With DC proudly announcing that the relaunched Batman titles (So far Batman, Detective, Batman and Robin and Batman: The Dark Knight) will feature Bruce Wayne as “the one true Batman,” it’s certainly looking like Grant Morrison’s Batman, Incorporated has been dumped in favor of a new back-to-basics status quo. But, according to IGN, Morrison is “involved in the September relaunch, and an announcement will be coming later this week,” which means… something, right?
It’s interesting to see that the DC representative isn’t saying that Morrison is involved in the Batman side of the relaunch, just the “September relaunch” in general. There are still rumors of his being involved with a Superman book, but we’ve already had similar rumors of a Wonder Woman gig turn out to be false, and now Bleeding Cool is reporting that George Perez will be heading up the Superman relaunch, which leads me to wonder where Morrison will end up in the current creative reshuffle.
Not all of Morrison’s Batman work is being undone – Damien is staying as Robin, interestingly enough – but I’m wondering whether we’ll see Batman, Incoporated not reappear anywhere in the September relaunch, and instead show up later in the year as a stand-alone, out of continuity, series continuing Morrison’s two-year storyline until completion. Certainly, this would fit in with previous Morrison work (All-Star Superman, anyone?), and give Morrison not only the chance to finish up with his plans, but also the freedom to make whatever changes he wants without having to worry about upsetting core fanbases of the characters he’s writing. It would mean that DC would backtrack somewhat from the line-wide relaunch, sure, but we’ve already got at least two other out-of-continuity Batman series (All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder, AKA Dark Knight: Boy Wonder and Neal Adams’ Batman Odyssey) awaiting conclusion, so the idea of one more doesn’t seem too impossible, does it? I mean, is this really any less likely that DC just killing one of their most successful titles so readily?
June 6th, 2011 at 11:32 am
I want to be irresponsible and unrestrained and just an utter fanboy for a moment and gripe about even the possibility of this. You don’t kill the very end of a six year work of creative art over a marketing proposal. You find a way to make it work. Let him do his own little “elseworlds” sort of thing for the six or seven months or however long it takes to finish it. Have it come out bi-monthly so he can work on other things. Do whatever it takes so that the vision DC has been riding with for the last many years gets to play out.
It’s funny. It looks to me like Geoff’s GL which he has put so much work into is going to get to move along with little changes, but Batman Inc is dead in the water.
June 6th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Here’s how it stands:
Final Crisis fizzled (Morrison’s book)
Sinestro Corps War & Blackest Night exploded (Johns’ books)
Johns Displays a more ‘team player’ attitude than Morrison.
I’m sure DC higher-ups have given the green light to the guy who worked better for them. If Morrison was the CCO, things would probably be different. Also, I doubt there are hard feelings since I haven’t heard a single creator say anything negative about Johns (in all fairness, I haven’t looked too hard).
June 6th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Morrison has said on some occasions that he doesn’t plan to write Batman forever. So maybe he’s just ready to step away.
Part of me is not happy that the Many Batmen era was so short lived. But I also can’t say I demand Grant write Batman every month. For every two stories in the past five years I loved, there was one that puzzled me and one that was a total dud. I dropped Batman Inc for that reason. He’s sometimes better as an idea man than as a writer of monthly superhero titles.
June 6th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Based on the latest info at The Source, Grant’s going to be back on Batman, Inc. next year with a wrap-up for his Leviathan story-line. That’s good news. In the meantime, it seems that Inc isn’t being ignored at all since it’s acknowledged that Dick was Batman before going back to Nightwing. Also, one of the new Inc characters appears to have gotten his own title.
June 7th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Given that Batwing has a title, I would imagine that Morrison’s run will still be in continuity. I would also guess that the season one finale of Inc. will lead to the major changes in the Bat-books, like Dick stepping down.
Morrison’s focus these days is obviously on the Leviathan storyline and none of these new books contradict what he’s been doing. Heck, Morrison isn’t even writing Dick Grayson anymore, aside from when he guest stars.
June 7th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
I always find it interesting when people make comments about Morrison’s success and personality. Final Crisis actually did really well, particularly in the mainstream market. The Batman books are continually in the top ten. The idea that Morrison’s work isn’t selling well enough to stick around is not an accurate one.
I also never understand the “Morrison isn’t a team player” idea. I realize that he has this rock star image that he puts out there, but I’ve seen him speak and he shops at the same store as I do, and he’s actually a pretty quiet, laid back guy.
I’ve never heard another creator complain about him.