The answer to this question, ladies and gents, appears to be YES. I just learned from another blog, quoting Comic Book Resources, that DC will be killing off Bruce Wayne in the comics sometime next year. Apparently we’re supposed to take some comfort that the mantel won’t stay empty and that one of the Robins will be taking Batman’s place, but since Batman is DC’s most popular character, it’s no real consolation to me that his books won’t stop being produced just because Bruce Wayne is dead. Anyone who has ever read comics shouldn’t be that naïve.

So I sound bitter. Can you really blame me? This isn’t Superman we’re talking about. Superman’s death was, in my opinion, one of the best plot arcs DC ever did, but there was never a doubt in my mind they’d bring him back because he’s SUPERMAN. Nobody else can put on the suit and become Superman. But you can do it to Batman, and you can do it to Captain America. Sure, there’s a chance Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne will both eventually be resurrected, but I don’t want that to happen. It’s a cop-out, a way to sell a bunch of books and bring in people who don’t usually go into comic book stores (though I suppose you could argue that with Superman, but I’ve watched the documentary on his death including in the Superman: Doomsday animated DVD and those writers seemed genuinely shocked at how huge the sales of Superman #75 were).

I’m more upset about when this is happening, not that it’s happening. Captain America died just this year, and it would be quite a coincidence if DC had this all planned out long ago and it just happened to fall on the heals of that (forgive me, fans of Civil War and Cap’s death) complete and utter catastrophe. It’s a way to sell books, but only in the short term. You can kill off Superman and bring him back and still go on selling comic books. You can put someone else in the Captain America suit and maybe still sell his books– he’s not, after all, the most popular character at Marvel. This is freaking Batman we’re talking about. His popularity can hardly be over-estimated. People are running around with the bat-symbol on their hats and t-shirts who have never picked up a comic book. Most casual folks you talk to will quite animately tell you Batman is a far more interesting character. I really think if Bruce Wayne dies, DC might be looking at a rough time ahead. If they kill him, I’d want him to stay dead because resurrections never go well and they’re always contrived. But it just might be the mistake that too many fans won’t be able to forgive them for.

But let’s say for a moment they did have all this planned out. After all, ever sense I learned they were resurrecting Ra’s Al Ghul and after bringing back Jason Todd a while back, I’ve been thinking the Batman writers can’t think of anything more interesting to do but bring back dead characters. Maybe both of those resurrections were paving the way for Bruce Wayne’s death. It’s possible, but I think they should have scrapped Batman’s death as soon as they found out about Cap.

Here’s how I think the story will go. I think Ra’s will be the one to finally do Batman in (which is a good and noble way for him to go out, assuming there are no Lazarus pits in the general vicinity of his death). I also think the Robin they’re talking about is probably Jason Todd (which would be very, very bad). The only way I could imagine reading someone else in the Bat suit is if it’s Dick Grayson, Nightwing and the original Robin. He is the closest in skill and attitude of Batman’s proteges. But he still isn’t Batman. There’s a line being crossed here that history may prove should never, ever be crossed again. I suppose it’s ultimately going to be up to the fans and we’ll find out next year.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Tags: BruceWayne, CaptainAmerica, Comic Books, DC, death, JasonTodd, Marvel, Ra, sAlGhul, superheroes

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 12:56 am and is filed under Batman, Capt Logan, comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.