I Need Help Catching Up.

[His Dudeness]

SPOILERS!




Okay, so I picked up the new Batman and Robin issue 1 today, and that's about the only Batman I've read in a couple years. I've heard talk floating around that Bruce Wayne is dead, and then there's all that stuff going on in Battle for the Cowl. I see that Dick Grayson has taken over Batman. Can you guys fill me in on the events that led up to this, and what comics I might wanna pick up to catch up?

[Jorriss]

Batman got blown up by Darkseid, and in this case blown up is a synonym for probably sent back in time as a caveman. Everyone but a couple people, like Tim, think he's dead, but the world still needs a Batman and all that stuff we're told so Dick Grayson becomes Batman and Damian, despite acting like a dick, is Robin. Tim Drake although not officially announced yet, is probably Red Robin who is searching the globe for Bruce.

[nepenthes]

Batman & Son tpb
Black Glove tpb
Batman RIP tpb
this is Grant Morrisons run up until B&R. Damian Wayne is introduced in the first collection and features throughout. It's all one big story about Batman versus the ultimate evil mastermind that culminates in RIP with his figurative death.

He "dies" again in Final Crisis 6, which happens suddenly in all of about three pages, as he gets zapped by Darkseid after shooting him with a god killing bullet. At the end of the issue Superman walks out of the wreckage holding a charred corpse in a batsuit. Everyone in Gotham including his enemies and allies assume he is literally deceased. However at the end of Final Crisis 7 we get one page that shows a bearded guy in batsuit pants drawing a bat symbol onto a cave wall, sitting beside the sleeping body of Kamandi the first man. We have to assume that this guy is Bruce and has been sent back in time/ or into an alternate dimension or life. One of the known effects of the Omega Sanction is that it traps the victim into a worsening spiral of parallel lives.

Battle of the Cowl was three issues that attempted to bridge the events between Batmans disappearance and issue 1 of Batman & Robin. SPOILER It's essentially about Jason Todd who inexplicably becomes a crazed one-dimensional Batman who goes around killing criminals with guns. Dick and Tim try to stop him with Tim donning his own Batman costume in the proccess. Eventually Tim is injured and Nightwing throws Jason of a bridge. The mini ends with Grayson putting on the mask, we don't actually see him do or say anything as Batman though.

IMO all you need to read is Morrisons run, all three trades. The first and last are probably the most relevant to B&R but you should definitely read the second (The Black Glove) if you really want to get what RIP is all about. It's all good stuff.

[another_version]

Grant has stated that B&R is the, correct me if I'm wrong, the 3rd/4th act of a long Batman story, I'm not sure which though. I would pick up his run from the beginning because he will use it later. I can't spoil anything because its always better to read it in your hands.:wink:

[Name Already Taken]

Short explantion:

Bruce Wayne was part of a nefarious pysche scheme to be taken down by a bunch of random people that were established during various arcs in Batman, written by Grant Morrison. Bruce plays the part of the ultimate human during the RIP arc and beats his antagonists in an ambiguous fashion. He returns to the Batcave and talks with Alfred, and then pursues a murder mystery for Orion on behalf of the Justice League's distress call. He gets captured and subdued by Darksied's goons ands spends some time battling an unwanted mental presence by said goons in a factory trying to replicate Batmen for Darkseid's army who wish to clone his fighting spirit. Bruce outsmarts his captors and breaks himself free during FC. He then shoots Darkseid with a 'godbullet' and mortally wounds him in his lair towards the end. While trying to kill darkseid, Bruce gets shot with magic eyebeams that send his soul and mind through a series of alternately worse lives in different dimensions or reincarnations.

Somehow Bruce winds up in a cave on a different world while the first "man" dies with wierd etchings on a wall in that cave.

I don't know what it all means personally in the long run, but Batman's absence is felt during Battle of the Cowl, but Grayson kicks Jsaon Todd's ass in a fight and tries to teach Damian how to be good in B&R, which you may have read. Tim Drake will continue to search for Bruce in Red Robin in the near future, while Gotham struggles to right itself amidst a crime war for the next year in real time in various spinout titles.

Yikes.

Just stick with Batman and Robin for now, and pick up Dini's titles for a groundview. Maybe pick up Red Robin to see how he gets found in the present.

[Captain Jim]

we get one page that shows a bearded guy in batsuit pants drawing a bat symbol onto a cave wall, sitting beside the sleeping body of Kamandi the first man.

Actually, it's Anthro. Kamandi was the LAST boy; Anthro was the FIRST boy.

[Captain Jim]

SPOILERS!
Okay, so I picked up the new Batman and Robin issue 1 today, and that's about the only Batman I've read in a couple years. I've heard talk floating around that Bruce Wayne is dead, and then there's all that stuff going on in Battle for the Cowl. I see that Dick Grayson has taken over Batman. Can you guys fill me in on the events that led up to this, and what comics I might wanna pick up to catch up?

It doesn't appear that one needs to know a lot about Bruce's presumed "death" to read the curent Batman titles appearing in this month's relaunch. If you want to know the backstory to Dick Grayson becoming Batman (as well as a lot of other material that's going to be followed up in other bat-titles), then I would recommend that you read Battle for the Cowl #1-3. Few people think it was an outstanding story, but the majority seem to feel that it was a good story. However, the people who disliked it are very vocal about their dislike. I'd recommend that you pick it up and decide for yourself. In any case, you will then have the needed backstory.

[zur en arrh]

Get these trades:
-Batman and Son
-The Black Glove
-Batman R.I.P (which includes the AWESOME Joker/Batman conversation from DC Universe #0.)
-Final Crisis

Then read Battle for the Cowl #1-3, then Batman & Robin #1. You will then be 100% caught up with the current state of Batman.

[gocryemokid]

Morrison also said multiple times we'd see villians from Batman #666 - a possible future where damian becomes batman after bruce is dead, you may want to check that out. Not necessary but if you got a few bucks to spare its a good issue and somewhat relevant to what GM is doing now.

Other than that I'd definitely read BFTC 1-3 which is Gotham without a Batman demonstrating why Gotham desparately needs a Batman (you get a taste of this in the first page of B and R when the Toad character (idk his name) says something like o we have nothing to worry about, Batman is gone.

Batman and Son and RIP I read but not the black glove. If you're gunna read any you should probably read all three I only skipped TBG cause I couldn't find it lol. PS I really liked Batman and Son especially the second issue, lol.

And I don't see a need for reading FC because I didn't and I know what's going on and to not know what happened to Batman(bruce) you either have no interest in comics or live under a rock.