People who’ve been waiting for the third issue of Batman Incorporated… You’ll have to keep waiting: It’s being delayed a month following the horrific Aurora, Colorado shooting of last week. DC released an email to retailers yesterday explaining that “Out of respect for the victims and families in Aurora, Colorado DC Entertainment has made the decision to postpone the release of BATMAN INCORPORATED #3 for one month because the comic contains content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events.”
On Twitter, artist Chris Burnham went into more detail, saying that “The book printed on time. I’m looking at a copy on my desk right now. This isn’t a scheduling excuse, we’re trying to do the right thing,” before adding that “it’s not just a Batman comic with guns in it. There’s a specific scene that made DC & the whole Bat-team say ‘Yikes.’ Too close for comfort.”
The new ship date for the book is August 22.
July 24th, 2012 at 8:44 am
I bet it has a red-haired joker.
July 24th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
DC WINS.
They look good by showing sensitivity AND gain press and hype that a #3 issue (without a character death or “universe-shattering event”) would never get. The sad reality will be that the horrific event will result in increased sales of a book that was content-delayed because of the horrific event.
What if instead of simply delaying the issue, DC altered the content in question? Let’s be real, the pain of families and friends of the victims, they themselves victims, won’t be gone in a month. What WILL be gone, thanks to our short attention spans, is the attention of the shifty news media, so DC can release the content safe from public reprisal.
Perhaps this necessary delay is unintentionally trying to tell us something. Maybe our superhero comics have gone too far into the violence. DC, are you listening? You’ve explained why you are delaying the book, but have you examined WHY you should have to be dealing with this in the first place?
When the DC New 52 books were released a year ago, it was easier to count how many titles DIDN’T have graphic blood and murder. Not all superhero comics need to be for all ages, but when you can’t point out ONE Bat-book out of ELEVEN that is? DC is catering to blood-lust, and has been for a year. One month without one Batman book won’t erase that.
One exception was the relatively tame but now-cancelled Justice League International, in which Batman was a team member. Then again, we had Godiva’s continuous sexual innuendo…with her hair.
July 24th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Seriously you could just delay wihout even menioning it’s about the shooting . That’s a form of advertisement and not in a much better way