Published under DC’s Black Label imprint, the series would serve as the conclusion to King’s narrative from the main title, exploring the past, present, and future of the Bat/Cat relationship, whilst the Joker and the Phantasm herself, Andrea Beaumont, would also become key players in the story. However, when it was announced that King and his frequent collaborator/artist Clay Mann would create the 12-issue maxiseries Batman/Catwoman, my anticipation went through the roof. King’s overall run was divisive, and despite the quibbles that happened along the way, I was a fan and felt extra saddened when the writer’s time on the title was cut short despite the proposed plan of writing 100 issues. The romance became such a big deal that once we reached issue #50, in which the Bat and the Cat were about to be wed, the wedding was called off amid fan outrage, going as far as King traveling with a bodyguard in San Diego Comic-Con 2018 after receiving threats.

With story arcs such as “Rooftops” and “Superfriends”, the comic eventually became a love story, and even goes as far as transforming into a full-blown romcom for a couple of issues. Courtesy of DC Comics.ĭuring King’s time on the main Batman title, the one consistent element that drove the ongoing narrative is Bruce Wayne’s relationship with Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), and considering their volatile romance has been on-and-off over the decades, King wanted to push their love to the next level. From the variety of stories King was telling, he wasn’t interested in presenting a gritty, grounded approach to Batman, which is the typical direction to go for the character.įrom Batman #82. Even in other comics that King wrote in which Batman featured - like Heroes in Crisis and Strange Adventures - the character went from investigating a mass murder to exploring the true motives behind an alien invasion. Similar to Morrison’s take, King’s Batman went all over the place, from confronting new super-powered figures to running his own Suicide Squad and even landing in the middle of a civil war between two supervillains - he even fought his father, who was Batman in an alternate reality. In the case of King’s run, he has more in common with Grant Morrison’s seven-year Batman run, which was about exploring aspects of the character’s history that most people would tend to ignore. It is always worrisome when a new writer takes over the title, and no doubt King’s approach towards the Caped Crusader, along with the numerous artists involved in the run, is different from what Snyder was doing, which ended up being especially successful. Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!Īt the start of DC Rebirth back in 2016, Tom King would write the main Batman title after a phenomenal run by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, which was published over the course of the publisher’s previous relaunch, The New 52.

Batman by Tom King