Batman Incorporates the Outsiders (again)

Check out some Batman and the Outsiders news at The (new) Comics Professor!

Peter Singer and Batman, revisited

Over at Ivy's Vine, Ivy Reisner has chimed in on Mahesh Ananth and Ben Dixon's chapter, "Should Bruce Wayne Have Become Batman?" in Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul. Ananth and Dixon argue that Peter Singer 's strict utilitarianism would condemn Wayne's decision, but Reisner disagrees, concluding:

If everyone, or even most people, did as Singer proposed, there would be ample resources to help the starving poor, even absent the Wayne fortune. Therefore Wayne if helping the otherwise unaided population of Gotham by becoming Batman and is therefore doing more good than would have been possible by simply donating the Wayne fortune.

Singer seeks to bring a world where charitable organizations are fully supported by routine small donations from the majority of the world’s affluent population (defining affluent as people with disposable income for even small luxuries, like DVDs and philosophy books). Batman seeks to bring a world where Gotham is no longer corrupt and crime can be kept under control by normal law enforcement efforts, such as the police and judicial system.

I would argue their intents are in alignment, and that Singer, rather than decrying Wayne’s becoming Batman, would laud him for his Herculean efforts “to prevent something very bad from happening”.

Very nice contributon on the part of Ms. Reisner.

Sherlock Holmes and Batman

Over at Psychablog, my friend Robin Rosenberg (editor of The Psychology of Superheroes), ruminates on the recent Sherlock Holmes film, at one point comparing director Guy Ritchie's version to Batman:

While watching the film, I kept thinking about Bruce Wayne—and an appropriate 1-sentence movie summary could be: "Bruce Wayne placed in Victorian England and played by Iron Man actor; Alfred the Butler morphs into Watson and Catwoman becomes Irene Adler."

For more on this point and others, check out her post, linked above.

Bruce Wayne is back!

We knew it was coming, but finally here's the official announcement of The Return of Bruce Wayne (courtesy of USA Today and DC's The Source). It's a fantastic interview, and it sounds like Grant is going to do right by the Batman legend.

Red Robin thoughts and spoilers - and Booster Gold?!

Red Robin #1 did something important - it finally revealed (somewhat) why Tim Drake/Wayne (a distinction that was actually emphasized in this issue) is no longer Robin. That part made some sense - given that Damian wasn't going anywhere (why exactly isn't clear), Dick felt he had to watch him at all times, and the only way he could do that was to make him Robin.

Tim's rationales for his behavior didn't wash as well, though, either for his adoption of the Red Robin persona, or his pursuit of Bruce. He said he chose the Red Robin identity so none of his actions would reflect on Dick or Bruce (but rather on Jason--as if anyone on New Earth remembers his short stint as RR on his wacky travels through the multiverse in That Weekly Series That Shall Not Be Named). Uh, Tim - if you wanted to distance your actions from your brother and father, why not pick a completely different name? "Oh, he's Red Robin - for a minute I thought he had something to do with Robin from 'Batman and Robin' - silly me." Please. Hell, become the new Ravager (piss Deathstroke off!).

Sadly, his reasoning for Bruce's being alive was even weaker (though more emotional): he has no one left, so he has to believe Bruce is still alive. OK, I get that, very tragic and sweet at the same time. (Psst, Tim - Bart's back! And so is Conner! Check your Twitter, dude.) I would rather he believed--as Morrison emphasized so well in "R.I.P."--that Bruce is ready for anything, and if anyone can cheat death/Omega Sanction/Oprah, it's Bruce.

One minor quibble about the art - please decide what body size Tim has, because he looks like a 25-year-old in costume and a 15-year-old out of it. Otherwise, the art was very good, stylistic enough to give the book a unique look.

BONUS: Booster Gold #21 gets points for being the first appearance of Dick/Batman is a non-Bat-title, and very well done too - the costume was accurate to Quitely's redesign, and Jurgens even drew Dick's face and body movements so as to leave no doubt who was beneath the cowl. I wish more had been shown of Dick's reaction to finding out that Booster had gotten his ass kicked over and over trying to save Barbara from getting shot--I think that was underplayed, but maybe Dick's trying to adopt Brucian stoicism already (especially after trying to play tough with Booster initially). (And there was even a nice mention of Blue Beetle, to link the main feature with the back-up - which was great, BTW.)

Winick's new Batman - now this is more like it!

I just finished Batman #687, Judd Winick's first issue with Dick Grayson as Batman, and it was absolutely magnificent (includng Ed Benes' pencils, which captured the mood of the characters perfectly). I'll probably have more to say later, maybe after I read this week's Red Robin #1 and later Dini's Batman: Streets of Gotham, and if Winick is planning on continuing to explore Dick's inner conflict throughout his run as he did so well in this issue, then I don't mind Morrison's book so much--that will provide the straightforward Batman and Robin adventures (with the Morrison twist, of course), and Winick will give us the emotional story underneath (which I'm more interested in).

One more thing: if you don't feel a tear starting at Alfred's response to Superman's asking him "are you alright?", then you ain't human. Damn.

Dini's Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 looks great!

Now this looks good: just like before Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl, it looks like Paul Dini will be a nice counterpoint to Morrison when it comes to writing the new Batman and Robin. Rather than creating a entirely new Bat-verse in which they can operate, Dini is putting them in the Gotham we know and love, and seeing how Gordon and the rest react to them. This I can get excited about.

Now let's see what Winick brings to the table...

Thoughts on Batman and Robin #1

OK, the adulation for Morrison & Quitely's Batman and Robin #1 is getting a little much (this is just one example), so I'll put two cents in... It was OK. I was a little disappointed the first time I read it, and my impression improved on the second reading a couple days later. But I still thought it was just OK.

Here's one issue I had: What was the point all of the "Dick, you're turning into him" that we saw in the run-up to "R.I.P." and Battle for the Cowl? Apparently, the way Grant's planning to write him (based on numerous interviews), Dick is going to be a kinder, gentler Batman (like we were supposed to get from Bruce after Final Crisis and the 52-week cruise) as opposed to the grim and gritty new Robin. But what happened to the darker, more determined Dick we saw up until through Battle for the Cowl? Maybe facing an over-the-edge Jason Todd for the umpteenth time at the end of that series showed him the error of that way--let's hope Judd Winick fleshes some of that out. (I may be the only person who's looking forward more to his stories about Dick/Batman than Grant's--Judd always had Dick's voice, whether in Batman or Outsiders. Now, about his plotting...)

Don't get me wrong--I didn't like when Dick was turning into Bruce, although it made sense given the context. Dick is decidedly not Bruce, a persistent theme through Nightwing's tales over the last 10 years. But it was appropriate that, as his fate as the next Batman became more solidified, he became more like Bruce. That would have made for an interesting story--and who knows, maybe that's the story Judd Winick is planning to tell. Perhaps he'll show the darker side of the new Batman, perhaps a side he purposefully hides from Damian--I guess we'll see soon.

No matter if Dick becomes more like Bruce, or keeps his traditional lighter personality, I hope the next year of stories shows him (and the readers) that he will never be Batman, no matter how hard he tries. He won't be willing to go to the same extremes, and therefore he won't inspire the same fear and awe. And he shouldn't expect to be Batman--he is doing this out of duty, after all, not because he wanted to--because only Bruce is Batman. It's not about the cape, the cowl, or the name--it's the man underneath it all. (I thought this was the point Grant was making in "R.I.P.," and I could have sworn he reiterated this in a recent interview with respect to the current run, but I can't be certain.) Anybody with willpower can be a Green Lantern; anyone who can tap into the speed force can be a Flash. But wearing pointy ears doth not a Batman make--that takes living the life and making the choices that only Bruce Wayne has. There's only one Bruce Wayne--the Multiverse aside--and therefore only one Batman.

I think this is depicted beautifully when artists show Bruce Wayne casting a shadow in the shape of Batman--he is Batman, whether in or out of costume. It's part of who Bruce Wayne is, as demonstrated by the number of stories in which he struggled with "who is the real me--Bruce or Batman?" We don't have to choose--they are the same person. (Frankly, in general I think this applies to Steve Rogers/Captain America too--sorry, Bucky--but that will have to wait for another day.)

Let me sum up by saying that I'm looking forward to this year without Bruce (though I wouldn't have chosen it). I hope good stories will be told, but I also hope that the end result is Dick realizing who he is--and is not--and Bruce coming back in a way that reaffirms who the only real Batman is.

Bale IS the "goddamn Batman"

It appears Christian Bale may be preparing to play Frank Miller's "goddamn Batman" from All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder for the sequel to The Dark Knight - he's certainly got the dialogue down (with asterisks playing the role of the infamous not-so-black bars):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28984085/

Preview of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader"

There's a four-page preview (plus two covers) of next week's Batman #686, part 1 of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert at MySpace Comic Books - this looks fantastic!

Batman and Final Crisis #6 (SPOILERS)

There are spoilers right from the get-go, so be warned...

This was just weird, for so many reasons, such as:

1. Batman using a gun (and with an extremely weak rationale) - didn't we just go through this at the end of Infinite Crisis with Alex Luthor?
2. He shot Darkseid in the shoulder? Oh yeah, he's dead all right - no doubt about it. (Geez Louise...)
3. Darkseid calls the Omega Sanction "the death that is life" - so by "killing" Batman, he's giving him life? (Maybe he'll be reborn in Damian's body like Ra's wanted to do.)
4. This is how Batman's going to die? Really? I don't buy it... Jonathan Kent went in a much nobler fashion.
5. Remember, Grant has been telling us for - well, forever now - that Batman is the most prepared mother------ on the planet. Don't count him out.

Several guesses/predictions:

• Maybe Darkseid absorbed Batman's life essence through the omega beams to save his own life, and Batman will be restored in Final Crisis #7.
• Miracle Machine - hel-lo?
• Superman (or the Flashes - Flashi?) will go back in time (maybe with the help of Brainiac 5) to alter time so none of this happens. (And maybe take that awful Raven mini-series with it - and Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom while you're at it.)
• If we're loading up the cosmic U-Haul and moving to an alternate Earth, it may be one with its own Batman. (And, with any luck, no Raven or Superman/Supergirl mini-series.)

That's what I've got - any thoughts?

UPDATE: Wizard has a fantastic interview with Grant Morrison here. (Ignore the "Final Crisis #7 available now" at the bottom of the page.)

Batman #683 (SPOILER ALERT)

Well, didn't those pieces fall nicely into place? Wow...

SPOILERS AHEAD...

I loved how Bruce just reaappears in the Batcave, lamenting to Alfred over the loss of his dad's bat-costume that Hurt was wearing, and never even explaining how he survived the helicopter explosion - of course, Alfred's the last person who should be surprised by that.

It was so nonchalant - I can just imagine Grant saying "of course he didn't die in the helicopter explosion - who seriously thought he did? I just spent all of #681 emphasizing that he's prepared for anything, and you expect a little boom-boom to take him out? Please..."

So I gather that, since he appears in Final Crisis after the explosion (as shown in this issue), everyone knows he didn't die then, and his real disappearance will take place in Final Crisis #6 (next month). Let's see...

Comprehensive Batman history at CBR

Comic Book Resources just wrapped a three-part history of Batman (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) - well worth looking at. It discusses the various pop culture incarnations of Batman, as well as the changing tone of the comics over the years.

Batman #682 (SPOILER ALERT)

Wow, it's Batman weekly, at least for two weeks. (Wouldn't it have been great if "R.I.P." had appeared weekly?)

This frankly blew my mind (again). It definitely raises a lot of new questions about what's been going on with Bruce Wayne - in both Batman and Final Crisis - as well as what will happen with him in the near future. But the most fascinating part of it was the historical survey of Batman - we saw his early persona (with the wider ears), his early days with Robin, his cartoonish days (incorporating elements from the Adam West TV series), Alfred's temporary death, up to his move out of Wayne Manor and into Gotham City proper. It covers his original experience with Doctor Hurt, as well as the always-shifting persona of the Joker.

Best of all (or worst of all, depending on how you look at it), it introduces an old flame into current continuity - I won't spoil that. You must read this.

Thoughts on Batman #681 (R.I.P. conclusion) - SPOILERS!!!

Just read Batman #681, the much-anticipated conclusion to Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." storyline (and his entire run on Batman to this point). And I thought it was very good - it confirmed some suspicions, tied up a few loose ends, but at the same time left enough dangling threads to be picked up later, and definitely gives readers some things to think about (which is high praise for any comic).

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

Probably my greatest relief is that Batman does not "die" from getting beaten down by the Black Glove. He escapes from live burial (with some particularly inspiring, and seriously bad-ass, internal dialogue), and, with the help of Nightwing, Robin, and the Club of Heroes, fairly easily defeats the Black Glove (including Jezebel Jet - big surprise there). (Oh, and Damian may have killed the Joker with the Batmobile - almost forgot.) Batman's apparent death occurs while pursuing Hurt, after Hurt messes with Bruce's mind a bit, claiming to be Thomas Wayne (which I don't buy for a minute - it is a brilliant ruse, though villains have tried to soil his memory of the senior Waynes before). Add to that some additional insight into his experience at Nanda Parbat, and this issue was an extremely enjoyable and intriguing read.

(Great art too - Daniels seemed to be channeling Neal Adams at points - though some of the surprises could have been better placed, such as Nightwing's escape from lobotomy, placed in the last panel of a page instead of a splash panel on the next. (Now let's see how he writes "Battle for the Cowl"...)

So... is he dead? Come on - no body, no death, simple as that. They almost made it too easy to bring him back, since we have to believe Batman can escape something as simple as an exploding helicopter. (Bringing back Steve Rogers, now that'll be more of a challenge, and it better not involve Mephisto or a cosmic cube.) The point with Batman is not when they'll bring him back, but how, and the stories they'll tell in the meantime.

Let's just hope they're good ones.

Podcast on Batman and Philosophy

The folks at Psychjourney Podcast were nice enough to invite me to talk about Batman and philosophy - you can find my interview in particular here.

While you're there, check out some of the other podcasts - they've interviewed some fascinating people (plus me).

Two-Face drives the trolley... (Spoilers for Joker's Asylum)

SPOILER ALERT!!!

This week's Joker's Asylum: Two-Face (#1 is just redundant) had Two-Face setting up a trolley situation for his would-be counselor (the therapeutic kind, not the legal kind), with several interesting twists. Very nicely done, I thought.

Aside from the philosophical touch, I was impressed by the whole Joker's Asylum mini-series - of course, abysmally low expectations didn't hurt. After the lackluster first issue featuring the Clown Prince himself, the rest were quite good.

Boston Globe: "Should Batman kill the Joker?"

Just wanted to point out an op-ed in the Boston Globe by me and Rob - let me know what you think!

News and reviews (Detective #845, Trinity #1 - SPOILERS)

It seems all I've done with this blog lately is post news about my edited books - nothing wrong about that - but that's really not how I wanted it to end up. I barely have time to read my comics nowadays, much less write about them, but I'm going to try...

(By the way, Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul comes out soon - make sure to check it out, and let me know what you think!)

I did want to mention two releases this week (SPOILER ALERT):

Detective Comics #845 - Another great entry from Paul Dini, but this one was special for several reasons. First and foremost, there was some much-needed catching up between Bruce and Selina (both in costume), with Selina commenting on the other women in Bruce's life, namely Jezebel Jet (from Batman) and Zatanna (from Detective). (Frankly, I was really pulling for Bruce to spend more time with Zee - he needs to date outside his inner circle or Gotham socialites.) Second, it showed Batman relying on an amateur detective chat room to generate ideas about a murder case - a nice way to tap into the collective knowledge of his community - open source crime-solving, if you will. (And it was even cooler to have some familiar faces among the other chatters.) Third, Dustin Nguyen fits this title more each month, and his varying styles to show flashbacks is fantastic. I wasn't crazy about his Superman/Batman arc, and was skeptical about his Detective run - but I have been proven wrong, and happily so.

Trinity #1 - Now this is how a weekly should be done! (I don't see why this even has to be limited to 52 issues - 52 and Countdown both had reasons to be a year long, but unless there's something we don't know, Trinity has the potential to be ongoing.) In contrast to the Big Three's conference in an other-dimensional cubbyhole in the JLA HQ in the last issue of Justice Leage of America, here they simply meet for coffee on a pier, and the way they order drinks from the waitress tells us as much about their personalities as anything has to this point. Kurt Busiek nails their voices perfectly (and Wally West, to boot), and the issue sets up the nature of the threat very well. Mark Bagley's fairly new to me, not having read Ultimate Spider-Man, but he does a great job - if he can keep this up for the next 51 weeks, I'll be more than happy.

But that's only half the issue - the second half, written by Fabian Nicieza with Busiek, didn't thrill me as much, consisting of the introduction of several baddies (one new, one generic) with way too much exposition. Scott Daniel's pencils looked fine, but he needed more to do (check out his old issues of Nightwing, recent Green Arrow, or the short-lived Richard Dragon series, to see what he can do). The "back-up," for lack of a better term ("parallel storyline"?) didn't get off to as rousing a start as the main story, but I'm sure it will pick up with time.

Call for papers: Batman and Philosophy (edited book)

Since this has come up in the comments, I'll just mention this here:

Call for Abstracts

Please circulate and post widely.

Apologies for Cross-posting.

Batman and Philosophy

Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp

The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series
William Irwin, Series Editor (wtirwin@kings.edu)

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact William Irwin (wtirwin@kings.edu).

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The dynamic duo and dualism
• The aesthetics of the Batman universe
• The flip of a coin: Two-Face and determinism
• Batman and the ethics of collateral damage
• Batman and the ethics of vigilantism
• Batman or Bruce Wayne: which is his 'true' identity?
• “What’s it like to be a Batman?”: subjectivity and the mind/body problem
• Appearance, reality, and the importance of masquerade
• Gotham City, political corruption, and the need for heroes
• Bruce Wayne and Batman, the morning star and the evening star: sense, reference, and the problem of naming
• Batman and the ethics of child care
• Batman and the recurring Messiah complex
• Knowing Bruce Wayne and knowing Batman: propositional attitudes and substance dualism
• Batman and the use/abuse of technology
• Bats, confronting fears, and moral courage as a motivator for action
• Heroes and obligatory vs. supererogatory acts
• Batman’s deontological respect for Robin vs. a villain’s objectification of his/her henchmen
• The death of god and the birth of god-like heroes in Western societies
• Batman and paranoia: what kind of hero builds a satellite to spy on his friends?
• Batman and Superman: Different means to the same end, or different ends altogether?
• Batman and identification: can there truly be another Batman
• Batman and dealing with the recurrence of death (parents, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown)
• Playing well with others: Batman and other heroes/teams
  
  Contributor guidelines:
  1. Abstract of paper (100-500 words).
  2. CV or resume for each author and co-author.
  3. Submission deadline for abstracts: April 27, 2007
  4. Submission deadline for first drafts of accepted papers (tentative): August 31, 2007
  5. Abstracts should be submitted by e-mail, with or without Word attachment.

Send by e-mail to: Mark D. White (profmdwhite@hotmail.com)