#see i can suspend disbelief about bruce being an evil billionaire for a good story!

[kilowogcore]

I... like Batman?

Sometimes I'm wrong, poozers, an' when I'm wrong I try ta' admit it an' change.

I wuz wrong about Chip Zdarsky's Batman. I've ranted a lot about it, about how I didn't like the Zur-En-Arrh plot, how I thought he wasn't doin' the work Batman needed, how I wanted him ta' wrap up Batman's heel turn after Gotham War, etc. An' now I see I wuz way too hasty in my judgement.

This week's issue wuz one a' the most beautiful Batman issues I've ever read. At the level of Tom Taylor or Josh Williamson's Batman. It dealt with all of the problems Batman's got, it dealt with where he's goin' from here, an' it ushered in a new, healthier era fer Batman. All the discussions we've had on this page about Batman bein' too grimdark? Zdarsky tackled it, took him darker than ever before, but then brought him out the other side better an' healthier than he's been since… well, since DKR came out, really.

Comic books are strange. Ya' get 22 pages a month ta' tell a story, that's it. If ya' wanna tell an epic story it can take a year or more. Heck, Ram V's run in Detective Comics has been just one huge convoluted tale fer several years now. An' that's rough on readers, cuz it seems like we've been stuck in a plot ferever, but that's the trade-off ya' gotta make fer a truly epic story. I shoulda been more aware a' that.

Now that we got this issue an' last month's issue, I can look back at Zdarsky's run an' see that this plot needed ta' be complicated, cuz Batman is complicated. Ta' bring Batman to a better place ya' need complication.

The problem wuz how long it spent with Batman bein' grimdark. But lookin' back on it, how can ya' do differently? Once Zur-En-Arrh starts makin' Batman evil (which he started doin' after Zdarsky's excellent "The Bat-Man of Gotham" arc, but which didn't really happen until the end a' Gotham War,) ya' can't really make that a B plot, that's the A plot. Maybe ya' can give the book over ta' Damian or somethin' fer a few months an' have Bruce be the antagonist in the background, but then we wouldn't have gotten the slow burn of Zur En Arrh takin' over more an' more. An' the beautiful last two issues wouldn't 'a been so impactful. Like Odysseus, we had ta' see Bruce go through the underworld in order ta' appreciate him comin' out the other side.

I think when this run is turned into a TPB it's gonna be a classic. Bein' able ta' read it all at once, without a month-long wait every 22 pages, is gonna help it.

I really, really hope future authors embrace the changes ta' Bruce from Zdarsky an' Ram V's runs, instead a' backpedalin'. It's not quite as comprehensive as my own "Fix Batman" plan, but it's a lot more than I wuz expectin', an' it's a foundation on which a lot more can be built.

So, Mr. Zdarsky, who I'm pretty sure does not follow this account an' has no idea who I am, I am sorry. I'm sorry fer not trustin' yer writin' skill an' condemin' yer run before ya' had a chance ta' show us where ya' were goin'.

I look forward ta' readin' wherever ya' take us next.