"Batman #689" Reviewed!

 I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

http://onlinemariogames.net

A smiling batman, say it ain't so

" Dick needs to man up a lot more...i want to see him stop F*&king smiling in the suit. it pisses me off! "

What I truly want to see, if they're gonna go on with Richard as Batman II, is Richard evolve into the Batman. I want everyone around him to keep accidentally calling him Nightwing, and for others, like Donna Troy, to just come out and say that he's never going to be anything close to what Bruce was. Then I want to see him prove everyone wrong. I want Damian to turn to the dark side. I want Tim to get badly hurt physically and emotionally, I want the new Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) to be killed by Damian and Jason  Todd.  I want Richard to fail as the Batman that he is, so he can become the Batman we deserve. The DCU has always had Legacies, from Flash, to GL, to Wonder Woman, even Superman. Richard as Batman isn't a bad idea, they're just doing it wrong. They're trying to do with Batman II what they did with Captain America II, and that wont work for Batman. You can't show people your uncomfortable with being Batman because then they aren't afraid of you. You can't smile in the Bat suit because then your Val Kilmer, and you can't take on a monster like Damian as Robin and leave Tim to fend for himself while he's grieving. It won't end well.
The dead are rising, the League is in shambles, Kandor's ready for war, and the Bat-family is divided. Batman's needed, now more than ever, and the only one around is Richard. Suit up already, Dick!

lol dont you mean you arent crazy about dick as batman
 
you said crazy about dick as nightwing lol
 
good video though

i like where the story is going... i like batman being more on the theatrical side... dikc was an acrobat so it would seem logical for him to have his own style of crime fighting... but the smilling is the thing that really creeps me out... but i think dick in time will mature and will have a style that pretty much will be near to bruce... using fear...

Why did Bagely draw him like a 17 year old?

" Dick needs to man up a lot more...i want to see him stop F*&king smiling in the suit. it pisses me off! "

I SIGNED UP JUST TO TELL BABS HOW GORGEOUS SHE IS. MY HEART WAS PACING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE VIDEO. YOU CAN READ MY COMIC BOOKS ANYTIME. =]

" WOW, a lot of assemble editing on this one. "

" C-c-c-choppy editing...  ;) "

dick dont need to be worried about the fightin and stuff bein like bruce. he just needs to stop smilin to me it seems like his enemies think he's goin soft. the whole point fo batman is for criminals to be afraid of him when dick start clownin like that they dont see him as somebody they should be afraid will go overboard one day and kill em they just see him as somebody they need to learn how to deal with. so dick should keep his smiles to himself and all the clownin.

Great review, Babs.

I’ve really been considering picking up Batman, but I hate the thought of reading about a Batman that’s not Bruce. I mean, I know that no one stays dead in comics, but I’m really hoping it won’t be much longer. If I know it’s not a permanent thing, then I could sit back and enjoy it as sort of a case study. “How would Dick Grayson play as the Dark Knight?”   Plus...well...I don't like Nightwing. Yah...I said it. So is this worth picking up for a very stubborn "Bats has to be Bruce" Batman fan?
 
That Penguin is awesome though. I never cared much for the Penguin years back, but once that started writing him as basically DC's version of the Kingpin...he because epically cool. The criminal entrepreneur fits him so much better than the solo fighting villain he used to be.    

C-c-c-choppy editing...  ;)

So you guys all liked the art? I didn't really like it that much. Granted, it's way better than the art in Red Robin, but still, I didn't like it too much. The other Bat-books (Batman and Robin, Detective Comics...) have waaay better artwork than this and frankly, it's kind of a let down, especially consitering that this is consitered the "backbone" of the Batman Reborn event. I think that DC should give their prize "backbone" book a more solid foundation in terms of artwork. I'll agree that the writing is pretty solid so that's not much of a problem. But l'm not crazy about the art here.

" @burr787 said:

"  I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

I like how you are trying to pass off your opinion as fact....in bullet points.  lol. "h

" Dick smiling and parading around as Batman best exemplify why he will never be Batman because his mindset is not dark enough to instinctively illustrate the power of fear. It's not the cape and cowl that creates Batman, it's the psychological prowess that conveys that cape and cowl as a symbol of fear. My point consist of the fact that it's imperative that fear resonates the knight in order for there to be a dark knight. The problem is, Dick is inherently not a dark character. Dick was the kid that counterbalanced Bruce's darkness by being radiant and extravagant in the way he approached crime, essentially he was created to be the polar opposite of Batman. So how can the kid who was meant to be the polar opposite of Batman be Batman? He can't. That's why Dick hasn't been able to make the transition from Nightwing to Batman smoothly because the role of Nightwing goes hand in hand with his persona, he never had to play the role of Nightwing, he was Nightwing.   Dick never had to worry about what someone else would do as Nightwing because everything fit him like a glove.  I think Dick was better off being Nightwing because that's what he is being when he is wearing the cape and cowl of Batman. In comics, some superheroes can be replaced with others but not with Batman. Very few superheroes are as connected to their masks as Bruce Wayne was as Batman, the man made it his life's work to be the achilles heel to every criminal known to man and he did by taking the greatest weapon ever utilized by villains to do it and that was fear. "

"  I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

@burr787:

My thing is that the Dick dealing with Bruce’s death has been very repetitive. Don’t get me wrong Dick is one of my favorite characters in the DCU. I just feel that little aspect is being shown too much. Red Robin is all about Tim finding Bruce where as Batman has nothing to do with finding or dealing with Bruce’s death it’s supposed to be dealing with the aftermath of Batman’s Disappearance which I don’t feel it’s doing .I want Dick to be beating criminals senselessly and to be hunting down Black mask, Two face and the rest of the scum not laughing and cracking jokes  

@spectaculous:
I totally agree. With Batman the writing has to be consistent . I love Winick's first run on batman, I loved every issue so I know I’ll probably like it more as it progresses. I hope Jason Todd makes a move pretty soon

" I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

@burr787:

I think red Robin is better because something is actually happening Tim is actively searching for Bruce. What’s been happening in the last three issues of Batman...................nothing .More things happen in one issue blackest night batman than in all three issues of the regular Batman series. There isn’t even a plot just Dick trying to be batman which was one issues worth of material. I just wish I was just Morrison writing Batman

 I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

" It seems like they're turning Dick-Batman into a spider-man like character where he fights crime as a game "

@spectaculous:
Multiple people writing Batman can make him consistently a  badass and ONE character, but when multiple people are writing Dick Grayson it seem he's torn into like three different people. It really was a mistake not having Morrrison on the Batman title he basically is doing the superior story in Batman and Robin which is sooooo good

"
I really hope Damien and Jason team up, can you imagine that bloodbath?"

" @Dr. ? man: Man,you speak with total wisdom. "

Dick smiling and parading around as Batman best exemplify why he will never be Batman because his mindset is not dark enough to instinctively illustrate the power of fear. It's not the cape and cowl that creates Batman, it's the psychological prowess that conveys that cape and cowl as a symbol of fear. My point consist of the fact that it's imperative that fear resonates the knight in order for there to be a dark knight. The problem is, Dick is inherently not a dark character. Dick was the kid that counterbalanced Bruce's darkness by being radiant and extravagant in the way he approached crime, essentially he was created to be the polar opposite of Batman. So how can the kid who was meant to be the polar opposite of Batman be Batman? He can't. That's why Dick hasn't been able to make the transition from Nightwing to Batman smoothly because the role of Nightwing goes hand in hand with his persona, he never had to play the role of Nightwing, he was Nightwing. 
 
Dick never had to worry about what someone else would do as Nightwing because everything fit him like a glove.  I think Dick was better off being Nightwing because that's what he is being when he is wearing the cape and cowl of Batman. In comics, some superheroes can be replaced with others but not with Batman. Very few superheroes are as connected to their masks as Bruce Wayne was as Batman, the man made it his life's work to be the achilles heel to every criminal known to man and he did by taking the greatest weapon ever utilized by villains to do it and that was fear.

"

   
 

What’s with all the Dick Grayson Hatred? Please explain  
 
Bruce Wayne loves Dick Grayson why can't you?

"

"    The creepy thing is, that photo was ridiculously easy to find I just typed in batman and robin     "

" @Lissbirds said:

" @Mutant X said:

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "

At least it would be more interesting than the current offering. "

It wouldn't be Batman then. It'd just be Two-Face in a Batman costume. It's different when Dick's in the costume because he knows what it symbolizes. Two-Face becoming Batman might be a little more interesting, but it'd be stupid in the long run. Maybe for an issue would be a cool twist, but I think that people should try to understand why Dick is feeling the way he is, and maybe they'd be a bit more interested. "

   The creepy thing is, that photo was ridiculously easy to find I just typed in batman and robin    

" @Mutant X said:

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "

At least it would be more interesting than the current offering. "

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "