Continued from Part 3: Leagues, Titans, and Guardians (oh my!)

#4 – “Holy Bat-Comics, BATMAN!”

In the New-52 there are a total of 16 current Bat-related titles, 6 of which actually star the Dark Knight himself, and in 4 of those he’s the leading man (3 of which are solo missions), and best of all, every single one of them is top-notch… as it should be! Batman is simply a great character in every sense, created by the legendary Bob Kane, but it’s astounding, after all this time, how these writers still manage to come up with new and different takes on all his villains, various allies, and numerous adventures, without constantly re-hashing the same damn stuff!

BATMAN, Batman: THE DARK KNIGHT, Batman AND ROBIN, DETECTIVE COMICS presents: Batman, the Justice League, Justice League: International, Nightwing (Richard Grayson), the Red-Hood and the Outlaws (Jason Todd), Teen Titans (Tim Drake), the Birds of Prey (Black Canary, Poison Ivy and Batgirl), Bat-Wing, Bat-girl, Batwoman, Catwoman, the Suicide Squad (Harley Quinn), and Batman Beyond!

Sure it almost seems like overkill and yeah it kind of is, (considering how much cash I drop per paycheck on a fictional vigilante), but for now, most of these series hold their own.

As mentioned earlier, Batman’s gone through quite a few renditions over the past century, with different creative license, from Denny O’Neal to Frank Miller, Jeph Loeb to Alan Moore, the bizarre Tim Burton films to the awesome 90’s animated series, the cheesy 60’s TV spoof to the dark, realistic realm of Christopher Nolan’s incredible film trilogy (Batman Begins, the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight Rises). However, certain elements remain the same (if only twisted): there are many different variations of the Batmobile, Gotham, Alfred, or the death of his parents, but those key story points are always present. No matter what, Arkham Asylum will always have the worst security of any high-tech facility in the history of humankind.

The current storyline in the main-Batman titles is phenomenal thanks to Scott Snyder, I have to give him props for originality! The story concerns ‘The Court of Owls’, an ancient Gotham organization controlling events from the shadows. Just wait till you get to issue 5! (also, looks like it’s about to cross over into all the other titles soon!) Meanwhile, ‘the Dark Knight’ comic is basically a showcase of Batman’s rogues gallery, with the occasional Justice League cameo, ‘Detective Comics’ is one dark, gritty, and just plain creepy look at the streets and alleyways of Gotham City, and ‘Batman & Robin’ is the ongoing adventures of Batman and his illegitimate son / ninja assassin (nothing says bonding time like bashing-in criminals’ craniums).

One of the best things about the New 52 is that they didn’t really mess with Batman (or Green Lantern), but they did condense his backstory / history a bit, but without specifically saying that any one story didn’t happen, unless it was a crossover, which needed to happen, because he’s had so many adventures that they couldn’t possibly fit into one man’s life, much less a 5 year period.

Keep up the good work DC!

                                                                         Erik Slader

Check out my blog at EpikFAILs.com

Continued in Part 5: Superman’s ‘Super-suit’