Batman Begins

The page above if the splash I penciled from Batman 0.

It seems the more things change the more they got back to the same-old-same-old. I was reading about how in the comics batman is going to disappear or retire, or die or something. Basically Batman is going away...again, and is yet again going to be replaced by a new, younger Batman. When I read that I chuckled to myself, I mean, what, 15 years ago they did the same thing when I was drawing the title. Something which was very disapointing to me actually, as when I drew Batman I had to draw Azreal, not Bruce Wayne, and that frankly--sucked. I did enjoy Batman Beyond very much though, as that took the edict, MAKE A YOUNGER BATMAN and did it right, and fun, and that cranky old version of Wayne was the best ever.

There were few books I could say at that time I would have been jazzed to work on, and Batman was one of that handful. So getting the book to draw and then that whole storyline at the time was pretty disappointing to me. But batman Issue 0 was fun,because it was like an old Batman comics, one I read as a kid and it had the real Batman in it. Not some dude in impossible goofy armor.

I guess in comics things seem to cycle around in 10 years or so, so I assume Superman will die again next, or Wonder Woman, The Hulk, etc. That seems to often be what the creative types feel is left, kill off the character, bring back a new version, which we all know will only be around for so long before we return to the tried and true licensed up the wazoo version.