Much was made in the media last week about Barack Obama showing up in the latest issue of Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man to coincide with his inauguration on Tuesday. The issue hit stores yesterday and it was an instant sell-out, with lines down the street at some comic shops. However, we think it’s even bigger news that DC Comics has killed off Batman! Seriously. In this week’s issue of the miniseries Final Crisis,
Batman faces off with cosmic bad guy Darkseid. But just as the Caped
Crusader shoots him (in itself out of the ordinary for the
character), Darkseid nails Batman with energy beams from his eyes. A
couple of pages later, there’s Bruce Wayne, fried and in the arms of his
pal Superman.
How do I know all this stuff? Brian Truitt, our resident comic geek. Brian, whom you will remember from all his Comic-Con coverage last summer, even used his lunch time yesterday to try to buy the Obama Spider-Man comic and found it sold out in 10 minutes. (He ended up getting it on eBay.) So, if you want all of Brian’s Bat-details click on read more.
Art courtesy of DC Comics
So, they killed Batman and no one’s talking about it. How can that be?
Now, DC Comics has been hinting at Batman’s "death" for some time so it didn’t come as too much of a shock. (A recent Batman R.I.P. storyline simply sent him to the edge of madness and back.) But still, when you’ve got a longtime, iconic hero who turns 70 this May — and with last summer’s box office blockbuster The Dark Knight becoming one of the biggest movies of all time — you would think even the non-comic-loving world would be talking about his death. (Was it just coincidence that rival Marvel Comics made sure to come out with a book featuring Obama the same exact day?) The deaths of both Superman in 1992 and Captain America two years ago were big deals in both the mainstream press and the comic world, though it is true that Superman returned soon after and Cap’s former partner took up the red, white and blue mantle. And perhaps that’s what DC Comics has in store for Batman, a new crusader filling the black suit. The end of the new comic has a tease for a new series called The Battle for the Cowl with several people looking like they’d enjoy taking the Batmobile for a spin.
Yet, Bruce Wayne is dead. May he rest in peace — for now.
That is pretty big news thanks for putting it my way then. (http://thearcanist.net/stuff/2009/01/15/the-death-of-the-batman-the-dark-knight-at-the-age-of-70/) I think that maybe because Superman was killed (it was a very big deal if I remember) that the hoopla in the comic world of another masked avenger getting (killed) is less of a big deal.
By the way I sold 7 of those Spiderman Obama comics… top price ($29.99)… I asked the manager of Hi Dee Ho! out here in Santa Monica what he thought of this newest comic craze. He shook his head and said that in a year or two those issues will be back to face value.
Hmmm…
That’s sort of what happened with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight… and those were worth it!