The sales figures for the Batman line of comics are in, and the news is so-so. The new Batman and Robin book was the top three selling book for the month of July so there is ample reason to believe that Dick Grayson can sell books. But for some reason Detective Comics dropped way off the comic book radar not even cracking the top 50. That book had been reserved for Bat Woman but we can see that going over like a fart in a space suit. The big question is what is DC learning from all this and will sales dictate the future of the Batman franchise.
Detective Comics is one of the longest running single titles in comic history, DC took a big step lending the title to a character not named Batman. It begs the question, how long until the caped crusader retakes the title to bring back the fans? My guess is that as soon as the Bat Woman arc runs its course we’ll see a familiar face return to the book. But that leaves us with a bigger question doesn’t it.
We’ve already explored the vague similarities between the way Captain America and Batman are being handled. It’s a safe bet that DC has noticed that Captain America: Reborn was the number one seller for the month of July. How long before they pull the plug on the ‘new’ Batman and go back to more familiar territory?
The sad thing is in a perfect world Bruce Wayne would never come back. I don’t say that because I don’t like Bruce Wayne, I say that because the integrity of a story matters to me. Heroes dying and coming back weakens the integrity of a story for the most part. The bigger the icon, the more impactful the death, but on the flip side the more heinous the idea of that character making this miraculous comeback. The return is never as good as the death, and the story about the return is always painful when it’s explained to readers.
Think back, when was the last time a character came back from the dead and the story made sense? Most times when the hero makes a comeback it’s a stretch. In Batman’s case there is a body that we’re supposed to ignore entirely. When the time comes to bring back Bruce Wayne you can bet your utility belt that there will be gaping holes in the story big enough to drive a truck through and that most of it won’t make a lot of sense. Why? I’m glad you asked.
My biggest complaint about comics is that the comic book makers are driven by sales and therefore absolutely terrified of its fans. The fans for their part are terrified of change so in the end everyone gets screwed. If the book companies were storyteller’s first and business men second then you would have much more forward momentum in the comic book world, instead what we get is static storytelling that is episodic without any forward momentum. The results are a series of weird paradox’s that exist in comics.
The first and to me the biggest paradox comes from the fear of killing Bruce Wayne. We get to see Dick Grayson go from being 14 to his mid thirties while Batman barely ages a day. The exact same paradox exists in the Spider-Man books with Aunt May. Peter has grown into adulthood while his Aunt has been frozen into place in time.
Again, I don’t hate Aunt May, or Dick Grayson, but I do have a problem with plot devices that have grown to become a hindrance to good storytelling.
You might be saying to yourself that I’m thinking about it too much, and in many respects you would be right. But comics aren’t cheap, in fact the price for a single issue has gone from about 64 cents to 3.99$ in my short lifetime. Sad to say that the increase in price has not equaled an increase in quality of storytelling. In fact something weird has taken place. While comics have become far more sophisticated in many respects, the same old rules still seem to apply to mainstream books.
Why can’t Superman die? How come Captain America had to be Steve Rogers when The Avengers first hit the scene? Even DC, who have replaced characters (Barry Allen for Jay Garrick and so on…) can’t seem to let them go (Jay Garrick and Barry Allen are both around) even when the story is weakened by their continued existence.
I’m a fan like any other, but the difference between me and the fanboy next to me is simple: What happens in a comic only matters so much, and I’m happy with what I get to a large degree. Sure Brand New Day sucked, but that’s ok because the story is moving forward and there are more adventures to come. If Marvel killed Peter Parker tomorrow and replaced him with someone else I would be sad but not angry, not inspired to write a letter threatening to never read again, what kind of crap is that?
Fans need to learn to let go, and to let the professionals do what they will. If the powers that be ignored fan sentiment or the threat of diminished sales then they would almost automatically put out a better product. As it stands now mainstream comics get a bad rap from comic snobs who just don’t get it.
