KING: BATMAN #5's Finale & GOTHAM GIRL 'All Feed Into One, Huge Narrative' Of Rebirth DCU

>I really liked the Alfred scene. That really made me laugh.
>I was so scared when I turned in the script because it has so many beats in it. You know, this huge fight at the end and the death of a major character. And Batman making the ultimate sacrifice.
>And here I start with five pages of Alfred
>I thought, oh, they're going to make me cut that down. But they were like, "No! We love it." I was so excited.
>But yeah, I love that scene. I love Alfred. He's the most fun character to write.

>Nrama: There were some things said in the narration on the last couple pages concerning a marriage and a death… is this something that's going to happen during your run? What should people read from that?

>King: This whole time you thought you were looking at this story about this character Gotham, this very typical, 'manly man' Superman-type character that you see all the time. And what I wanted to say at the end of this story was, that actually was not what you were looking at this whole time. You were looking at the origin of the person standing next to Gotham. It wasn't about him at all. It was about her. And it was the start of the story of this young lady called Gotham Girl, and what a huge role she's going to play in Batman in the future. And her fate is tied to Duke's fate, is tied to Batman's fate. I wanted to summarize that at the end and tease what's coming.

>Nrama: But the marriage… is this definitely something that's coming in the future? Or is the future kind of unknown, with the Watchmen characters able to come in and stir the pot or something?
>King: Oh, man. I'm intimately involved in all that stuff. And all of this, and what you're seeing in Batman here, sort of plays out and sort of tangles up with all that stuff. It's all meant to feed into this one, huge narrative of the DCU. And so yeah, we have Batman plotted out for the first 25 issues. And the impact of Gotham Girl will keep laying out until issue #25 and beyond.

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>Nrama: But Tom, you say something about Batman's death.
>King: Yeah, this comes from Scott Snyder, who's probably going to kill me for sharing this. But he's one of my best friends, and he gave me this great advice. And he got the advice from Grant Morrison, who said, when you're writing Batman, you know, you're going to have a run on Batman and you have to give him a birth, and you have to give him a death. And that's your Batman. You don't own the character. The character belongs to pop culture. He belongs to everyone. The character belongs to everyone's heart. But for you, for your Batman, you have to do that. That's your responsibility as a writer. And I think you saw that in Grant's run and you saw it in Scott's run. And you're going to see it in my run. I gave him a birth. I mean, he literally flew between two buildings - one was Finger and one was Kane. And he came out the other side.And eventually, we'll give him a death.

FUCK YOU FOR BLACKING MY WAIFU, KING!

>Nrama: Let's talk about Gotham and Gotham Girl's powers. Surely, that played a role in his death. He certainly used a lot of his powers. But with Gotham Girl living on - and it sounds like we'll be getting to know her a lot better - these are some pretty messed up powers, and they're linked to the type of "sacrifice" you were talking about earlier. You basically have to sacrifice part of your life for the great good.
>King: Yeah. I wanted to put a twist on it. At one point, he lifts an entire bridge, but at another point he has trouble fighting a Bat-villain. At one point he actually gets punched and falls over. If anyone's paying attention, they've noticed that his power level changed from issue to issue. I was hoping people would sort of complain about it and say, Tom doesn't know what he's doing. But it was all on purpose, putting clues in there that Batman was seeing, and he was going to figure out that the power was changing for a reason. And then yeah, that leaves us with this one superhero, Gotham Girl, who has this extraordinary ability, but every time she uses it, she kills herself a little bit. So she has to consciously choose between sort of saving the world and saving herself.

>Nrama: Ouch. You came up with that?
>King: Yeah, I think maybe it comes from just being an X-Men nerd when I was a little kid. That's a Chris Claremont truism. Like, every superhero, their powers must be a sacrifice of themselves. So I think I just stole that from him.

Nrama: We know a few things about what's coming up next. We've got more coming on the Hugo Strange side of things in September, and then you've got your Suicide Squad issues, right? Oh, but before that is issue #6. Does that focus on Gotham Girl after this issue?
>King: Yeah, and it's gorgeous. It's definitely the most personal issue of the run. So what you're going to see is Gotham Girl, who lost her parents and who lost her beloved brother. And it drives her a little crazy. And she can't deal with it. And she has this power, where she wants to fight, but the fighting kills her. And she's just being torn apart. And Batman has to try to save her. It's a very personal issue about how she deals with her grief, and how Batman himself is an orphan who dealt with his grief. I wrote it after the death of my grandma, who raised me. So it's me dealing with my grief. So… I don't know. It's a very personal issue to me, and I kind of like it. But then, and then, after that, Batman fights a bunch of monsters. And my buddy Steve Orlando's coming in to co-write with me. And yeah, it's the play-out of the Hugo Strange stuff we've been setting up this whole time, where huge, gargantuan, you-won't-believe freaking kaijus are going to come and try to take Gotham. And Batman has to take them down. And then issue #9, the second of my arcs starts. The first was "I am Gotham." And #9 starts "I am suicide." And what happens is Batman is now obsessed with something - you can probably guess what it is, but I'm not going to say. And to save someone, he has to assemble his own Suicide Squad. And he goes to Arkham Asylum and he picks out a bunch of criminals to do a mission that he shouldn't do. All these stories are connected. The inclusion of Amanda Waller in this story was not a coincidence.

newsarama.com/30684-tom-king-on-batman-5-s-surprises-and-revelations-about-the-future.html

My god how can one man be so based.

i loved the sudden widening of the book's scope, fuck yeah bat-epics

>We have to kill Batman with literally every new run

It's time to stop.

It's what you get for liking vapid blondes

Be honest Sup Forums, if Snyder was writing this how many issues would opening with a folksy tale about batmans father taking him somewhere

>Gotham Girl us actually the important character
I fucking knew it.

>And #9 starts "I am suicide."
>I wrote it after the death of my grandma, who raised me. So it's me dealing with my grief.
>And then yeah, that leaves us with this one superhero, Gotham Girl, who has this extraordinary ability, but every time she uses it, she kills herself a little bit. So she has to consciously choose between sort of saving the world and saving herself.
Jesus... King's going to be alright, isn't he...?

Or how many times would Hugo Strange call Batman darling? If you took a shot everytime one of Snyder's villains said that you'd be drunk off your ass by the end of the run.

He means that every writer has his own version of the end of Batman's story that's canonical to that particular run. Miller had DKR, Snyder had the future of Detective Comics #27, and so on.

Admittedly I tend to skim through Snyder's Batman, but I don't think anyone calls Batman "darling" other than Joker.

No, read what he said. He's referring to the fact that both Grant and Snyder had Batman "die" and then be reborn, and he plans to continue that pattern.

probably, lol.

Omega Men/Vision/Sheriff of Babylon is his PTSD trilogy

Other writers just can't compete.

Kek you fucking wish. Literally every villain in his run did from the Dealer to the Joker. It was fucking annoying as hell.

I'm glad I dropped it shortly after CoO, then, Pic related is the only time "Darling" has worked.

youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyXZYfCmJw

No, read what he said. He started with the birth, there's no space for rebirth, he's going with subtlety about it.

That's not what he's saying at all. He's talking about a starting point and an ending point for the Batman of a run. Being "birthed" from between Kane and Finger towers is an initial genesis, not a rebirth.

Right now I'm still kind of apprehensive about King's run. My optimistic hope is that it's like Morrison's "Batman and Son", weakest of the epic because it's almost entirely buildup.

I mean to be fair he had to restablish everyone's characterizations because Snyder completely changed them and thats all New 52 babies know.

>>King: Yeah. I wanted to put a twist on it. At one point, he lifts an entire bridge, but at another point he has trouble fighting a Bat-villain. At one point he actually gets punched and falls over. If anyone's paying attention, they've noticed that his power level changed from issue to issue. I was hoping people would sort of complain about it and say, Tom doesn't know what he's doing. But it was all on purpose, putting clues in there that Batman was seeing, and he was going to figure out that the power was changing for a reason.
Wow, that's actually pretty cool.

Ehh I'll give him the benefit of the doubt right now, but we'll call his shit if his explanation is shit

I don't think he means real death, just like he wasn't talking about a real birth. People can die in so many different ways.

>another writer shilling his OC donut steel

desu, I actually like Duke as a character so this isn't that bad

>>I was hoping people would sort of complain about it and say, Tom doesn't know what he's doing

all according to keikaku

How can one man be so based and confident?

Leave it to Sup Forumsmblr to like fake nigger Robin.

>He didn't read WAR.

So, is the Psycho Pirate thing with Suicide Squad going to be the "next arc were we address the Three Jokers thing"?

I won't count on them doing the 3 Joker twist for a while

So are you a timfag or damifag?

Yes
King said he'd address it in #9, though

King said the 3 Jokers thing would be in issue 9.

>blonde bombshell character staying around

BASED CIA

Man, I'm so hyped with where they're going with Psycho Pirate. I'm so glad King got him. I wonder what he remembers from the old continuity?

Could they make a more rapey image? Jesus, the lack of self awareness

>implying that's not the point
>implying we aren't all on King's wacky wild ride

Bermejo and King's Duke are pretty okay. Snyder's has been the weakest link.

>I gave him a birth. I mean, he literally flew between two buildings - one was Finger and one was Kane.
Jeez...
Too cheeky. Hold yourself, King.

Snyder's book is inside this continuity? I fear for the possibility of King getting fucked by Snyder and his poor characterization.

>>King: Yeah, I think maybe it comes from just being an X-Men nerd when I was a little kid. That's a Chris Claremont truism.
tfw King will never save the X-Men

Reminder that King based the Viceroy in Omega Men after the worst aspects of himself.

Morrison tried and look what happened to that. He's better off.

How do peoples brains honestly work like this? What makes you look at that image and think OH ITS SO RAPEY.

I agree. Duke's involvement in the BatFamily was much less forced+more developed/built up than "Fan-Favorite" Harper Row's was.

Hold me, user.
I cant deal with this level of suffering

>blond woman with torn dress running in fear
>male buff character over her in a clear predator-looking pose
>the entire scene is this little woman with torn dress being overwhelmed by a man predator

yeah, not rapey at all

>I wrote it after the death of my grandma, who raised me. So it's me dealing with my grief. So… I don't know. It's a very personal issue to me, and I kind of like it.
;_;

Thats not whats going on in that scene at all. You interpret it that way. I just see Batman trying to catch Gotham Girl. Go see a psychiatrist.

he is even screaming like a madman
I guess you are the one to used to violence

So what are the symbols for the penis being inserted into the vagina? It's not rape if there's no sex. It's just creepy.

I can't tell if you're being intentionally dense or if you're really that stupid

I think Marvel is more your cup of tea

This dude was a CIA operative in Pashtun country.

That he doesn't stick his gun in his mouth and dare himself to pull the trigger is about as alright as it gets.

Oh now I get why you're being obtuse. Just because the cover gives off an impression of sexual assault doesn't mean it's some SJW attack on DC. In fact the fact that it looks that way is probably appropriate given that I bet a lot of the issue probably takes place from Gotham Girl's perspective while under the influence of Psycho Pirate.

There is no "violence". Im gonna take a wild guess and say you aren't even reading the run. Psycho Pirate has her brainwashed into constantly feeling fear. Obviously Batman is going to come off as terrifying to her. Complain more about a comic you aren't reading though.

I fucking hate this place now. Its every damn thread.

Okay, I'll take the bait. Do you believe that rape can occur without sexual intercourse? And if so, are you aware that you're contradicting the dictionary's definition of the word "rape"?

>A thread on King's interview
>RAPPPPEEE discussion

Abandon thread

Its literally every thread. This place is a shit hole now.

>Abandon thread
Nah senpai it amuses me

>Do you believe that rape can occur without sexual intercourse?

Of course not. I'm saying that the image of a large man chasing a woman down a dark alley with a torn miniskirt invokes the implication of rape. If you think that I'm saying that this cover needs to be banned or something because of that, I'm not, I'm saying what I believe to be a decision by the artist to make the reader feel uncomfortable; there's nothing wrong with that.

>it's an "EVERYTHING IS RAPE" episode

How anybody can see an image of Batman chasing someone and get the sense it's "rapey" is honestly beyond. You ever consider the possibility that it's YOU with the rape problem?

Why do you equate feelings of fear with rape?

>King baited with inconsistent power levels to put one over on powerlevelfags

DC signing this guy was a very wise choice.

>Why would a teenage girl living in fucking Gotham City equate fear with rape?

>predator decides to catch woman by jumping and screaming
What a fucking amateur.

Are you a teenage girl living in Gotham?

I thought it was gonna be BLACKED this and BLACKED that, but anons don't seem to mind that much.

>implying she wasn't asking for it

Have you seen how she dresses? Especially her nonexistent skirt

isn't Batman #9 also the start of the Joker Arc?

Their fear of the evil SJWs infiltrating comics is greater than their fear of a white girl deciding to date a black guy, though not by much.

I was just checking to make sure you weren't one of those power+privilege nutjobs. While I will agree that the image is one representing helplessness and terror much in the same way that Batgirl variant did, I don't see evidence beyond the ripped clothes that what GG's being threatened with is sexual in nature. If anything, Bats' arm position makes it look more like she's going to be strangled.

It's the issue that King said he would address the 3 Jokers thing; I don't know if he ever said there would be a whole arc about it.

There wasn't any outcry when Duke was comforting her last issue, so it's not that much of a surprise for me here.

>implying
desuarchive.org/co/thread/85109075/#85109285

Eh, it only had one angry response when I read it.

>blond woman with torn dress running in fear
>male black character over her in a clear predator-looking pose
>the entire scene is this little woman with torn dress being overwhelmed by a black man predator

ftfy.

>Black people have grey skin
This is what you're saying.

>I am Gotham!
>I am suicide!
>I!
>AM!
>TOM KING!

What does Keikaku mean?

...

is king ok

>Nrama: Ouch. You came up with that?

What kind of a dumb question is that to ask a writer?

Writers talk to other people about their ideas and get input and suggestions for their stories. It's not impossible for that to have been someone else's idea, so it's really not that stupid of a question.

He just explained it user

they are used to interview Marvel writers

Morrison seriously did not mean you had to literally kill him each time. Holy fuck.

Man I would like to have a talk with Morrison. He would show me the truth allowing me to transcend time and space to finally drift to another plane of existence.

This guy gets it

Listen to the Fatman on Batman podcast interview with him.

Gordon, pls go.

It's an All Star Book, people tend to associate those with not in continuity but just based off it.

The point is that she's terrified of everything at the moment due to Psycho Pirate. Just like his brother became incredibly angry at everything.