-ups to Final Crisis (also penned by Batman scribe Grant Morrison). This change won’t be permanant and it gives post-Infinite Crisis Dick Grayson a reason for surviving. After the Final Crisis reboot, Bruce will return.
November 11th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Kurt Busiek is writing Flaming Carrot?
November 11th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I think that this would be foolish, as well as tacky, for two reasons:
1) As somebody above points out, Knightfall happened fairly recently. As others have pointed out, Marvel just killed Cap and will (in all likelihood) replace Steve Rogers with Bucky, at least for the time being. The idea is just kind of played out for DC to be doing this.
2) Batman hasn’t last 60+ years by being a bad character concept. It’s the force and simplicity of the character that makes it so durable and open to reinterpretation. Son of millionaire witnesses parents deaths, becomes costumed vigilante to combat and terrify criminals. It’s a straightforward and powerful concept. If Batman is just a teen superhero grown p to replace his mentor, what makes him any different from the flash beyond his costume and powers? A short term burst of sales seems like a bad trade for the loss of such a durable and profitable character.
That being said, I think that RobC, above, is exactly right, and that Final Crisis (ugh) will undo all of this stuff.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
First of all, I want to know who’s selling Josh Hill his crack, because I want a hit of that stuff. The Death of Superman was a tremendous success on every level–financially, publicly, and creatively. It got people reading the books and talking about the character again. I don’t know how he views failure, but that ain’t it.
Death in comics is ephemeral. The idea that DC would commit to murking their top-level franchise property for more than a few months or years is ludicrous. Batman, even more than Superman now, is a money-printing machine for DC. Messing with that property as anything more than a way to drum up sales short-term (as was done with “Knightfall”) doesn’t work.
It sounds like Morrison has realized that his run on “Batman” just isn’t gelling with the fans and the general public. The stories are too disjointed and strange, recalling an era of Bats’ history that is really only of interest to older fans. The “hairy-chested love God” Neal Adams Batman just doesn’t penetrate the public consciousness better than the Dark Knight model. When people think of Batman now, they invoke Christian Bale (whose portrayal was influenced by Miller’s best work), not “The Batmen of Many Nations.” Couple that with the atrocious delays on the artwork, and the series has just lost momentum.
I think RobC is on the money–any death of Bruce Wayne and assumption of the mantle by Dick (or whomever) will be a plotline resolved in Final Crisis, leading to a universe-wide reboot and retooling of Batman back to his essence. Until it plays out, I recommend treating this as the unsubstantiated rumor it is.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:28 am
1. gee its not like comic characters comic back, especially ones with lazarus juice.
2. dc has now gone from dcu and elseworlds to dcu, dcu2 dcu x, dc9, dc kingdom, dc tangent, dc manga, dc old, dc gay, dc robot, dc moustach.. and so on. if he dies in the comic, then its an ‘imaginary story’ – which is what batman is anyway.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:30 am
1. gee its not like comic characters COME back.
tired.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
I’m glad to see someone else who likes Sonny with a chance as much as I do, Nico is my favorite character on the show. Thanks for this post, I enjoyed reading it!