Batman & Robin For The Next Few Months + Who I’d Team Up With Batman

So apparently for the next few months, Peter Tomasi‘s Batman and Robin book is going be undergoing a bit of a new direction. First up, as I reported before, Batman and Robin #18 will be a silent comic. No text balloons, no sound effects, nothing. Just Bruce silently contemplating what he’s lost. Afterwards, for the next few months, Batman’s gonna be teaming with various members of the Bat Family, one per issue. It’ll start with #19 being Batman and Red Robin (YAY!), then Batman and Red Hood, Batman and Batgirl, Batman and Catwoman, and then Batman and Nightwing…which is odd, since I’d last heard he was headed for Chicago, but oh well.

Now, I like this idea, but I do wish others were getting in on this. Now granted, probably the reason they aren’t is because that would stretch this a bit longer than they’re planning to, but it still would be neat to see, so let’s take a look at some of the other characters I’d have team up with Batman for this angle. Also, I apologise as a few of these pics actually have Dick Grayson as Batman and not Bruce Wayne.

Batman and Squire

Because gosh darnit, I’m horrified that DC otherwise plans to just shove her aside now that her partner Knight passed away. And it’s easy enough to make it work, like he goes to the UK to help her with a case, or she spends a few days at the mansion because she needs the confidence booster before going it alone. And they would have common ground, since they both just lost their partners.

Batman and Batwoman

Other than a couple of cameos that Batman has made in Batwoman and the one time she cameo’d in Batman: The Dark Knight, these two really haven’t had much interaction as of late. I’m not really sure why that is, either. She’s like the only member of the Bat Family who doesn’t work underneath him (shut up, don’t make that joke) in any sort of sense, and yet she’s the only one who doesn’t team with him. What’s that all about?

Batman and Stephanie Brown (I don’t care what her alias is)

Ugh, I get it, okay? The chances of ever seeing Stephanie Brown again are paper-thin. I’m just saying, it’d make for a good team-up. Leave me and the characters I love alone, Dan Didio. I hate you.

Batman and Cyborg

This one’s a little different, but basically it’s born out of one thing: Cyborg is the only member of the Justice League who does not have his own book. Therefore, the only time he appears outside it is when he cameos in other people’s books, and even then, he doesn’t do that very often. Give Vic some love, writers.

Batman and Huntress

Suddenly noticing a lot of these are women. lol Anyway, I know I said that Helena Wayne was among the possible candidates to be the next Robin, but considering she’s like 23…yeah, kinda old for that. But I would like to see a story involving the two. Maybe not even being a full team-up, just Huntress working from the shadows to help her sort-of father, only for it to turn out in the end that he knows everything and that she was there and so on.

So yeah, that’s my two cents on the matter. I still suspect this to be cool, though. Ja né!

What I Bought Today – Detective Comics #18, Earth 2 #10 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Well, one week has passed since Damian‘s passing, and I’m still feeling kinda down about it, but it’s Wednesday and that means it’s time to look at…

So let’s kick off by getting back to Batman with Detective Comics #18.

Poor Bruce. First his parents, then Jason, now this…:(

Okay, first off, while I appreciate the Requiem bits that are gonna be in every Bat Family book this month, it’s very clear that it was kinda tacked on with Detective Comics, and honestly it just invites WAY more questions than DC is willing to answer regarding timelines in the books. By the way, if you’ve been following along, they don’t ever try to attempt to explain how these events fall into a timeline. I think the closest we’ve ever come to that was Snyder leaving mention in Batman #13 that it had been a year since Joker had disappeared at the end of Detective Comics #1.

Okay, mini-rant over. As for the story itself, awesome. Penguin manages to get himself set free after getting roped up in Joker’s plans in Death of the Family, and then finds out that Ogilvy screwed him over. Meanwhile, after spending a moment to mourn the loss of his son, Batman returns to the Batcave to learn that apparently Joker let one of the inmates loose: Zsasz. Frakking ZSASZ! Also, he has run into Ogilvy, who has given him a Court of Owls blade and set him on Penguin’s allies. The good news is, when Batman catches Penguin causing a fracas after going to the zoo for weapons he’d stashed there, Penguin tells him his lawyers will get him out of this, only for Batman to reply that Zsasz murdered them. However, it seems that Emperor Penguin has decided Batman has served his purpose and now seeks to get rid of him. Oh, I know, big scary mob boss wants to kill Batman, how terrifying. Well, it seems he’s got a trick up his sleeve. Remember that woman who was part of Casey’s group in Talon? The one who left the League of Assassins? Well, in exchange for protection from Talia al Ghul, she gives Ogilvy the FRAKKING MAN-BAT SERUM! OH GOODY! That’s gonna go over so great, especially if Batman ever finds out the connections with her and Casey’s group. And he’s already keeping an eye out on Calvin’s operations.

Before I talk about this month’s issue of Earth 2, I thought I’d bring up some info I heard. Apparently the current plan is to plant seeds for an eventual crossover between the events of Earth 2 and the JSA and the mainstream universe of DC. When is this gonna take place? 2014. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be late 2014. WOW. I don’t know if that’s brilliant or stupid. I guess it’ll just depend on how this is set up. Although this makes World’s Finest all the more pointless a book since we now know that they aren’t getting home any time soon. Also, it furthers my point that there needs to be more than one book telling this story, like one focusing on the JSA and another focusing on the stuff involving Sloan and Steppenwolf.

So yeah, Earth 2 #10 is…well, it’s weird, but it’s fun weird. We get a little bit of background involving Khalid, who is Dr. Fate before he becomes Dr. Fate, and Kendra, where we see her get her wings and Khalid obtain the Helmet of Fate. Cut back to the present where Jay Garrick, his mom, and Khalid are held in the Realm of Nabu by Karel Wotan who talks WAYYYYYYY too much to be perfectly honest. The gist of what’s going on is that Wotan is making Flash and Khalid go find the Helmet, which Khalid sent away due to the effects it was having on his sanity, or Wotan will kill Jay’s mom. So where did Khalid hide the Helmet? The frakking Tower of Babel! Oh, and at the very end is this freaking monster that’s apparently guarding the Helmet. Khalid, you were one of those kids who tried way too hard and got way too creative playing hide and seek, weren’t you?

The other thing going on in this book is that Green Lantern is in Wuxi to see Sam’s father, who, while he disapproved of Sam’s relationship with Alan, at least saw how happy he was with Alan. Alan feels guilt over what happened to Sam, feeling that Sam only died because someone detonated the train Alan was on, but it seems that Sam’s father did some digging. The target was never Alan, it was Sam all along. This sets GL after some gang (I’m assuming the Chinese Triad, I don’t know), who, I guess, were the ones who set the bomb, but none of them know why the hit was placed on Sam. As such, Alan goes to Louisiana to meet with Hawkgirl, who is cleaning out a Parademon cell she’d been looking for, and tells her that he may have been wrong before and that he needs her help.

So yeah, this was a fun week comics wise. Next week…oh boy, next week we get into some awkward territory as we look at Batman #18, Batgirl #18, and Batman and Robin #18. Ja né!

…Does anybody else hear Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave when they see this? Is it just because it’s the saddest theme I can think of? 😥