[Stu]

Written by Grant Morrison; Art and variant cover by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea; Cover by Alex Ross

Are you ready for "Batman R.I.P."?

Beginning the epic story that will change the legend of the Dark Knight forever! Everything in Grant Morrison's groundbreaking run on Batman has been leading to this story, and nothing will ever be the same again.

Who will live? Who will die? Who will be Batman? The answers are sure to shock you in "Batman R.I.P.," featuring artwork by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea and covers by Alex Ross.

So, thoughts? I'm not convinced he's going to actually die, with a major motion picture out in the summer, and other lingering storylines (the club of villains mentioned during the 3-part murder mystery story are supposed to be actually getting featured in a story, and I don't see that as something a replacement would handle. Also Batman and the Outsiders, how would that be affected?) that would seem to be Bruce Wayne centric. On the other hand, he was dead in #666, but JLA #0 had all those future scenes that haven't happened yet, but the multiverse throws those up in the air.

[salmonjunkie]

If they ever decide to retire Bruce Wayne, the one and only person who should ever be Batman is Dick Grayson.

[Batman]

That's for damn sure. Are they considering someone else?

[Stu]

LITG said there would be someone else in the batsuit, but they also said the Trinity would become New Gods, which was flat out denied by DC as "a terrible idea".

[OpTard]

since only 1 trade of the morrison run has come out, i can't comment on this. i'm too far behind.

[docx]

sergeial said:

That's for damn sure. Are they considering someone else?

Plastic Man

[Pun]

OK. I'm going to the comic book store down the street from my house tomorrow to get on the list to pick up all the books going along with the RIP storyline. I have a couple questions:

1) Is this going to span all the Batman titles? I'll admit that I have not bought a Batman book in years, so how many titles are there now?

2) Are there any back issues I need to pick up in order to catch up before the RIP storyline begins?

[OpTard]

still only 1 morrison trade out. still don't know anything new about batman.

[Stu]

admin said:

OK. I'm going to the comic book store down the street from my house tomorrow to get on the list to pick up all the books going along with the RIP storyline. I have a couple questions:

1) Is this going to span all the Batman titles? I'll admit that I have not bought a Batman book in years, so how many titles are there now?

2) Are there any back issues I need to pick up in order to catch up before the RIP storyline begins?

1)The main aspect of the storyline is going to be happening in "Batman". Detective Comics seems to be doing it's own thing during the duration. There's going to be a 2-Part Tie-In in Robin though, but nothing solicited for Nightwing yet.

Written by Chuck Dixon; Art by Chris Batista and Cam Smith; Cover by Freddie Williams II
The events of "Batman R.I.P." carve a path of destruction through Tim's life, threatening to rip apart the entire foundation of what made him choose to take on the role of Robin in the first place.

Tim's on the run and, with Batman's life at stake, he can't afford to make one misstep. Don't miss Part 1 of a shocking 2-part story that will irrevocably change Tim Drake's present as Robin…and his hard-won future as Batman.

2)The Batman and Son Hardcover introduces the "replacement Batmen" thing, and has the #666 issue with the possible future, and the last three issues of Batman are very important it seems. Morrison says there's clues throughout his run so far about where this is all going.

He also basically says RIP ISN'T a death of Batman storyline in a Wizard Interview:

Rumors are flying that Batman is going to die and you’ve got this poster hinting that heroes are dying—do you worry about spoilers? How do you respond to these rumors?
MORRISON: I read a great quote the other day which said, “In the Internet, everything is bigger than it actually is in the real world.” Yeah, something big is about to happen to Batman—something irreversible—but it’s not what you think it is. The idea that Batman is going to die is simple compared to what is going to happen to him. [Laughs] Death is the least of it.

Also, there's a theory about this story that sounds quite likely, given Morrison's been updating old storylines in his run:

SPOILER: Click to show

The last issue of Batman introduced the idea that Batman has an "ultimate adversary" who can conceive of schemes and tactics he's never thought of. Morrison in an interview about his run referenced "The Untold Legend of Batman", which was a story where Batman receives a Bat-Mask in the mail, which means someone out there knows his secret identity. It turns out at the end of the story that he himself sent the mask, and that due to a recent head trauma, he had a sorta seperate personality that hated the Batman personality because it meant Bruce Wayne could never have a real life.