Thursday, January 08, 2009

Now Batting

Right now in Batman comics there's something going on where maybe someone else is going to take over the Batman mantle. The intriguing aspect of this, to me, is the sheer volume of plausible candidates to be the new Batman. I tried to list them all, and here's what I came up with. (I grant you that some of these people are problematic, being, as they are, otherwise occupied, female, or dead. They're still good candidates and I can make a case for any one of them.)

Talia al Ghul
Jason Bard
Helena Bertinelli
Lia Briggs
Stephanie Brown
Cassandra Cain
Reep Daggle
Duela Dent
Harvey Dent
Gabrielle Doe
Tim Drake
Dr. Thomas Elliot
Barbara Gordon
Dick Grayson
ibn al Xu'ffasch
Bette Kane
Kate Kane
Kathy Kane
Carrie Kelly
Ted Kord
Selina Kyle
Robert Kirkland Langstrom
Lex Luthor
Lonnie Machin
Terry McGinnis
Edward Nigma
Holly Robinson
Jack Ryder
Jason Todd
Jean-Paul Valley
Cameron van Cleer
Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne, Jr.
Damien Wayne
Helena Wayne
whatshisname Wayne, Bruce's long-lost brother from that Silver Age story

Who'd I miss?

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17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

V For Vendetta has made it okay for women (and retconned Durlans) to cross-dress as male vigilantes if they want to.

Waitaminnit ! [blink] Shouldn't the Proteans be on that list, too ?

-- cleome45

4:45 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

Why the Proteans?

10:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I just hate to see anyone left out, especially when they've already had experience at possessing a dead guy without anyone noticing-- not even the dead guy's wife and sister.

Oh, right. That retcon retroactively de-happened, didn't it ? I really must totally overhaul and reorganize my notes one of these days...

Actually all the people on this list should get together and there should be an audition, like for stage productions. With a piano and... and, what ? No, I'm not drunk. It's nine o'clock in the morning PST for pity's sake. Would you all please stop looking at me like that ?!?! It sincerely hurts my heart.

-- cleome45

12:06 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

True, but they have no particular comparison to, or connection with, Batman.

Maybe I should have put Andrew Bennett in there...

1:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about Dick Grayson/Nightwing?

5:40 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

...

That's embarrassing.

Obviously it's not because I didn't think of him; I just missed typing his name when I thought of him.

Thanks, I'll fix that.

7:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Reep Daggle? Chameleon Boy? Really?
What, no Skrulls? There were sure a lot of those around last year, maybe a few leaked into the DCU.

Meh. No matter who wears the Bat-Cowl, the real Bruce wayne will probably return with some lame-ass "I staged my own death" routine after a while.

8:17 AM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

Absolutely, Chameleon Boy. Consider:

- he's consistently been portrayed over the years as the best detective in the Legion
- his father was a millionaire, born in the present day, whom Reep did not get to grow up with

It's a natural!

8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That would be actually interesting storytelling, so you can bet that's not going to happen!

Also, Cham would have to be retconned. Don't think v5'Birdf****r' Cham would make a half decent Batman.

I miss detective Cham...

10:39 AM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

He's still a detective in the threeboot, though; don't you remember the Jeyra Entinn issue?

3:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...True, but they have no particular comparison to, or connection with, Batman.

So, you're telling me that after the thing where Brande is Martian Manhunter or vice versa (I forget) there's still characters left in the DC-verse that aren't somehow connected with some other DC characters somewhere else ?

I just figured that while I was gone, the whole thing became permanently and irreversibly like the joke about Grand Central Station: Just stand still for fifteen minutes and eventually everyone walking past you will have a crossover epic with everyone else.

Or at least to Batman: Who to me has always been like that guy you don't know well who throws great parties. You want to be invited so you can meet the other guests, even if the thought of actually meeting the host is sort of... freaky.

OMMV.

-- cleome45

3:20 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

So, you're telling me that after the thing where Brande is Martian Manhunter or vice versa (I forget) there's still characters left in the DC-verse that aren't somehow connected with some other DC characters somewhere else ?

Well, anyway, when I was trying to come up with names for this list, I didn't think of the Proteans. Nor did I think of Yankee Poodle, Darkseid or Doiby Dickles, all of whom are equally comparable to Batman, and all of whom have equally long histories as confidants of the Darknight Detective. Mea maxima culpa.

6:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had to google Doiby. <-- [ashamed]

Well, I already voted for Bea Arthur as the next Black Panther. Guess there's nowhere to go but up after that...

-- cleome45

8:14 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

Grey Panther, surely.

8:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

[resists the urge to find a link to the song "Silver B**v*r." Especially since I apparently missed whatever reference Other Anon is making through usage of the term "Birdf****r" Yikes. Maybe it's better that way. Must be my punsishment/reward for getting trades from the library. They tend to show up wildly out of sequence.]

I've been watching JLU on disc, and I did kind of like the interplay with Bat I and McGinnis, so maybe that wouldn't be so bad. The whole explanation with Waller was kind of convoluted, but still entertaining. Which, come to think of it, is sort of my feeling about the Brande-Cham thing, so why not.

-- cleome45

8:50 PM  
Blogger Matthew E said...

The reference is, a recent Shooter/Manapul issue had Cham putting the moves on a bird. It's not clear just how serious he was about this, or what happened afterward. Interestingly, the plumage of the bird suggests that it was male.

8:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

[Pictures getting in a Time Bubble and going to the 2012-library to check out that trade, only to find out that Multnomah County can't keep it on the shelves. Hey, it rains here ten months out of the year. People do what they can to stay entertained without having to go outside. :/ ]

Thank You. In the immortal words of another comic book character (Alt.-non-super division), you're a great guy and I'll get you for it someday.

-- cleome45

9:02 PM  

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