stingermck

More than OK with this. Great line up a new interesting take. Plus looks like it will tie into Batman Inc and Kathy Kane. Even better.

More info here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2...eries/7480853/

madcougar

I actually like this. But...

stingermck

The Valeyard

So....

JasonF

God forbid they just publish a King Faraday book.

taffer

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=52184

A "Robin Rises" one-shot is coming out in July. Apparently Damian is getting resurrected.

PhantomStranger

That didn't take long. Characters used to stay off the sidelines for years before coming back.

fujishig

Hasn't been that way in a while now. That's why the big "deaths" in Fear Itself were basically met with a collective 'meh' from fans. I think both came back either during the crossover or immediately after. Heck, in Final Crisis Batman came back before the end of the series (not that anyone believed he would stay dead)

However, the article does imply that it might not be Damian coming back. I assume some Lazarus Pit thing? Was there reasoning given when he first died why Talia wouldn't immediately do that?

PhantomStranger

I have no idea about Damian.

I figure posting this here is better than anywhere else. DC Comics really botched their first printing of Batman: Bruce Wayne: Murderer TPB and recalled it:

http://collectededitions.blogspot.co...nt-batman.html

Interestingly enough, I've had this since release day from Amazon and had never gotten around to reading it. I go to return it for a refund and Amazon had pulled the entire product listing from their site. I guess Amazon was going to let customers pay for a defective book with several problems.

I ended up demanding a refund for the book.

taffer

Forever Evil spoilers

The Valeyard

Rich Johnston has been speculating that for a couple weeks now. Also Marvel has something big planned around that time as well. Something Marvel "has never done before."

PhantomStranger

Looking forward to it.

kodave

Sounds like Publishers' Infinite Crisis is coming up. But maybe it will mean the return of Amalgam!

fujishig

New Huntress is... diverse, I guess? But not really the Huntress, why not just make up a new character?

PhantomStranger

It's easier to co-opt an existing brand in this climate. Look at all the Robins for Batman, you are pretty much guaranteed the establishment of a new character with a real fan-base by introducing them as Robin. You can always move them out of the role into their own identity later.

As for this new Huntress, it looks like there was some kind of mandate from on high at DC to include a new black female character in Batman's pantheon of associates. A lot of people are claiming this is DC's attempt to introduce a minority version of Marvel's Black Widow into the mix.

Do I think she'll be calling herself the Huntress in five years? I think this new character will be calling herself something else by then.

majorjoe23

At this point Huntress has been Batman's daughter and the daughter of a mob boss. Who's to say what makes someone "really The Huntress"?

Other than DC, I guess, since they just did.

PhantomStranger

Hundreds of prior comic book appearances and cameos in other mediums. The Huntress was one of the cooler characters on Justice League Unlimited, for example. As I intimated in my earlier post, it's a crass attempt to use an existing character's brand to sell a completely new character. This is nothing new, I realize comic book companies are more concerned with potential Hollywood casting going forward than an issue published in 1987 or whatever. Everyone saw the success Marvel had turning Nick Fury into Samuel Jackson, super-spy.

fujishig

Somehow I completely forgot that they already have the Batman's daughter version in Earth 2 in the new 52, with something resembling the classic costume. This new one shares the same name as the daughter of the mob boss, but looks nothing like her. I feel the same way about reusing the name for their version of Wally West.

I made a separate thread on this some time back, but will people with affinity with the name/character of old really see this as a draw, some wildly different incarnation that doesn't look or feel like the original? I understand the momentum of having an existing character and revamping, but at what point are you better off just going with someone new? At the very least, recycle the superhero name and power and look but change the identity.

I wonder what ethnicity Donna Troy is going to be when she comes back.

majorjoe23

But The Huntress you're describing is the exact same thing as this new Huntress, just a cash in on another unrelated character. What makes Jim Lee hot pants Huntress more the "real" Huntress than Earth 2 Batman's daughter Huntress or new Juggalo mask Huntress? Because she's the one you grew up reading about?

brayzie

I agree, I hate when they do that. I more than understand if they're revamping their line for a completely new generation of comic book fans but they're not and they've admitted it. They rely on aged readers to remember decades of continuity for books like Batman and Green Lantern, but they want us to ignore continuity for characters like Wally and Helena. As a reader, it takes you out of the story because you don't just see a brand new character who just happens to share the name of previous character, but you also can see the editorial mandates and reasoning behind it.

They're desperate so they do things like this that will at least garner fanboy controversy. And the smaller the market gets for monthly comic books the harder it is to find an audience for something completely new. For comic writers and artists there is not much incentive in creating the next Spider-man for Marvel or DC. And finally there is making sure they keep the copyright of the characters. All of which is why we're saddled with "new" characters like Phantom Lady III.

They tried that already with Ryan Choi as the new Atom, and Renee Montoya as the new Question and didn't really take.

That's one character they should maybe let the copyright expire. It seems like no one knows what to do with her.

PhantomStranger

It's definitely very difficult to break-in new characters not tied to established identities and the creators are definitely saving all of their good ideas for their self-published work.