Batman Inc. who is this?

[SanShouXMA]

So this just popped up on my Facebook news feed. Can anyone tell me who this is?? I've been out of comics for quite sometime now. What is Batman Inc? And who is this?

 

[deathbyexile]

it's bat-cow!

and some other dude. i dunno ~ grant morrison's got his own thing going on there.

 

[youngbloodsc]

That's Nightrunner, the French Batman.

 

[SanShouXMA]

Thanks youngbloodsc I like the costume. I may try and make a custom out of him.

 

[haytil]

So this just popped up on my Facebook news feed. Can anyone tell me who this is?? I've been out of comics for quite sometime now. What is Batman Inc? And who is this?

"Batman Inc." is the franchised version of Batman. A few years ago, Bruce Wayne publicly announced that he was the financial benefactor of Batman, and that he and Batman were taking the next step in the fight against crime - by franchising, training, and funding Batmen all over the world, to fight crime on a global, international scale.

It's Grant Morrison's next step in the evolution of the "Batmen of All Nations" and the "Club of Heroes" from some of the 1950s stories. Each nation has its own version of Batman, based on local cultural flairs and customs. For instance, the English Batman and Robin are "Knight and Squire," the American Indian Batman is "Chief Man-of-Bats", and the South American Batman is "El Gaucho."

As youngbloodsc said, the one you're asking about is "Nightrunner," a French Arab who operates in Paris (with a specialty in parkour).

 

[TheFiend]

Chief Man-of-Bats.

Honestly, this doesn't sound like anything I'd be interested in. I stopped reading DC and MARVEL around 2008. Too repetitive and lame. Im only interested in Vertigo stuff and those weird limited series stories that pop up from the smaller comic book companies. I've been enticed to get back into it but it's just too much stuff and too expensive now.

 

[TheFiend]

Oh, and no one has yet to make the jump from Wayne as Batman " benefactor" to the fact that he is Batman yet?

 

[Walker]

Chief Man-of-Bats.

Honestly, this doesn't sound like anything I'd be interested in. I stopped reading DC and MARVEL around 2008. Too repetitive and lame. Im only interested in Vertigo stuff and those weird limited series stories that pop up from the smaller comic book companies. I've been enticed to get back into it but it's just too much stuff and too expensive now.

Oh man, you should totally check out Scott Synder's Batman series. The best of DC's New 52 IMO.

 

[Russell1982]

I've just recently read through Morrison's entire run from start to finish and absolutely loved it. It was so clever and integrated so many older stories in a way that made everything make sense and fit together.

As for the Wayne is Batman thing, that is addressed in Batman Inc. you see Wayne spreading rumours online throu various websites about him being Batman, then using another account to discredit it, and fill the internet with misinformation and rumours, so as to make it seem like some kind of weird silly conspiracy theory, therefor taking away away credit from the idea and making it just another conspiracy theory that some weirdos came up with.

 

[Russell1982]

Oh man, you should totally check out Scott Synder's Batman series. The best of DC's New 52 IMO.

Agreed, Court of Owls was awesome. One of my favourite Batman stories.

 

[Walker]

Agreed, Court of Owls was awesome. One of my favourite Batman stories.

Both Court of Owl's and Death of the Family were awesome. If you don't mind me asking, who's work do you prefer, Synder's or Morrisons?

 

[TheFiend]

Oh man, you should totally check out Scott Synder's Batman series. The best of DC's New 52 IMO.

Maybe I'll pick up a trade or something. I don't know what the whole "New 52" is. I remember the 52 series, one comic a week for a year all with different covers, though I didn't make it through the entire year. I think it followed Infinite Crisis or something.

I've just recently read through Morrison's entire run from start to finish and absolutely loved it. It was so clever and integrated so many older stories in a way that made everything make sense and fit together.

This sounds interesting. That just might be enough to interest me to pick something up. So GM's run is over? Are they all available in trade yet? Not into collecting individual comics anymore.

As for the Wayne is Batman thing, that is addressed in Batman Inc. you see Wayne spreading rumours online throu various websites about him being Batman, then using another account to discredit it, and fill the internet with misinformation and rumours, so as to make it seem like some kind of weird silly conspiracy theory, therefor taking away away credit from the idea and making it just another conspiracy theory that some weirdos came up with.

Ok, that's cool. I figured they had to address it in some way, that's why I asked.

 

[Russell1982]

I thought Death of the Family was also great but I felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Overall I preferred the Court of Owls story, it just had such a creepy cult feeling to it with th whole secret society and everything.

As for Morrison or Snyder, its tough because they're both quite different. Plus with regards to Batman Snyder only has a few story arcs whereas Morrison has been writing Batman for years, even going back to Arkham Asylum and Gothic. I think if I really had to make a choice it might be Morrison, just purely for the amount of work that's put into everything and the fact that he took all those old whacky stories from the past and found a way to, essentially, make them all viable and acceptable. That said, I have loved everything I've read of Snyder's so far, including Black Mirror and his Swamp Thing run.

How about you? Are you a Morrison fan? If so who would you pick between the two?

 

[Russell1982]

Maybe I'll pick up a trade or something. I don't know what the whole "New 52" is. I remember the 52 series, one comic a week for a year all with different covers, though I didn't make it through the entire year. I think it followed Infinite Crisis or something.



This sounds interesting. That just might be enough to interest me to pick something up. So GM's run is over? Are they all available in trade yet? Not into collecting individual comics anymore.



Ok, that's cool. I figured they had to address it in some way, that's why I asked.

The new 52 was DC's big relaunch. Nothing to do with 52 the series. All the first story arcs are available in trade and I'd definitely recommend pricing up the Court of Owls story, which is collected in two trades, Court of Owls and then City of Owls.

As for Morrison's stuff, yeah it's all available in trade. That's how I've just read it. I'd been meaning to check it out for a few years and a lot of people on the DC forums were saying it was terrible so I was always hesitant. I finally started making my way through recently and was amazed and had to keep going. But there's a lot to get through as his story lasted about 6 or 7 years.

It started with Batman and Son then Batman vs the Black Glove, Batman R.I.P. then Btman and Robin (where Grayson took over as Batman for a year or so) then The Return of Bruce Wayne, then Batman Inc. with some other bits inbetween.

As I said, he takes some of the old stories from the 50's with the weird space adventures Batman and the other weird campy stuff and says that it was all a result of being exposed to so much Joker toxin and fear gas that they were losing it a bit. It's incredible. And the more you know about Batmans history the more you can get out of it. He basically takes every era of Batman and makes it fit together as one guys life story.

 

[Walker]

Maybe I'll pick up a trade or something. I don't know what the whole "New 52" is. I remember the 52 series, one comic a week for a year all with different covers, though I didn't make it through the entire year. I think it followed Infinite Crisis or something.

The New 52 is a reboot basically. So it's really easy to understand the concepts and characters.

I thought Death of the Family was also great but I felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Overall I preferred the Court of Owls story, it just had such a creepy cult feeling to it with th whole secret society and everything.

As for Morrison or Snyder, its tough because they're both quite different. Plus with regards to Batman Snyder only has a few story arcs whereas Morrison has been writing Batman for years, even going back to Arkham Asylum and Gothic. I think if I really had to make a choice it might be Morrison, just purely for the amount of work that's put into everything and the fact that he took all those old whacky stories from the past and found a way to, essentially, make them all viable and acceptable. That said, I have loved everything I've read of Snyder's so far, including Black Mirror and his Swamp Thing run.

How about you? Are you a Morrison fan? If so who would you pick between the two?

I haven't read much of his work. I've just started getting into Batman and Robin & Batman Inc., so I can't make up my mind just yet.

Was Batman and Robin #18 as heartbreaking as people say it is?

 

[EVILFACE]

Bat-Cow ?

 

[Russell1982]

I see, I get that its not for everyone as he does embrace the whacky side of things as much asa the darker gothic aspects too. Bit he finds a way to make everything fit.

I'm not sure about Batman and Robin 18, I only read Morrison's run as I have the Absolute edition and he stopped writing the title after issue 16, so from there I just continued the story as he was writing it. The only extra stuff I read that wasnt by him was Battle for the Cowl and Long Shadows. I had no idea something big even happened in issue 18. Haha. As I said I really only followed Morrison's story as it was one ongoing epic from Batman and Son up to the end of Batman Inc last month.

Actually, did you mean Batman and Robin from before the new 52 or after? Batman and Robin 18 from after the relaunch is a magnificent issue.

 

[deathbyexile]

Oh man, you should totally check out Scott Synder's Batman series. The best of DC's New 52 IMO.

i agree with this.

I thought Death of the Family was also great but I felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic.

that was the best part about it! and i'm not even kidding. after all that insane over-the-top craziness, the way it ended was a stroke of genius. i think snyder may understand the joker/batman dynamic better than any writer before him (excepting alan moore perhaps).

i will say i think he didn't go far enough with the end game (that post-cave moment with all the screaming and burning ~ no spoilers here), but i could live with it.

Maybe I'll pick up a trade or something. I don't know what the whole "New 52" is.

new 52 is very easy for a new reader to step in ~ that's what it was designed for. lots of stuff got retconned and whatnot, but none of that is important ~ you can just go with the flow. not saying i agree with all the choices dc made, but it doesn't require knowing all 75 years of back history to enjoy.

unlike morrison's stuff, which i think really only makes sense if you know everything there ever was to know about batman.

i like a lot of morrison's earlier stuff.

not a fan of batman inc., however ~ not the concept, nor the execution.

 

[Russell1982]

i agree with this.



that was the best part about it! and i'm not even kidding. after all that insane over-the-top craziness, the way it ended was a stroke of genius. i think snyder may understand the joker/batman dynamic better than any writer before him (excepting alan moore perhaps).

i will say i think he didn't go far enough with the end game (that post-cave moment with all the screaming and burning ~ no spoilers here), but i could live with it.

new 52 is very easy for a new reader to step in ~ that's what it was designed for. lots of stuff got retconned and whatnot, but none of that is important ~ you can just go with the flow. not saying i agree with all the choices dc made, but it doesn't require knowing all 75 years of back history to enjoy.

unlike morrison's stuff, which i think really only makes sense if you know everything there ever was to know about batman.

i like a lot of morrison's earlier stuff.

not a fan of batman inc., however ~ not the concept, nor the execution.

I got the impression that Morrison's run would work and be fun if you didn't know any of Batmans history but the more you know the more you can get out of it. Maybe I'm wrong though as I loved noticing all the fun little nods and clever references throughout. Apparently in the final issue of Batman Inc he even referenced Snyder's current Zero Year story but. Never noticed that.

I'll be honest I find the concept of Batman Inc a bit ridiculous and it put me off reading it for a while but by the time I'd built to it after going all through the rest of the run leading up to it I was totally ready to accept it. I thought he pulled it off really well.

As for Death of the Family, I certainly didn't hate the ending, I just felt that both Court of Owls and Death of the Family were great stories up until the final issue. Not sure what it was but I just felt like with both storylines the last issue wasn't as good as the rest of the build up. Still great stuff though. And I'm really enjoying his current take on Batmans origin.

 

[deathbyexile]

I got the impression that Morrison's run would work and be fun if you didn't know any of Batmans history but the more you know the more you can get out of it. Maybe I'm wrong though as I loved noticing all the fun little nods and clever references throughout. Apparently in the final issue of Batman Inc he even referenced Snyder's current Zero Year story but. Never noticed that.

I'll be honest I find the concept of Batman Inc a bit ridiculous and it put me off reading it for a while but by the time I'd built to it after going all through the rest of the run leading up to it I was totally ready to accept it. I thought he pulled it off really well.

i have read every batman comic from the very beginning through the new 52 (with a handful of exceptions perhaps, and much of batman inc.). i still think much of morrison's stuff is rather convoluted, but i admit i just never could get into batman inc., never warmed up to it, and i like my comics to be generally superficial (with the occasional "a very special episode"). morrison was always writing to a smarter audience and you knew he was ~ and maybe i resented that ~ hahahaha.

As for Death of the Family, I certainly didn't hate the ending, I just felt that both Court of Owls and Death of the Family were great stories up until the final issue. Not sure what it was but I just felt like with both storylines the last issue wasn't as good as the rest of the build up. Still great stuff though. And I'm really enjoying his current take on Batmans origin.

i'm nervous about year zero because i don't like what he's doing with the Red Hood ~ but we'll see how he pulls it off. i think the other unfortunate thing about Death of the Family was that it didn't have time to breathe ~ it all got subsumed by the Damian thing, which i think was an editorial misstep (and for which i also resent morrison ~ ha!).

: D