Mark Waid's comments in The Flash Companion on the death of Bart Allen, as reprinted in this week's Lying in the Gutters, make me feel better, much as perhaps they shouldn't.
We get near final confirmation, really, that it wasn't DC's plan all along to kill Bart Allen -- more valuable, however, I think is Waid's confident assertion that Bart Allen will be back someday, somehow. Not, perhaps, that the rumor mill wasn't already swirling to that effect, but Waid's statement just gives me hope.
Also interesting in Lying in the Gutters was the next piece, noting that Mark Bagley's going to be drawing a new Batman & Robin series that will replace the current Robin title.
I've been a fan of Tim Drake's from way back, and if they must give Tim second billing in his own title, here's hoping they keep the numbering (though probably not). But the series has floundered more often than not since Chuck Dixon left, so I'm optimistic about the relaunch, especially with Bagley's experience drawing teen heroes. Now what if they could get Brian Michael Bendis to write an arc ...
I am really having a hard time predicting what will happen after Batman R.I.P. Some rumors were that Tim would take over the Batman role... then I heard that Dick would be the next Batman... Now "Robin" will be retitled "Batman & Robin" so is it the same Robin, or does Robin become Batman... It's all so confusing.
ReplyDeleteAnd to make things even more clear at the end of last weeks issue of Robin we see him digging out the "Red Robin" costume to wear and display on the solicit for the next issue.
My brain hurts now... but I am excited.
I've been hoping that "Batman dying" or leaving the cowl in Batman R.I.P. has been just a tease, and the story really centers on something else entirely. I mean, Batman leaving and the Bat-family grabbing for the cowl? It hasn't actually happened before, but it's so close to Knightsend, Prodigal, No Man's Land ... we all know Bruce Wayne will be Batman again. You know it, I know it, the movie box office knows it ... so I have difficulty getting excited about the possibility of Batman "dying."
ReplyDeleteRegarding The Flash, it is nice of Waid to confirm what everyone already knew. Still, it does make one wonder why they decided that Wally needed to go in the first place. To me, as a long-time Flash fan, the keys to success were Johns & Kolins. Removing the character they successfully built up was a bad business move that anyone could see...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely -- I would have read Johns on Flash forever, though I liked his run with Kolins far better than the issues without. I have big, big hopes for Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that a number of good comics under Johns (Flash, Hawkman) fell by the wayside once he left. It makes me concerned for Green Lantern, especially, once he moves on. At times I'd rather DC end a series, as they did with Greg Rucka and Gotham Central, than let it run into the ground.
I totally agree about the Johns/Kolins run. Hands down my favorite.
ReplyDeleteAnd when books don't work, I have to blame the editors. They are not doing the job when a book veers so far from what made it successful that it becomes a damaged property. Johns brought Hawkman out of the mire of continuity and made it work again. Now, look it (and Flash). One would think that editors would have enough vision to keep things on course after a creator leaves. Rant over. :D