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Underground > Comic Books >

'Children have no place in this dark world of mine ...'

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Haus of Mystery

12:08 / 23.02.07

He is a mod.

You are alone.

12:15 / 23.02.07

That reminds me, about those new comic mods...

I'll be visiting Policy a bit later

16:09 / 23.02.07

Wow. I think Batman may've won this thread.

Is the new B&B writ by Waid? He's done a good Batman in the past, even though I didn't quite buy the JLA panic-surprise at him keeping files on how to put them all down in case they went bad. Really.

Still, nobody's suggested turning Bats to an 'Ichi the Killer' type. Even though Joker would look marvelous in that purple shiny jacket from the film.

So, let's turn this around, too, and people, what Batman would you not do, given the reins?

Me: With his back broken by Bane, Batman has secretly been using an advanced skintight, transparent bodybrace/armor. Which he doesn't share with Barbara Gordon or anybody else. Oh, and his secret shame is that he powderized every bone in Joe Chill's body over a weekend of intricate torture and had him mounted in the JLA moonbase as a trophy he tells everybody is a dummy. Those who know aren't going to say anything, because they're afraid of this new, cyborg, necklace-of-ears-under-his-cape Batfiend. And they kinda like it.

Haus of Mystery

16:11 / 23.02.07

I wouldn't do a Batman who has his arms replaced by blades.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:15 / 23.02.07

I think a lot of the problems (read: pleasures) of the DC Universe trace back to them trying to integrate all the editorial groups into one universe (Superman books, Batman books, et cetera) back in..um...the forties? Fifties? Batman works in certain environments one way and other environments another way, but they aren't neccessarily the same Batman from the meta-perspective and you could even make a case from the pure narrative perspective. Occasionally - you get the sense from the first issue of JLA Classified - that Batman willingly exiles himself to the context of Gotham for the sake of his genre clarity.

Anyone want to do a Flash thread, or maybe a Wonder Woman one? These discussions/brainstorming sessions are mad fun.

16:46 / 23.02.07

I wouldn't do a Batman who has his arms replaced by blades.

Well no.

It's the writing we're trying to focus on here, though.

16:49 / 23.02.07

I want to voice my opinion that what Grant is doing in Batman right now is very almost the Batman I want to see at the moment. I just wish he was showing the same thorough attention to detail on Bats as he is on Supes - that being the case it would likely be one of the most favourite speshul comics evar.

But my main point, and a point that others have got hold of, is that we want different things at different times and in different contexts.

(Although I tend to want a superheroic Batman over a guy who wears tights and booties and gets beaten up by mooks - the fun is in seeing a human go toe-to-toe with hideous menaces, superhumans and gods, yet stay cool - superior even - and win the day.)

Haus of Mystery

17:48 / 23.02.07

Well no.

It's the writing we're trying to focus on here, though.

Ahhh I see. I must have missed that with my entirely serious suggestion.

Batman needs a fine balance between grim and pop. The Denny O'Neil seventies Batman was written in this tremendously overwrought pulp style, but he was still up against colourful theme villains with colourful theme henchmen. To my mind that's the quintessential Batman, partly as it's the one I first encountered and partly as it just seemed to gel the disparate elements of his mythos in an effective and fun way. Sure Miller returned him to iconic status, but O'Neil, Len Wein and others distilled it all into a package that was fantastical and ridiculous yet somehow completely 'beleivable'.
One of my all time favourite Bat-stories is a seventies tale of Calendar Man, drawn by Walt Simonson. It's got a villain who changes his costume to represent each day of the week, with a suitably themed crime; it's got Batman doing actual detective work, and also cracking skulls; it's got the Batcopter in it. It is, quite frankly ace.

02:43 / 24.02.07

Yeah. I want to write a pulpy Bat-noir mystery that has the Whirlybat in it.

03:00 / 24.02.07

Whirlybat?! Oh, god, that's so good.

Even the fact section reads like a lost 70s superteam.

Ral Partha!
Model Master!
Black Baron!
Squadron Green!
Zap-a-Gap!

12:42 / 24.02.07

What Batman would I not do?

Batman Jerusalem. Hates everyone, including his (female) filthy sidekick, Robin. Drinks and smokes to excess.

20:11 / 07.03.07

Talking on from another forum - I had the idea;

Batman as twins - there were two Waynes boys, but one was kept hidden away, perhaps almost a little smothered by Martha because he was born frail or something. Anyway, you have the male female side to his personality, the mother/father sons. Off they go, learning their trades on different sides of the globe under the name "Bruce Wayne" (kind of like "James Bond" managing director of Internation Inport Export? but for Wayne enterprise) - one all eastern, honed, philosophical, spiritual - the other literal, scientific, western - both have different hand to hand skills, different ways of anylising a crime scene, like different people and so on. it wouldn't be blindingly obvious - but one would be happy in the Justice League kind of situations.

20:40 / 07.03.07

Batman should be noir, hardboiled... Spillane, Thompson, Cain... How about 'Strangers on a Train'? Batman visits Joker in Arkham(y'know, the way he does...), the name Wayne is mentioned, Batman makes some comment to distance himself from Wayne, Joker twists/misconstrues the conversation, Joker 'agrees' to kill Wayne for Batman if Batman will kill Gordon..? No...

...

Okay. Bruce Wayne visits Joker in Arkham (pick a reason), Batman is mentioned (obv.), Wayne makes some comment to distance himself from Batman, Joker twists/misconstrues the conversation, Joker 'agrees' to kill Batman for Wayne if Wayne will kill Batman for him...

That doesn't make any sense, does it?

Maybe that's why it would work?!

04:02 / 10.03.07

Tough.

The character has a lot of different aspects and he's been treated in a pretty schizophrenic way over the years.

The one thing that I'm pretty sure I'd want to include would be the Silver Age high concepts. They've worked brilliantly in the Superman titles. In the Batman books, they'd need to take a much darker turn.

Past that, the key is to go really dark but, at the same time, not to go so dark that it descends in the realm of the comical. Because its easy to end up over the top.

I'm more torn on Robin and the whole "family" aspect. Because there is a need for that but, at the same time, its filled with all kinds of ridiculously flaming homoeroticism that DC would never let someone explore and it gives the character a channel for all of the darkness inside of him (which isn't always the best thing). I'd probably have the current Robin start drifting away from him the same way Nightwing has (except maybe a little more of it). Then you get a Batman in his thirties with no one to turn to except an elderly butler and a long collection of trophy girlfriends who don't understand, a guy who starts to see the bad guys as his friends (or at least people he has more in common with then anyone else) in addition to people who should be wiped out (besides the more morally ambiguous Catwoman). I'd go along with this story arc for a while.

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