Batman is officially dead in the pages of Final Crisis #6 out today. We all knew it was coming for months and months, but was torques me off it is what is Batman’s last heroic act?
Shooting Darkseid with a gun.
You can candy-coat it by having Batman say "This is a once-in-a-lifetime exception" but I’m sorry, that one act goes against EVERYTHING the character has stood for in the last 69 years. And the one last thing I respected the publishers of Batman for maintaining in his history.
Yes, yes, I know Batman used a gun his first year of publication, but in an age of common gun violence and action movie stars blasting away at everything in site, I could respect a Batman who found a way to do what he needed to without ever having to resorting to using a gun to solve his problems.
Now, I’m sure when DC is ready for another "BIG EVENT" they will find a way to bring Batman back from the "death that is life" (Whatever the hell that is) but even when DC eventually brings him back, the character I knew is truly dead.
Rest in Peace, Batman.
Haven’t been following final crisis at all,kinda over the whole crisis thing myself.As a Bat-fan for well over 30 years i have to say that in just a few panels DC has destroyed one of the things i loved most about Batman.
There’s no fixing this,resurrection or not.A sad day indeed!
As far as I’m concerned, this doesn’t exist. I know who Batman is, I know what he stands for, and I will pass that information along to my kids one day. I don’t need all this new stuff the comics are getting in to now.
What’s ironic was I recently used some old issues of Batman to show my 5 year old son that hand guns are only used to hurt people and that Batman was a good guy for not using a hand gun.
well wait a minute here. this is the Batman everyone knows and loves. The only difference is the fact he broke his law to save the universe from complete destruction. He is dead yes and yes He will come back and will be the same as he’s ever been. If you had to break a moral to save the world wouldn’t you
? Batman lives forever whether he used a gun to save everyone he loves and respects in the name of his parents and that’s good enough for me.
Nolan aka robinjr, you nailed it, I agree, now sure Batman using a gun sucks, but when you think about Superman made a law that he would never kill and yet, he did, I can’t remember who or when though, (it’s been along time since I read mainstream SM comics, and all my old ones are put away in boxes somewhere,)
D.
BATMAN IS NOT… I REPEAT… NOT DEAD!
Rewriting Superman’s origin to have him have killed 3 Kryptonians before taking the oath not to kill was wrong. It just goes against the idea of Superman in the first place. But in the recent past it seems every character in DC, hero or villain, must have murdered someone.
They did a 6 issue story in Green Arrow a few years back. Black Lightning’s niece was introduced, had sex with Green Arrow, and was hung by the villain of the story. When Black Lightning found out, they showed a shot of his signature lightning in the background and announced that the person who hired the killer had been found dead with electrical burns. Green Arrow has always been one of my favorite characters, but the story was enough to make me drop the book.
Infinite Crisis #1. This story starts with a bunch of villains getting the jump on the Freedom Fighters and murdering a bunch of them. Just pointless bad storytelling.
For some reason shock of death has replaced good story telling. And I really expected better from Grant Morrison, after the great run he did on JLA in the late 90s. The scope was grand. The big players were all there. The fought aliens, angels, crossed time, defeated Darkseid, and beat a weapon from beyond the stars. That was great. This was not.
The quality of DC Comics has really taken a nosedive in the last several years. This is not a decade that is going to be looked back on with any fondness.
If I had to break a moral to save the world would I? I believe was the question posed.
Short answer…No!
Long answer…Heel NO!!! ( Sorry, couldn’t use the more adequate term )
Better to go out for something finer and nobler than myself than resort to some momentary ‘feel good’ nonsense that effectively wipes out everything I have believed and stood for.
What then am I striving to save if I become the very thing I fought against?
Nope. Very, very bad idea of DC’s part…and on comics in general. Which might explain why my Comics reading has diminished so drastically over the years.
The new stuff is just garbage passing itself off as entertainment.
Well I thought it was great. While Batman DOESN’T use guns, and SHOULDN’T use guns, somehow it’s okay that he shoots missles out of the Batplane. THAT always seemed iffy to me.
But regardless, this was not a “gun” gun. This was a sci-fi Buck Rogers kinda gun. And while no one imagines this is the end of Batman, if he WERE going to die, isn’t taking out the greatest evil ever (remember, Darseid is the “god of evil” in the DCU) a pretty good way to go?
Don’t buy that? Then remember when elder Bruce pulls a gun in the opening scene of the first episode of Batman Beyond and hated himself for it? THAT was high drama.
Bottom line, what Grant Morrison touches, he destroys… He had one good run on Justice League, and EVERYTHING he has touched since has been trashed beyond repair… X-men have never been the same, and now Batman.
Re: Superfriend — they later retconned Black Lightning’s killing by saying that Deathstroke actually killed the guy and had BL set up for the murder (apparently he never intended to have killed the guy — just frighten him; and for what it’s worth he was willing to accept the consequences for the “murder” and go to jail). The whole thing was revealed in an annual near the end of Winnick’s run on Outsiders.
Have a good day.
John Cage
Re: jzachery–I realize it’ll sound glib to say that I think you just don’t “get” Morrison, and I am sincerely trying to not sound glib right now… but I just think you don’t “get” Morrison.
Guys, he’ll be back.
Barry Allen was reduced to dust in the first Crisis. Supergirl had a hole blown though her chest the size of a crater.
They’re both back.
“Bucky dead” is no longer an option – shock value is the name of the game now.
He’ll be back.
Just think of this as another imaginary story – which is what ALL comics are, actually.
# J1h15233 Says:
January 14th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
As far as I’m concerned, this doesn’t exist. I know who Batman is, I know what he stands for, and I will pass that information along to my kids one day. I don’t need all this new stuff the comics are getting in to now.
DAMN RIGHT.
The above statement sums up my feeling about most of the “modern” era of comics. From where I stand the comics are no more “canon” than any other interpretation of what are now classic, iconic characters.
It’s all just different takes and I’d take “The Dark Knight” or “The Brave and the Bold” over the sad mess that DC has made of Batman in the comics.
Am I the only one who views this as more of an injection of something, than an actual bullet? Wasn’t something inside the bullet?
I think the bigger dillemna here isn’t batman using a gun, but were his intentions to kill?
If Batman grabbed a shotgun to shoot out a tire of a vehicle rushing at him, would you guys flip out? I wouldn’t. Of if he used it so shoot a bad guy in the kneecaps to keep the bad guy from hurting/killing someone, would you flip out?
He shoots darkside in the shoulder with a bullet that had something inside of it. He didn’t aim for darkseids head…etc
Someone did say it well though…DC has taken a step down. I don’t mind violence. But the attitude/language/tone/graphicness of what is going on I do. I don’t need to see Mary Marvel calling Supergirl a slut. I don’t need to see people getting shot in the head. Etc, etc
Yeah… it’s a gun… but it’s a Kirby gun and shot a Kirby crackle bullet. And he shot him in the shoulder. Even in relatively recent years Batman has been shown to be willing to use a gun when it was the only tool for a job. (the example that springs to mind is Batman getting the drop on Slade as the mercenary was about to sniper somebody. Batman KO’d the villain, grabbed his rifle and made some impossible shot that somehow saved the target’s life.) He just doesn’t like them… at all. So it’s not that it was a Kirby gun to the shoulder.
It’s the whole “shock value” intent of the whole scene. OOO! Batman has a gun and he’s going to use it! That aught to get Wizard talking. Hey let’s give Bruce a grizzly, on panel death! That will get a few mainstream media outlets calling. Maybe a Newsweek cover.
Seriously, At this point the race is on… will be Steve or Bruce who rises from the grave permanently first? So I guess Marvel better get on the stick then, because I fully expect Bruce to be a participant in the upcoming Black Lantern event.
I have the least amount of authority to comment on this but what I thought of was this: Batman never uses a gun. Then he breaks his rule. Ironically, he pays the ultimate price for not being true to his rule.
During a DC panel at SDDCC this year, a fan asked if Batman should use a gun. Grant Morrison was vehemently against the idea:
“Never! Never, never, never! That’s the whole point — he doesn’t use [them]. If he uses a gun, he’s just another soldier. We don’t need a soldier, we need Batman!”
Isn’t that ironic, but I believe Morrison has something up his sleeve for the final Final Crisis issue.
I’m kinda surprised that I was not as shocked or upset as I thought I would be. So much has changed in my life the last 3 years that I don’t enjoy reading monthly comics as much as I use to. I’ve already reduced much television and film.. comics were next. I’ve slowly pared my comic book buying for a complete exit this March. I’ll pick up a few trades if they review very well, but it will be nice to take a break from the monthlies after 2 decades.
I am a long time comic fan but have admittedly not been reading for the last couple years .With all the mega events and multi book stories I just don’t have $3.oo + for issues.So,I’m not that familiar with what is going on in Final Crisis.But,from reading other stories posted on the net ,Did’nt Bat-man die just a few weeks ago in his own book? Something about a mysterious plane crash with no body.Is the Bat-man in Final Crisis the official DC universe Bat’s or one from one of the 52 parallel earths just re-established a few years ago.And to be honest even when I was reading Bat-man the powers that be at DC have been destroying the character to beyond recognizable for years.The closest representation I have seen is from the Cartoon produced during the 90′s
After doing what they did to Batman…
DC and Dan Dido can go to hell!
@ Bunger
On the surface, your argument about Batman shooting Darkseid seems valid until you consider what Batman says right before he shoots the gun (not reprinted in the above) – that the “god killing bullet” is laced with Radion – a substance that is fatal to all of the New Gods. Despite Batman’s lousy aim (Was he aiming for the heart?, aiming for the shoulder? or is he just that inexperienced with guns that he missed a headshot?) that bullet will be fatal for Darkseid. It might not kill him right away (certainly not before the inevitable battle between Darkseid and Superman in issue 7) but it will weaken him or prove to be fatal.
In the end, that shot was meant to kill and I’m sorry, but the Batman I know doesn’t kill. Ever.
I wrote Dan DiDio an email this evening, telling him exactly why I have always looked up to Batman and why he is my hero (as corny as that may sound to some). I then pointed out that they have destroyed that which made him so noble and heroic…. they have robbed him of his code and made him that which he hates…. a killer.
I doubt it will have any effect…. but I felt that i had to tell him how I felt.
I say bring in Mephisto… he undid the time continuum for Spiderman and changed history; maybe he can do the same for Batman. Nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned Marvel-to-DC crossover!
What I love about Batman is that although he’s always had this “holier than thou” attitude about guns, he’ll use explosives and missles out the ass!
Batman using a Gun is like Hebrew National using Pigs in their Hot Dogs……..NEVER HAPPEN
What are these guys thinking, there could have been a hundred other ways to deliver that fatal dose of Radion. Come on guy’s, with all the toys that Batman can create…….
BAD MISTAKE…….someone fell asleep at the wheel on this one.
So, basically, idealistic idiots would rather let the universe be doomed than save it through breaking your one holy rule.
I’m sorry but that’s just dumb.
It’s not about Bats saving the Universe since that is a perpetual struggle.. It was about messing around with one of the most iconic figures in graphic literature at the very core just to string together a weak story and go for “Shock and Awe!”. For a creative team of writers there have to be hundreds of ways they could have presented the event. Its not the act of shooting something that Bats opposed.. Its the fact that his parents were killed with a hand gun that put him off to guns.. Its the symbolism that’s important, not the literal. Now it seems that shock shock shock is all that sells and intelligent writing has little value. At least DC still has the GL story that is interesting and has some depth. ;-P -Just my 2 cents.
Batman shooting Darksied with a gun didn’t bother me.
I’ve been waiting for his character to mature by getting
over his avoidance of guns. It’s just a tool like a knife
is a tool. It can be used for good (cops using guns and
doctors using scalpels) or it can be used for evil
(robbers shooting someone and robbers stabbing someone).
So it was good to see Batman taking a mature step forward.
If he really wants to help society by capturing the kind
of people who killed his parents, then he should put
himself in a position where every resource is available
to him – including all the kind of guns that exist
and all the type of ammunition that exists (even rubber
bullets). What I think is bogus about Batman is that he
wages war on criminals in a way that puts himself above
the law. He trespasses constantly and breaks many other
laws in the name of the greater good for society. You
would think by now he would have set up an agreement
with a lot of governments to have some form of immunity
after saving the world so many times. LOL
What bothered me about FINAL CRISIS wasn’t Batman shooting
a firearm, but how the story was too hard to follow, and
in the last issue so many important events were glossed over.