As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have a strong dislike for multi-titled crossovers because, as a fan with a family, my budget just doesn’t allow for all the extra books that these stories ask you to follow. Take Detective #839 for example. In this issue, we have the final part (part 7) of the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul storyline that has been traipsing it’s way through Robin, Nightwing, Batman, and Detective comics for the past 2 months and I have to be straight with you…..I’ve only read the Detective and Batman parts because these are part of my normal monthly readings. So instead of doing you, my loyal readers, a disservice and either bashing or praising this run, I’d rather take a second and look at an element of this book that has me doubting the direction it’s going.
The element I want to look at is the sense of family that has been thrust to the forefront. If you’ve been following Batman, you know that he now has three sons. He’s adopted both his former ward, Nightwing (Dick Grayson), and his current one, Robin (Tim Drake) and has been recently introduced to his biological son, Damian. Now as much as having these three within Batman’s life does enrich and humanize him, I can’t say that I’m really behind these things. Personally, I think that having so many ties is taking away from what the Batman is supposed to be…..a brooding weapon of vengeance against the criminal element…..and, in whole, is weakening the book.
What I see in the future for this character (Batman), what HAS to happen at some point, is something very similar to what Marvel is doing with Spider-man. A, sort-of, devolving of the character…..a series of cataclysmic catastrophes in the life of Bruce Wayne/Batman that strips away all this “warm and fuzzy” family stuff leaving him with only his mission. Personally, I’d kill off Dick (Nightwing) due to some mistake of Batman’s and the have Tim (Robin) take over the Nightwing persona while forsaking Batman, blaming him for Dick’s Death….but that’s me.
So, in finishing this ‘rant’ off, I want to ask the question to you who are reading this….Are you happy with the direction of Batman and if not, what would you do to change it? Take a second and think on it, and while you’re at it, have a happy 2008!
