Originally Published December 23, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Batman while Drew is hosting the discussion of Justice League.

Patrick: I was having a conversation with my friend Taylor the other day.  He had been watching someone play Batman: Arkham City and he was excited by how much detective work the player has to do.  I think the modern popular perception of Batman has a tendency to forget the detective aspects of Batman’s character.  Sure, we all know that the character was born out of Detective Comics and bears the title “World’s Greatest Detective,” but the more marketable characteristics of the Batman mythos tend to overshadow this.  Check out Nolan’s Batman – he’s badass, driven to obsession by revenge, an instrument of justice that inadvertently creates super villains.  It’s a compelling way to characterize a super hero but it lacks this single element so fundamental to Batman’s being. Continue reading →

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Batman, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Justice Leauge.

Drew:  One of the things I’m enjoying most about DC’s relaunch is seeing how the different titles deal with reintroducing their characters.  For most, this means at least a little awkward exposition, but once the writers get past the basics of who the characters are and why they do what they do, they are able to reintroduce and develop the themes that make the characters interesting.  It’s how these themes are emphasized and spun that really start to define these characters in the post-Flashpoint universe.  Scott Snyder has set about doing this beautifully with Batman, highlighting subtly and efficiently all of the things that make him who he is. Continue reading →