To everything an end... and a twelve issue epic finale new beginning...

Post date: Jun 06, 2011 11:29:34 PM

So, DC finally announced the fate of Batman Incorporated today and its... cancelled. Or rather its 'first-season finale' will come with August's Batman Incoporated #10, to be followed some time in 2012 by the final chapter in Morrison's six year Bat-epic, a twelve issue tale entitled Batman: Leviathan with art by Chris Burnham. The new series is delayed until next year to make way for a super-secret special project Morrison assures us will be announced soon. Presumably this will be either the Superman ongoing hes been linked to in the rumour mill surrounding the DC relaunch (seeming increasingly unlikely as the days wear on...) or the long-promised Multiversity series exploring several of DC's parallel Earths, though its not unlike Morrison to pull something totally unexpected out of the hat at these junctures.

I'll be sad to see Batman Incorporated go; its heady brew of The Brave and The Bold and Batman Family was precious tonic to the grim and gritty Bats that still persists in most of his titles post-Batman and Robin. And I'll be even sadder to see Dick Grayson's run as the Caped Crusader come to an end; a new wrinkle in the Batman tapestry that, contrary to DC and Warner Brothers' beliefs, makes perfect sense to people who only know Batman from the movies or TV show. "You remember Robin?", "Yeah.", "Well he grew up and he's Batman now.", "Cool...".

There's some small consolation that DC are using Batman Incorporated as a springboard to launch at least one new book with Batwing #1, though that chalice becomes distinctly poisoned when you see that its being written by Judd Winick...

An interesting nugget that's emerged during the internet's forensic examination of DC's Bold New Direction is that DC Executive Editor Dan Didio wanted to do this line-wide relaunch in the wake of Final Crisis but the kibosh was put on it by then-Publisher Paul Levitz. Presumably Morrison's Batman and Robin then was the trailblazing template for today's relaunch, though its a shame DC's upper management have since decided that writers are virtually superfluous in the creation of good comic-books and that untried, inexperienced writer-artists (and Scott Lobdell...) are the Shape of Things To Come,

Ah well, what might have been... At least there's another four issues of Inc. to go before we bid it a teary farewell... And of course the Universe B Art Challenge. What, you think I forgot?!