If you had complete control over a new monthly Batman title what would it be?

[Paul Dee]

I'm talking mainly a concept but then obviously artists, a title, in-continuity or out? And so on.


I like the idea of a monthly title with its own continuity, based to an extent on the 'heightened reality' of Batman Begins but not related to it. It'd be in a world with no other super-heroes, no Justice League, magic or science fiction elements. It'd concentrate more on Batman as a slightly unhinged (but not BatDick) detective and would have a noir-ish quality to it. A lot of the classic villains would have to be reimagined to fit in, as they are in Nolan's franchise, and to make them more believable (Catwoman for example would just be a jewel thief whom the news refer to as The Catwoman due to the outfit she wears). I think Alex Ross' art would fit the images I have in my head nicely and would give the artwork the touch of realism I'm after. No idea what it'd be called though.


What ideas do others have?

[rwe1138]

Dan Slott writes & Michael Gaydos draws. :D

[j3h]

I would do an in continuity, current times book focusing on Gotham City and Batman's supporting cast. Batman would appear regularly, but would not be the main "star".

I would rather have The Question and Montoya star and be sorta the "day time detective" role previously held by Jason Bard (though they would opperate at night too). Bard can appear too, along with Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock.

Using Vic Sage as a Gotham reporter allows for all types of big city stories to manifest...and it would mean that he has to survive 52.

The title would simply be Gotham City

[carabas]

A lot of the classic villains would have to be reimagined to fit in, as they are in Nolan's franchise, and to make them more believable (Catwoman for example would just be a jewel thief whom the news refer to as The Catwoman due to the outfit she wears).

How would this be different from regular Catwoman?

[Paul Dee]

How would this be different from regular Catwoman?


I just meant the way in which her name was used. I was always under the impression she was called 'Catwoman' in a more superhero costumed-gimmick way, as if it's the name of her alter-ego, rather than being referred to by the media as "The Catwoman", or even "The Cat Woman" as a sort of title.

[Gaspard]

I'd just have a run of my own on Batman with some cool artist drawing it. I'd start from the beginning and end it with his possible death somewhere later in his life. A lot of it would be influenced by Miller's Year One -- but I also like to keep things more realistic when it comes to Batman, so no JLA, or supervillains etc. Mainly just keep the story around Bats fighting crooked cops, gangsters and the few psychopaths running wild like The Joker, Two-Face, The Riddler etc. Less Robin too, but I'd probably do the whole Jason thing again, because it really is a good dramatic period in his life.

[The Punished]

I would bring back a monthly title for Azrael [in the original costume] just to p.o. Didio.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Batman as written by Darwyn Cooke and drawn by Norm Breyfogle.

[Reptisaurus!]

Batman and Jesus: Trading Places.

[Super Buddies Forever]

My ideal Batman book would be a blending of Legends of the Dark Knight and Confidential. An in-continuity Batman book that can jump around to any point in the timeline. There could be stories set in Year One, the Dick Grayson as Robin era, the Jason Todd era, the Tim Drake era, during KnightQuest or No Man's Land, etc. Heck, why stop there? Have a story set in the 1940's on Earth-2.

It would be, at least, 44 pages and with a different creative team each month. Stories would be self-contained (no sprawling arcs like in LOTDK), and there could even be a backup story centered around some element of Batman.

[shaxper]

I might do a Batman ensemble title; something like "Gotham Knights," featuring a solo or teamup adventure for one or more Batman-related heroes (including Batman). I think this makes more sense than trying to force characters like Robin and Nightwing into obligatory solo adventures each month. It would also give writers a chance to experiment with lesser known Batman characters. Maybe give Jason Bard an issue, or tell a story from the point of view of someone from the rogue's gallery. Remember that hunchback named Harold that was working with Batman back in the early '90s? Whatever happened to him? There's a story. What's up with Leslie Thompson post-War Games? Writers could explore that. Maybe a solo Jim Gordon story. Stories of Arkham Asylum and the people that work there would be quite fun too.

The Batman universe is so rich, and so little of it gets covered in the main titles.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

My ideal Batman book would be a blending of Legends of the Dark Knight and Confidential. An in-continuity Batman book that can jump around to any point in the timeline. There could be stories set in Year One, the Dick Grayson as Robin era, the Jason Todd era, the Tim Drake era, during KnightQuest or No Man's Land, etc. Heck, why stop there? Have a story set in the 1940's on Earth-2.

It would be, at least, 44 pages and with a different creative team each month. Stories would be self-contained (no sprawling arcs like in LOTDK), and there could even be a backup story centered around some element of Batman.

When I take over D.C. in a few years...you're coming with me.

[Fish Sauce]

I'd just have a run of my own on Batman with some cool artist drawing it. I'd start from the beginning and end it with his possible death somewhere later in his life. A lot of it would be influenced by Miller's Year One -- but I also like to keep things more realistic when it comes to Batman, so no JLA, or supervillains etc. Mainly just keep the story around Bats fighting crooked cops, gangsters and the few psychopaths running wild like The Joker, Two-Face, The Riddler etc. Less Robin too, but I'd probably do the whole Jason thing again, because it really is a good dramatic period in his life.

I quite like that idea. If it went for a few years or so it would be great to have a "Life of Batman" series, as it were.

[the goddamn batman]

I still want the All Star book we were sold at the begining.

Batman AND Robin. Dick Grayson. Iconic. Monthly. Rotating teams. (big names optional)

I would also except a decent Jason Todd as Robin era series. Maybe a retelling of A Death in the Family, because let's face it, ADitF sucks.

[joe bloke]

I'd aim for a kind of all-ages Batman comic, completely removed from all current continuity. Back to basics. For the first year or so, just Batman ( or maybe even THE Batman ), the caped crusader NOT the dark knight, then bring in Dick Grayson, then six or seven months down the line Robin, the boy wonder. I'm fed up with the overly gritty, tortured Bat. It was a buzz for a while, but that was then ( damn that Miller-man! it's all his fault, I tell you ). The classic villians, the classic supporting cast. Pull in all the finer elements of what has gone before and stream-line them into a regular monthly comic. Action, suspense, and above all FUN. The artist? A clean-line uncluttered master along the lines of Dave Gibbons or Kevin Nowlan. The writer? Hey, this is MY baby, man. AND - and I think this is important - distribute the comic through newsagents and supermarkets the length and breadth of the land, NOT JUST SPECIALITY COMIC BOOK OUTLETS.

Oh, I have a dream, alright. . .

[Paul Dee]

I would do an in continuity, current times book focusing on Gotham City and Batman's supporting cast. Batman would appear regularly, but would not be the main "star".

I would rather have The Question and Montoya star and be sorta the "day time detective" role previously held by Jason Bard (though they would opperate at night too). Bard can appear too, along with Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock.

Using Vic Sage as a Gotham reporter allows for all types of big city stories to manifest...and it would mean that he has to survive 52.

The title would simply be Gotham City


and



My ideal Batman book would be a blending of Legends of the Dark Knight and Confidential. An in-continuity Batman book that can jump around to any point in the timeline. There could be stories set in Year One, the Dick Grayson as Robin era, the Jason Todd era, the Tim Drake era, during KnightQuest or No Man's Land, etc. Heck, why stop there? Have a story set in the 1940's on Earth-2.

It would be, at least, 44 pages and with a different creative team each month. Stories would be self-contained (no sprawling arcs like in LOTDK), and there could even be a backup story centered around some element of Batman.



are both fantastic ideas. I wonder why DC don't do something like this? The main problem I have with Batman Confidential as a concept is that it just adds a lot more adventures to Batman's experience and I feel that this detracts form whatever stories he encounters in the 2 main books. With LOTDK it didn't matter as it as non-continuity but with Confidential it's all emant to have happened. I guess I like the idea of Batman having a defined in-continuity career with a specific timeline and a bunch of other stories which are almost 'what if?' hypothetical affairs, like LOTDK did. Super Buddies Forever's idea works fine in-continuity as it adds extra facets to existing tales, as long as the writers didn't start to needless retcon bits and pieces here and there.


There definitely needs to be some sort of general book focussing on the secondary characters as well though.

[Ruthless_Pryde]

Great topic!!

I would LOVE to do something with the character and plot focus of Gotham Central. Something that starts from the begining and moves forward from there. Spend some time exploring the implications of his decision to be Batman. I want to dig into when he learned how to fight crime in Gotham. I would have how the crime bosses of Gotham deal with having him out there. The cops would be really dirty as well as the mayor. I want to Batman to have an edge, but not be a jerk. I would have how he deals staying out of the public. I would a lot more politics involved.

Wayne Enterprises would have a divided board of directors, some that are happy to see Bruce back in Gotham running the family company, some that would see him as a threat to their power, some that just think that he is a good guy but will ruin the family business.

The politicians would all be up to something, everyone of them has an angle: some are politically ruthless, most are in the pocket of various mob bosses and being used like pawns to make cuts of the police budget, derail careers of honest cops, you know stuff like that. The politicians would always have an ulterior motive. Nothing they do would not in some way be a power grab or mob ordered. What politicians that don't get bought, get black mailed, have people show up at their kids schools, anything to make them play ball with the mob. The city council would all be on the take or under the control of the mob and they would be used by the mob to push things the mob would want. The mob would even fight each other through the politicians! Some would be for something that their mob owners wanted to see pushed through, contracts or something, and other mob bosses would use their politicians to try to stop it. It would be a chess game with the politicians as pawns.

The Cops would be on the take, evidence comes up missing, and witnesses come up missing, or "forget" what they saw. They look the other way when stuff happens. They are clearly in the pocket of the mob. The cops that aren't on the pay roll keep quiet to keep alive. Partners don't trust each other b/c they don't know which mob boss they work for. They would moonlight as enforcers for the various mob bosses in town. Most would be the scum of the earth with a badge, the others are fundamentally decent people that want to feed their family and need a little extra to get by( at least that is what they tell themselves)

The unions are run by the mob. Dock workers, teachers, restaurants, everything. Drugs, gambling, protection money,you name it, the mob runs it.

The DA's office is like the police, corrupt. They have judges on payrolls, prosecutors on payrolls and even public defenders on the pay rolls.

The local bankers help to launder dirty money for the mob. It's almost an open secret. Certain banks are almost for the exclusive use of a particular mob family almost as if they owned . They have legit up front operations, but the back office belongs to the mob.


Basically, a totally corrupt bureaucracy that is in it for themselves. EVERBODY is in SOMONE”S POCKET !!! The entire town would be run by the mob! In one way or another, the mob rules Gotham with an iron fist. Nothing happens on any street corner with out the mobs OK. They are everywhere from city hall to the local school to the 7-11. One of the 7 mob bosses is behind it. I would have 7, the two from TLH( Falcone and the other guy), the Japanese yakuza, the Russian mob, and a couple of the locals. They would meet in a yearly basis or if problems got to big between them. They never really work together so much as they wouldn’t overtly try to cause problems for each other. But they are always trying to quietly kill the other and take their territory or just cause problems.

This is the world my Batman would be face. My Batman would be young and green. Still learning how to fight crime in Gotham city, still perfecting the formula. Still getting the lay of the land, finding out what does and doesn’t work. I would also like to focus on the evolution of his crime fighting tactics and gear as well. Going from fighting street level punks to trying to take on the mob bosses themselves. I would even show the implications of his going after mob bosses, taking one out and creating a power vacuum that makes things almost as bad as they were before; three steps forward, two steps back. I would focus on him learning to run snitches, go undercover, use different identities, and I would even like to write a story about a guy that gets killed b/c they find out he is a snitch for The Bat-Man and it’s effect on Bruce.

I would go into his relationship with Gordon and it’s effects on Gordon both personally and professionally. I would delve into the effect of being Batman on Bruce and how he comes to grips with it. How he wants to peruse his mission and part of still wants to a normal life. I would go into how close he and Alfred are and how much of a father figure Alfred is to him. I would have little subplots that ran through the book but it would not be so convoluted that if you miss one issue you can’t read the rest of the series.

I would get into how he goes from low tech bat-a-rangs, flashlights and gas pellets to some of the more high-tech goodies like long range listening devices, gps tracking, night vision goggles etc. I want to show how the cave developed from just a hole in the ground to a high tech anti-crime fighting headquarters.

The Super Villains would be held back in reserve for special occasions, not 82 part crossovers, but used sparingly so when you see the Joker, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, and the rest, you KNOW it will be worth picking up. And every now and then look to some of the citizens of Gotham, just to see how they deal with it all.

Long story short, I would have fun with it.

[phantom1592]

I just meant the way in which her name was used. I was always under the impression she was called 'Catwoman' in a more superhero costumed-gimmick way, as if it's the name of her alter-ego, rather than being referred to by the media as "The Catwoman", or even "The Cat Woman" as a sort of title.


ONe of my favorite parts of the Spiderman movies is that Jameson and the media are the ones that name the villians. "Green Goblin, and Doctor Octupus were always such LAME names that I could never believe that someone would name themselves that.

Now the paper names them something flashy to sell papers and it just sticks :)

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Why is it that people on a posting board, some of whom have absolutely no experience in writing comics can come up with a lot of really, really great ideas for Batman.

But at D.C. you have a bunch of creators who have been writing comics for at least 5 years across the board and the best they can come up with is...a bat baby. One that was created because Batman had either unprotected sex (the nice version) or was raped.

And this baby is not from an elseworlds or a "what if" story that this was put into. It's in continuity. It's here until they realise it's a bad...not just bad...a terrible idea. An abominably bad mistake in both idea and story.

I've been reading Batman related comics for over 27 years now and I think...no, I don't think...I know that it's the absolute worst idea/concept/story/plot point I've ever read, read about, been told about, seen a review of of...ever.

[Paul Dee]

ONe of my favorite parts of the Spiderman movies is that Jameson and the media are the ones that name the villians. "Green Goblin, and Doctor Octupus were always such LAME names that I could never believe that someone would name themselves that.

Now the paper names them something flashy to sell papers and it just sticks :)


Yeah, that's my idea for all of the villians in my monthly titel idea - I probably subconsciously swiped it from the Spiderman movies to be honest. Although I seem to remember thinking of how the media often give serial killers odd nicknames too, so that would have been a factor I think

[astronato]

A Batman Family type book, set outside of any continuity but resembling Earth 2 history. Just not entirely beholden to it.

Batman is older. Dick Grayson does not become Nightwing. He retires as Robin and becomes the US Ambassador to South Africa. Barbara Gordon is not "ultraviolenced" by Alan Moore and retires as Batgirl to become elected to the House of Representatives. Helena Wayne is Bruce and Selina's daughter. Batman is a member of the Justice Society of America.

Though I would hate it if anyone else besides Bruce Wayne was Batman in the "regular" books, this book would be about an aging and sick (with cancer) Bruce Wayne getting his affairs and relationships in order, trying to convince Dick to replace him as the Batman. I wouldn't make the switch right away either. I would take a long time about it. Sorta like Earth 2 Batman Redux:The End. I think there could be lots of interesting story potential with Dick and Barbara involved in politics and Bruce with all his money and influence.

Ehh, just an idea. I only have maybe three Batman comics from that era of Batman books but I find the Earth 2 Batman ideas fascinating.