Not sure why people would be complaining, even if they hate him.

@kal_smahboi: Hope they do something like this for Nightwing or Spywing or Robin. Whatever you want to call him! Next year will be Dick's 75th along with Captain Marvel's, Joker's, Catwoman's, and Lex Luthor's.

I guess it will be kinda cool. As long as Batman isn't affecting the actual story. I hated that about Zero Year. Don't see why they shouldn't. Everyone loves Batman and Batman does deserve this. Anyway Batman didn't get any cool history shorts or movies like Superman did so I think this is fair.

And what is wrong with DC? All this hype about Batman we are also forgetting how Sandman is also 75 :P

Pretty much sums up my feelings on it.

Eh variants.

Well all the issues of Superman Unchained each had like five variants, plus Superman got three new series.

Im not surprised, just disappointed.

What's to be disappointed about?

@saren: DC pushes Batman so hard that it can actually be considered a detriment to the DC Universe. Its one thing to promote your top property, but dont make him a nuisance to everyone else.

Who is he a nuisance to, specifically? The fans who want Batman comics so much that his eponymous ongoing currently sells nearly as much as Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash all put together? The ones who shelled out nearly two and a half billion dollars for his most recent movie series? Actual sales figures indicates that the majority of DC fans and comic book fans don't consider him a nuisance, and the sales of other properties in a variety of media indicate they do not or cannot hold the same level of interest in fans' minds. DC pushes Batman as hard as they do because the fans and the market keep demanding more Batman. That's the simple truth that nobody with this recurring set of complaints seems to want to recognize. Every single Zero Year tie-in saw a jump in sales that month. People were more willing to read Green Arrow or Green Lantern Corps if Batman showed up than as the books were before.

@smashbrawler: AND he's getting a movie.

@saren: Those sales figures could just as easily paint the picture of a polarizing figure, one who has the largest following but is widely unpopular with the remaining audience. Essentially, pleasing the 60% while frustrating the 40%. A great short term plan, but the sustainability is questionable. And really, your post doesnt prove any point as I already called him the most popular character in DC, its not something I deny or debate. He is the most popular character in all comic-dom for that matter.

I do expect, much like Wolverine, there will be a backlash after some time if he is continually pushed into everything, though he is more iconic than Wolverine, so he may coast much longer. And this is largely a subjective argument, but I personally feel Batman cripples DC's ability to write good stories. Unchained, for example, was always on the brink as a book, but the subversive BatWank easily pushed it over the edge for me.

Hey its his 75 and their biggest character, why not?!

It would if you bought into the idea of Batman's success only being fueled by a following of people who view themselves as primarily Batman fans more than they do as DC fans or as comic book fans, which isn't true. There isn't any evidence to suggest that there's a "remaining audience" that dislikes Batman. What those sales figures suggests is that Batman enjoys popularity among wide sections of fans in all sorts of media. The 60-40 ratio suggests 40% of comic book fans or DC fans are "frustrated" with Batman ---- if they were, he wouldn't be outselling Justice League every month. The figure should really be more like pleasing the 90% while frustrating the 10%, and that's something any company would deem an acceptable compromise, especially when there are billions of dollars at stake. If Batman's sustainability is questionable, Superman, Wonder Woman and all the rest of them are doomed.

Subjective arguments are just that: subjective. My subjective opinion is that I would need miserably low standards of what a good Superman story is to think Unchained isn't the best Superman book on the market right now. There isn't another writer at DC who's characterized Superman as accurately as Snyder has --- not Soule with his insistence that Clark and Diana are vapid airheads, not Pak with his idea that Superman and Batman are insecure jocks who need to constantly one-up each other, and not Lobdell with his "let's see how many word bubbles I can cram onto a single page" take on Superman.

@saren: Well we can disagree on our subjective opinions all night, but I feel like neither you nor I would get anywhere, since I feel your opinion of Superman must be quite low to enjoy Unchained.

So ignoring that, I will say if Batman's sustainability is in question (which i definitely think it is), it's not a big deal. It wont hurt DC at all when his sales plummet (unless they continue to put all their stock in the character), because he will simply be replaced by a new top dog. It took 50+ years, but it eventually happened to Superman, one can only assume at some point, the piper will come calling for Batman. I, in fact, thought Green Lantern was close to displacing him for a while there, but that seemed to go haywire with the New52. If you dont like the idea of your favorite character losing favor, take heart in the fact that popularity undulates, and unless DC as a whole folds (and the characters arent purchased right away), Batman's time will come again.

And yes, I would guess a large chunk of Batman's readership is made of people who exclusively read Batman books. If that wasnt the case, I wouldnt expect the market to be so lopsided as it has been in recent years. That said, its not something to easily survey, because even the majority of people on this forum would claim a wide fandom, most of whom's claims id say are suspect at the very least. Satire is generally used to mock things that exist in real life, and theres a reason the BatGod joke is so persistent.

Green Lantern's popularity was entirely due to Johns' ability to pull an audience. Put it in anyone else's hands, like the film did or the current books by Venditti and Van Jensen do, and pop goes the weasel. Here's an idea in need of consideration, and one that would explain why the market is lopsided in Batman's favor ---- readers just don't like the other books. Batman came off a run by Morrison and the current Snyder run is critically acclaimed to the point that he was just nominated last week for a Best Writer Eisner for Batman and The Wake. Superman's eponymous book has been mediocre from the get-go. Green Lantern's sales have dwindled since the new run started, mainly because fans and critics haven't reacted well to it. Superman's movie was very nearly a critical disaster, and nowhere near as lucrative as what one would expect from a film as heavily marketed as Man of Steel was, especially since it was riding the coat-tails of the TDK trilogy's popularity with all the carefully placed drops of Nolan's name everywhere. Wonder Woman at least has the excuse that female-led ongoings don't sell well regardless of quality. Superman doesn't. Quality is the only thing a Superman book can depend upon, and readers have decided the non-Batman books are just not that good. The Bat-God joke exists to vocalize a lot of resentment and bitterness from various quarters about the fact that their favorite hero is never going to match Batman's popularity or pop culture saturation. There isn't another reason.

I don't think the fact that Man of Steel was a Superman movie and not a Batman movie led to it being a 'critical disaster'. Just Snyder's mediocrity as a director as opposed to Nolan's skill as a director, if we're looking at it from that perspective.

(I wish I could phrase this sentence better, but my brain is fried at the moment and I'm operative on little sleep)

I don't think Snyder was the chief reason behind Man of Steel's mediocrity. He's got a very striking visual style that has great potential for superhero adaptations, and he even toned down some of the irritating elements of his style for MOS, like his over-reliance on slow-motion sequences. Man of Steel sorely needed a tone shift, and hopefully the sequel will keep that in mind, but I'm content with putting Snyder in charge of crazy fight sequences featuring Superman and Batman. I can't deny that the MOS fights looked really cool, even if they were hollow and devoid of meaning at times, like the final battle with Zod. The main problem with Man of Steel was Goyer's godawful script. All the visual flair in the world means nothing if there isn't substance behind it, and Goyer's script had no substance to it. It's the reason I'm confident the sequel will be better, since the final script will be Chris Terrio's work.

Might I ask how you feel about Luthor and Bruce's casting, or have you already shared your feelings on that?

Doesn't bother me, I'm not a huge fan of pimping out Batman like DC likes to do, but this is one reason I understand so I don't mind one bit.

Plus they're putting Batman's 75 anniversary logo on a ton of books whereas Superman's was on 1.

Bruce would be proud.

This is great news.There will be some pretty cool covers coming left and right.

..Batman is everywhere because its basically Batman vs the Marvel Universe these days, when it comes to DCs efforts to match the popularity of the Marvel characters. DC don't even seem to be bothering to promote most of the others, Superman excepted.

.but Batman deserves his moment of glory this year, the boy done good in keeping the DC flag flying...

Wonder whether Green Lantern, Flash and wonder Woman will get 75 covers in the coming few years?! They all reach 75 by 2016....Flash is next up, 75 in January 2015...being a massive fan of the scarlet speedster, I expect nothing less than a Flash Year one tie in with all DC books...!!

As a Batman fan I think they are doing too much. Or maybe they did too little for superman

It's batman guys, the most popular comic book character of all time. This is to be expected.

I echo this statement. I'm not really sure why so many here are talking about how angry this will make "Batman haters".

They did to little for Superman

@theincrediblesuperhulk8642: Three new books is too little? Batman only got one.

@metaljimmor:

Think some people just like to hope there will be arguments. I don't think anyone is surprised or upset that DC are making a big thing of Bat's 75th anniversary, him being their most popular and successful character by far, just now.

Being on all the batfamily covers would make sense, but they didn't do that. In this case it's like hey, these titles may sell a bit better this month if we stick ol bats on the cover!