The Death of Batman?

Sometimes, there is a bit of news that appears not to have been publicized as much as one would think. This story is based upon one such tidbit. Rich Johnston from Comic Book Resources in his "Lying in the Gutters" column has revealed that Bruce Wayne is to be killed off next year by DC comics.

Before we get to the outraged commentary on why this is a phenomenally bad idea, let’s get the facts down as they’ve been reported.

According to Johnston, in what is a fairly renowned column, DC Comics will be killing off Bruce Wayne in June or July of 2008. The Batman series will also apparently relaunch from #1.

Now at the moment, despite the source, this is just rumor. However the media coverage is about to blow off the roof, as I think we’re getting to this pretty early in the rumor-mill cycle.

A few background facts before my righteous indignation springs in to effect. Batman was first introduced to the DC Universe (DCU) in Detective Comics #27, and then made his debut in a self-titled book in the spring of 1940. He remained one of the popular books even through the comic industries decline in the 50’s.

Obviously a lot of media attention has gone the way of Batman with the campy success of the 1970’s TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward, and the 1989 film by Tim Burton which went down as one of the best comic movies. Along came Batman Begins in 2005, which garnered further praise for the caped crusader.

Fan reaction is already against the decision, with Comic2Film running an article, succinctly summing up people’s feelings; “Killing Batman...WTF?!”

What’s worse is that their decision to kill off Bruce Wayne – whether pre-planned or spontaneous – comes right on the back of Marvel killing off Captain America. The two characters – Captain America and Batman – have often been compared to each other as the morale center and tent pole for their respective franchises.

So is this a blatant following suit on DC’s part? Simply acting like the sheep and not thinking about the ramifications? Or is this actually something that has been on the drawing boards?

Granted, Bruce won’t stay dead for too long, and it may very well allow DC to reboot the character from a younger age. It has been a topic of discussion for some time regarding Wayne’s age, and when the mantle will be passed on to younger, fitter bodies.

Up for the role of Batman are, primarily, Robin #3 Tim Drake, and Robin #2/Red Hood Jason Todd – who himself returned from the dead. Tim Drake’s Robin has been slowly evolving in to a more Batman character with each issue of Teen Titans and the self-titled Robin, so the likelihood that he will take up the cape and cowl is high.

But, on the other hands, Jason Todd’s recent return to the DCU could suggest that DC had planned this move. In addition, his featured role in the current “Countdown” weekly comic series is another tick on his likelihood.

Of course, for fans of the Batman series, Dick Grayson – the first and original Batman, who is now known as Nightwing – is going to be a fan favorite to take over the role. But he has invested himself in his role as Nightwing, and stepping away from Batman’s shadow, so his storyline would have to be dramatically revamped – for the worse – to make this happen.

All that 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.

My opinion is simple: this is a bad idea. However, considering that I have no impact upon DC’s decision making process, I am not really worried. I look forward to reading the intervening issues with a new Batman, and I look forward to Bruce’s return; hopefully younger, and ready to keep going for decades to come.

Posted by Josh Hill

Story Links:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13
http://www.comics2film.com/b/index.php?blog=18&title=the_killing_of_the_batman_seriously&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Comments

[Daniel Appleton]

The last time I seriously read a comic book was years ago, with a collector's edition purchased from eBay containing a Batman story by Harlan Ellison, before that, it was the graphic novel anthology
" The Dark Knight Returns ", which supposedly provided the look & texture for the 1st Batman movie. These ain't your daddy's comic books ! Nope - They provide a lot of information about their respective graphic worlds, & there's some moral ambiguity. They even pitted the Big Blue Boy
( you know, the guy with the
" S ". ) himself against a Batman turned vigilante in Crime Alley, where Wayne's parents were killed in, a post - nuclear holocaust world, & Batman / Bruce faked his own death after the battle royale after giving Superman a dose of Kryptonite & a humiliating beating that he would remember = High drama that might translate well to a big screen in the cinematic future. & ought to be put in cinematic form.

[Daniel Appleton]

& as the author himself notes, Superman was killed off in the 90's, Bruce / Batman faked his own death in the Dark Knight anthology. I even seem to recall a quick glance at a Superman cover where Clark Kent was supposedly killed, supposedly to keep the CK alter ego from being connected to Superman & Lois Lane - Kent. I won't even mention ( except in passing ) the number of times that various members of the bridge crew of the Enterprise from the original Star Trek
" died ".

[Trevor]

The campy Batman television series with Adam West was actually in the 1960s, not the 70s.

[Deathscythe]

There is a possibility that in case of Bruce Wayne death, his son Damian Wayne will take the mantel, this appears in the Batman issue #666, but this event takes plaice 15 years in the future, it sounds like a permanent death for the Batman, but also is possible to return Bruce in case of death with the uncoming "Final Crisis", but I really prefer that the events in the "Final Crisis" will make Bruce younger without killing him first.

[zanbowser]

Or, they could have Ra's or his daughter chuck him in a Lazarus pit, et voilá, brandy-new Bats (post-pit-psychosis, anyway).

[aaron]

dick grayson was the original Robin not the original Batman.

[kakarot]

yeah batman is dead they killed batman you can see it on final crisis 6 darkseid killed batman with his omega beams but i dont know it seem weird because when youre hit by the omega beams youre desintegrated or teletransported to the sorce wall so batman may not be dead now remember that darkseid wasnt at his full power and when the omega beams reached batman well the body wasnt desintegrated it was just burned so who knows what happend to batman and there is something that ensures the return of batman if youve read justice league of amercia 0 there are three things you need yo see one the wedding of hal jordan and in that wedding you can see batman superman and wonderwoman and at the top it says future and its tru couse hal jordan is not merried yet then you can see when wonderwoman is telling superman and batman that shes getting marriend and it also says future soo maybe he returns but i dont know hope he returns he is the best...

[bitirim]

thank you

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