red superfly, if i could quote all of your posts, ....well, just imagine them here.
they've got what most people are calling a successful movie, and batman has always been popular, more or less. it would be like....like ford re-designing their top selling car, taurus. 'member what happened with that? they said they were being "bold" in taking the car that at the time was the top selling mid-sized sedan and ....well, fixing what wasn't broke. they promptly lost the top spot to camry and haven't regained it since.
and yeah, what happened to superman. now, don't get me wrong---I own one comic book. (elseworlds, a batman one, The Devil's Workshop). but I think it will be another knightfall/death of superman thing. just shaking things up. you people may say that dc doesn't learn from its mistakes, and that may be true, but if you show them the button to blow up planet earth, no one would be rushing to hit that button. they'd certainly be blowing up planet DC by killing/retiring my man bruce. er, i mean the man behind the mask of batman. yeah. that sounds more professional.....
so just looking at this from the viewpoint of an only marginally educated comic book outsider, i'd agree with red. it's just a ploy to get people excited and agitated and buying every batman comic book that rolls off the press because "THIS MIGHT BE THE LAST ONE WITH BRUCE!!!!!" and dc laughs all the way to the bank.
Originally posted by Red Superfly
*Has memories of Ben Reilly taking over as Spider-Man*It won't work. It WILL be temporary if it does go through.
These things never last, but can be quite useful. When a character gets a little run-down and over-explorred, with writers scrapping the barrel, bringing in a successor makes things slightly fresher, with a new start, new ties and attitudes.
However, the most important thing is that these successors usually make the audience YEARN to see the original back in their costume, regardless of whether the successor is better or worse than the original.
My guess is that we'll see the new Batman, but ultimately, whether it takes a few months or decades, my estimation is that Bruce will retake the mantle as Batman, with his successor either being killed off or made into a different character.
It happens.
Damn Superfly you hit the nail right on the head. It's all been done before with Superman, Spiderman, and now apparently twice with Batman. It'll still be a good ride to hop on and see what happens, I mean wasn't it fun every month to catch up on the Reign of the Supermen saga, or the Knightfall/Knight Quest saga to eventually see the original Superman and Batman return. (The Spiderman Clone saga sucked IMO) But if it's done right, and the plot twists make sense, then I'll still be there each week. But rest assured that this "retirement" will only be temporary.
Okay, from what I am hearing, everyone demands status quo. That's what you all really seem to want. That is some boring shit. They have all-stars to deal with the iconic versions of the characters now. If these characters are going to grow and change and remain interesting, eventually they have to grow old and retire. Think of the well handled transitions, Dick to Nightwing, Wally to The Flash. Sidekicks are supposed to take over the legacies, that's why guy's like Bruce bother putting them into danger so young in the first place. Nightwing is what, 23? Bruce was 25 when he started, and Nightwing is much better now than Bruce was then. Same goes for Tim. Batman is human. That's what has always really made the character interesting. He is at least 38 years old or so now, more if DC didn't fudge it so often. If you want Bruce to always, always be Batman, go ahead and stop reading comics now. If it is always taken for granted that Bruce is Batman, then it is a foregone conclusion that he will always win, and nothing will ever change, so why bother reading any stories with him to begin with? Yeah, real interesting stuff that. Anyway, my point is that if this is handled correctly it will be a good thing. If not, we have another Hal Jordan/Kyle Rayner problem.
Also, legends of the dark knight will always probably be a Bruce book. You want episodic adventures that have no lasting impact on the character's future (according to you guys characters don't get futures, they just get reinvented over and over) then books like that and All-Stars are what you will want to be reading.
Bruce will eventually come back to be Bats, Dick will Mature into Red Robin, and Tim would be another character altogether. I Think we all need to read into the future events (Like Kingdom come, and the Beyond series) to realize that DC can't screw up over the long term of the characters.....sure they can do it now and then in the short term (as what we call mistakes) to hike sales.....remember that these people are sales people with targets to achieve, thats all!!!
My problem wouldn't be having Bruce Wayne retire, exactly, since, 1) nobody seems to be writing him worth a damn recently, 2) they could still do interesting things with him, and 3) it would prevent stagnation (also, 4) it doesn't effect me, since my only relationship with that sort of comic now-adays is reading about them on the internet).
My problem is with replacing him as Batman. They always do that, and it seems like nobody realizes how much it cheapens the characters. When you have someone replace and established hero--Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Wildcat, Dr. Fate, Blue Beetle (apparently)--you're essentially admitting that the original hero was, in fact, nothing special. Completely replacable, as a matter of fact. That's no way for heroes to be.
I actually liek that Idea. They should just have some back door open (like don't kill hi off or anything). A predecessor of Batman...be it Dick or somebody else could make some decent story arcs...and if Bruce Wayne were ever to return it would also give him a new chance for good stories. Can work in my opinion.
I like Bruce Wayne Batman but at the same time Dick or Tim (with some more training) could feel Batman's Boots..I'm not gonna be one of those fans that goes "Bruce Wayne is Batman he has too always be Batman or the world would explode." But even if Dick or Tim became Batman they'd have some pretty big boots to feel.
Originally posted by Mainstream
I like Bruce Wayne Batman but at the same time Dick or Tim (with some more training) could feel Batman's Boots..I'm not gonna be one of those fans that goes "Bruce Wayne is Batman he has too always be Batman or the world would explode." But even if Dick or Tim became Batman they'd have some pretty big boots to feel.
They would actually need too...and that would give some really good stories for the first few years (Kyle Rayner had awesome stories, and jsut imagine the relationship to the JLA)....it could be really, really interesting. Tim, sadly enough is too young...he would have been the prefect Bat.
Is it just me or is the hero called BATMAN!!!
NOT BRUCE WAYNE.
I would understand if it was superman cuz clark kent has the powers.
But bruce doesnt and time doesnt stand still.
Everyone moves on,
Bruce wudnt be batman at the age of 60 or he would get his back side kicked.
Batman will still be crime fightin but a new face behind the mask gives it a more realistic story than bruce wayne being batman for thousands of years unless he never ages..
Or If batman is bruce wayne and no one else then when he retires that means end of batz.
No one likes change but it happens..