Bat Signals: Letters to Batman Inc. #0

I've taken my sweet time to get around to this, but I think it's time to commit!

A bulky opening shot... I expect #0s to be short nowadays, a slither of story rather than a honking great slice, so it was a longer read than expected.

When Elmore Leonard died last Tuesday his 10 rules for writing were bought to my attention (you can check them out here if you're interested, and it's something I highly recommend), and the one that stuck with me, because it's something I'm so very aware of, is the following:

"Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue."

I destroy paragraphs that are too thick in my own work, and when I see it in others I can't help but skip ahead, unfortunately. I like zippy reads, stories that grab you, so that's just something I wanted to put out there. I found sections of this issue thick, so it would be worth keeping an eye out for that in the future. I know I say this now, in the feedback for an issue that came out around this time twelve months ago, but it can't hurt, can it? CAN IT?

Anyway, a strong debut, and I'm honoured to have you reference so much of my own work in this premier issue. When I wrote Batman #0-- I realised yesterday, while doing some work on Green Lantern, that I was 15 when I wrote my first spate of titles, ugh-- I was so full of ideas but not in a place where I could fully realise them. I think I'm in that place now, but I don't dare look back at those issues for shame, so it's nice to see someone appreciating them. The tail end of my Batman run-- or was I writing Detective Comics? I can't remember-- was written side-by-side by some exemplar contributors, Imari on Nightwing and Alex on Detective (yeah, I remember now!), and I'm so proud of the work I did with those guys. I felt like we actually built up our own mythology there, what with the new characters we introduced (Gun Moll, Flesh Monger, Milo Vesuvius and his master, the Prince of Lies, blimey!) and the other characters we developed, so I'm prouder still to see you reference that stuff. That was a golden period for me in the DC2. So, thank you, sir. Thank you for appreciating that work.

So, to the issue itself! An interesting start, a timeline that jumps from place to place, characters talking in hushed tones and enigmatic dialogues-- it reminds me of myself! I like Bruce Wayne, I like Dick Grayson, and I love the Bat mythos. I don't like certain characterisations of these characters. I don't like Batman being an ultimate dick, so this read was very enjoyable for me. That said, I felt that the phrase "My oldest enemy!" was repeated so many times that it became a bit of a joke, no offence. It reads more like a narrative tool and less like how real people talk to each other. If I were in Dick's shoes, I feel like the conversation would have gone more like this:

Bruce: "...my oldest enemy!"
Dick: "Who?"
Bruce: "Excuse me?"
Dick: "Who is your oldest enemy?"
Bruce: "Uh, umm, well, I can't tell you, because NARRATIVE!"

I like the suggestions that Bruce is getting on a bit (though not really, because I was the one who laid out the timeline for Batman, and he's in his early / mid thirties at this point, so what is going on with the grey at his temples? Only one hero I know gets to go prematurely grey! C'mon, man!), and I like that's he's opening up to Nightwing as a confidante and a partner. Sometimes he closes himself off to the the people close to him and it drives me MAD. He's trusted these people enough to share his identity, his cause, and now he's going to keep secrets? NO THANK YOU. So good work, mate.

I loved the Tlano aside, because it was HORRIBLE, really disgusting, really creepy, and I don't know why, maybe due to the wholly alien nature of it, so that clicked in a lot of places for me. I like that Bruce is accepting of magic and science fiction as concepts, but I worry that one of the things I like most about Batman is that he's very science-based. "Batman, we just went to Heaven!" "Hhh. A shared hallucination. Nothing more.", but I trust you enough to follow this thread wherever it goes.

There was a clear Morrison influence on events, of which I'm unsure of how much I approve right now. I'm of the mindset (and I've said this to you via PM) that we should take our cues from current titles but make those cues our own. We've discussed it privately and from that conversation I'm comfortable with the idea you're not going to ride on Morrison's coat tails, so I'll be excited to see where this goes from here.

So. An interesting start. I wonder where we're going to go? I can see that your style is strong, but prosaically, it could be improved in places (for reasons stated above), and I hope to see that as we move forward.

Good luck, mate. Hard times to be launching a new title, but it seems to have gone well for you so far. I'd have loved to have seen this title launch when the DC2 was in full swing, but then we would have butt heads, so no, actually, I'm fine. I'm fine with this happening now