Franchising and serialization destroy the narrative structure by indefinite prolongation. A story works much better with a beginning, middle, and most importantly, a defined end.
The Grant Morrison Batman run was the perfect ending for Bruce Wayne. It seems Morrison’s intentions were to “Flash-ify” Batman, in the sense that Flash has successors and multiple people have taken on that identity, as opposed to Batman who is only Bruce Wayne.
Unlike immortals like Superman or Wonder Woman, human heroes like Flash or Green Lantern age and have to retire. Bruce Wayne has always been a weird exception to this rule. This run was meant to change that forever. Read Batman #666 and #700 and it becomes really clear that that was the intention.
What was that last big Batman story before Final Crisis named? Batman R.I.P. You know what R.I.P. means? It means you’re dead. Not comic book dead, but dead in real life. Bruce Wayne as a character wasn’t dead in story, but he was going to stop being Batman. Dick Grayson would take his place, Bruce would run Batman Incorporated, and so would start a system where Batman retires and his Robin takes his place.
In the story, all loose ends across Bruce’s career would be tied up. The club of heroes, Kathy Kane, Bat-Mite, the Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh, etc. would be given closure and explanations. With that, readers would be able to read Bruce Wayne’s entire story as an epic that runs from the Case of the Chemical Syndicate all the way to Batman Incorporated. The story of Dick and Damien would then begin, with Bruce being their Jay Garrick
Of course, DC then gave us Scott Snyder’s run, where Bruce remains Batman forever and nobody can take his place
Franchising and serialization destroy the narrative structure by indefinite prolongation...
>Bruce remains Batman forever and nobody can take his place
Yeah and that’s just how I want it.
Well that’s retarded, and because of retards like you Batman will never be given a proper story arc. The same “Batman fight joker” stories will be recycled over and over and make less and less money until finally the character is forgotten forever
the character won't be forgotten forever unless an EMP destroys all electrical archives and all the paper copies of his books are burned up. there are older cultural heroes that persist. Shakespearian characters are older, Beowulf is older, the dozens of creation myths are older
i have this issue more with spider-man than anyone else desu. it's exhausting that he has to be a broke, friendless loser for his entire life and have a rotating cast of people tired of his bullshit come in and out of his life
Well, that's been the case for 80 fucking years and Batman is still around and in the public conscience. And guess what, Batman will still be around long after you've passed away.
>and because of retards like you Batman will never be given a proper story arc
Except for all the story arcs that have been done throughout the decades, but sure.
>Bruce remains Batman forever and nobody can take his place
Bruce Wayne is Batman, Batman is Bruce Wayne. Thank God it’ll always be that way.
Nice blog bro
What blog? I didn’t link to any blog
I just want them to retire Batman because he had to leave the worst thing that’s ever happened to DC but of course they have to keep publishing him to keep the lights on, given they can’t get any other character to work on either the big screen or the page
“Blog” means talking about their personal life and shit like that for no reason. A long post about comics and cartoons is still a post about comics and cartoons
>Bruce Wayne is Batman, Batman is Bruce Wayne
And Terry McGinnis in the cartoons
Abd Dick Grayson for about two years
Just read self contained stories or indie titles that have a definitive end. Big 2 cape comics are never intended to end.
Is it Morrison who was stupid enough to think that he would actually be allowed to make a permanent change to Batman, or Morrison fanatics who are stupid enough to think that Morrison actually believed he would be allowed to make a permanent change to Batman?
I’m not a Morrison fanatic, it’s just his run was the cutoff
That's the kicker. No matter how much OP might claim that "a story works much better with a beginning, middle, and most importantly, a defined end", OP still chooses to spend time avoiding comics that do end, and OP still chooses to waste time on comics that never end.
But it doesn’t stick and nobody cares.
Everyone knows who Batman is under the mask. Normies and hardcore alike. It will always be Bruce.
>Batfags
Not even once.
>OP still chooses to spend time avoiding comics that do end
No I don’t, I read stories with endings. What in my post gave you the impression that I read nothing but Batman comics, or even big two comics?
>and OP still chooses to waste time on comics that never end.
I stopped reading after Snyder. Actually, I stopped reading during Snyder. If you can convince me King’s run is good, I’ll give it a shot
>If you can convince me King’s run is good, I’ll give it a shot
I’m a massive Batfag and BatCat shipper and even then I can’t say King’s run is anything but utter garbage. (Other than the Kiteman stuff.)
Well is his run ongoing or is it over? Has anyone taken over for him?
You're right and pretty much all the "moral quandaries" of Batman have to do with how dragged out the character has been. A villain can't be defeated and simply stay in prison, they have to escape so they can keep being part of the rogues gallery.
We’re in the middle of the Tynion run
James Tynion took over but he’s only a few issues in so it’s hard to judge. I definitely think it’s better than King’s run but that doesn’t mean anything.
These characters don't work like any other. If you prefer closed narratives, there are multiple points in Batman's history that could be taken as batman's "final" arc. Whether they are elseworlds or in canon. But Superman, Batman, and their peers are basically immortal, every writer wants a piece of that pie and to try their take on them. That's just how they are made.
>Franchising and serialization destroy the narrative structure by indefinite prolongation
It's an IP, all it exist to do is make that fucking money.
These are fictional characters, OP. They're aren't alive, so they can't die. In the grand scheme of things, who, with any decisions over these things, gives a FUCK what YOU think? You might not like it, but that's not going to stop anyone from buying it. And that's what keeps the wheel turning and ensures comic characters never "die". Unless editorial demands it to hype up the current Big Bad. Or if they just want to go FUCK YOU to any character in particular.
I simply view a creative team's take on a character and their run as its own continuity. Superheroes are a sandbox where people make what they want; sometimes people can reference events from other teams and sometimes people can ignore them completely if it doesn't fit the story they want to tell.
Every Batman run has a beginning and an end. Many don't begin in an origin for Batman and most won't have an ending that can be called definitive for the character. And that's perfectly fine.
This is why head-canon is for Chads. And continuity is for Virgins.
>head-canon
The last issue of Morrisons' run was Bruce retiring as Batman, and then the last panel is him coming back.
People don't want endings, or definite versions, or anything but the recycled plots over and over again. It's good junk food. Why eat anywhere else? Why change formula that sells? And so they will sell it, again, until you grow too old to appreciate the totally all-new, all-modern, latest, safest, bestest version of the hero, and then you'll go back to the good ol' days. They'll keep selling "Joker goes REALLY crazy for real this time" stories until you are too old and senile to read, and the day they disconnect you, DC will be releasing "All-Robin Stars" featuring all 50 robins plus Bruce.
You dont know what it means? You have your own personal canon.
For me, Frank Miller wrote the beginning and end of Batman. (Year One and TDKR) All the other good stories, like Knightfall, No Mans Land, Killing Joke etc fit somewhere in the middle.