Batman Inc. The Yellow Oval Is Retunring!

[Admiral_Young]

Some more details regarding Grant Morrison's Batman Inc in November including David Finch's cover for the first issue which features a tweaked costume for Bruce and the return of the yellow oval, most likely to distinguish himself from Dick's costume. This sounds more and more intriguing and I'm thinking this has the potential to divide Batman fans. Morrison and DiDio weren't kidding when they said they planned to "franchise" the character. You want Legacy characters well...it sounds like Bruce's plans are to take the image and legend of Batman to the next level. I think along with Batman and Robin this is going to be my favorite book.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/08/morrison-on-batman-inc-team-ups-and-that-yellow-circle/

 

[Christopher]

Hmm... looks more like the Michael Keaton version of the logo, with the raised rim, rather than the classic Infantino oval. Also the belt buckle reminds me of the movie costume.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah I thought so to. I kind of like it. Both Batman costumes are cool. Regarding the recruiting of people to wear the costume, that's really going to be interesting to see how Morrison goes about doing this. Grant stated at comic con that the stuff in "Bruce Wayne: The Return" and in 'Batman, Inc." is going to be the culmination of his entire Batman run. I also believe he said that he has another two years worth of stories left in him and then will evaluate what he wants to do next.

 

[Christopher]

I'm not sure why he'd need to recruit people. There's already a pretty large Bat-family, isn't there? Bruce-Batman, Dick-Batman, Red Robin, Batwoman, a Batgirl or two, and that Knight and Squire team in London. (I want to call it "Londinium" like in the '60s series.) So it's already kind of a readymade franchise.

Besides, how's he going to find new people worthy of donning the mantle of the bat? Host a reality show? Who Wants to Be a Superhero, Gotham Edition!

 

[sojourner]

I have no problem with the yellow oval, though I do think it would fit Dick Grayson better than Bruce.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Indeed I'm still a little sketchy but am anxious to see how this goes and yes Knight and Squire are the Batman and Robin from England. I'm thinking though that Bruce wants to expand the influence of Batman across the world and not just keep it centralized to Gotham City.

 

[byron lomax]

I love the look! The new Batman Incorporated series sounds like fun, too. About the whole concept having long-term implications, I'm not too sure though. Morrison is obviously putting a good deal of thought into how he's bringing about changes in Batman's world, but it means less solo Batman, which is my favourite Batman.

 

[Samurai8472]

I just have a feeling they're going to have someone hunt down each Batman and women till the best one survives.

The reveal is no one would be dead but just held up somewhere

A prison for the batmen and women.

 

[Admiral_Young]

You are still getting solo Batman in "Detective Comics" I think which announced it's new writer a few days ago.

 

[byron lomax]

You are still getting solo Batman in "Detective Comics" I think which announced it's new writer a few days ago.

Oh yes, I don't doubt that people will still be writing solo Batman stories, it's just that there could be less and less room for such stories when all the various Batmen get involved in big events. We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

 

[coolghoul]

I like the yellow oval just great! The Aparo Batman is probably *the* definitive Batman design for me.

I saw another (variant?) which had Batman with an over-muscled look with horrible grey pants and no black underoos - it just looked wrong....

 

[Christopher]

I'm thinking though that Bruce wants to expand the influence of Batman across the world and not just keep it centralized to Gotham City.

Understandable, but as I said, how do you insure top-grade talent? How do you find people who are worthy of the title and can be trusted not to abuse it? I mean, there have been a couple of prior cases where "stand-in" Batmen such as Jean-Paul Valley didn't work out too well.

I wonder if maybe the way to go would be to bring in some minor DC heroes who haven't been used much in recent years and give them a Bat-makeover. That way you'd be dealing with people who have already proven themselves as heroes.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm sure we'll find out the answers to those questions Christopher as well as why Bruce wants to do this in the book...Morrison hinted that "Batman: The Road Home" will set up Batman Inc.

 

[Dream]

The yellow oval was iconic before the Burton movies. Any time I glance at the dvd cover for the first movie which just has the batman logo, I'm instantly reminded of the character. I was pretty disappointed that Nolan decided not to continue using it for his Batman.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I'm thinking though that Bruce wants to expand the influence of Batman across the world and not just keep it centralized to Gotham City.

Understandable, but as I said, how do you insure top-grade talent? How do you find people who are worthy of the title and can be trusted not to abuse it?

Is anybody else picturing Bruce, Dick, and Tim in costume sitting behind a desk in a comunity center evaluating potential Batmen.

 

[Snaploud]

I wonder if maybe the way to go would be to bring in some minor DC heroes who haven't been used much in recent years and give them a Bat-makeover. That way you'd be dealing with people who have already proven themselves as heroes.

I think it would be good to get a combination of new and old talent. The old talent would think they know everything (and be in for a rude awakening), and the new talent would probably spend a lot of time hero-worshiping.

My guess is that there would be at least one acrobat (Dick's influence), one young assassin-in-training (Damien's influence), several minor and new non-superhero characters (probably the sons and daughters of various super-heroes--ones who ended up not being born with superpowers), and a bunch of non-powered up-and-coming superheroes.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I just have a feeling they're going to have someone hunt down each Batman and women till the best one survives.

The reveal is no one would be dead but just held up somewhere

A prison for the batmen and women.

I could see the Joker doing something like this. "Thinning the herd" until only the "real" Batman is left.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah I'm a huge fan of the oval as well and loved the Burton costume...so much so that a family friend made me one from scratch for Halloween complete detail even with Michael Keaton's muscles!

Trying to guess what Morrison is going to do is like discussing quantum physics...I don't think he's going to do anything that's been suggested so far. This is a new concept and I'm sure it will tie in with some kind of soul searching that Bruce has done over his time coming home. So far in the Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series he has barely said anything. I'm guessing when he arrives to present time his mind will clear and the Road Home will be something of a soul searching and he'll come up with the idea that will be explored in Batman, Inc.

 

[Christopher]

The yellow oval is iconic before of the Burton movies.

Well, obviously, and nobody's saying otherwise. I'm sure we all know that Carmine Infantino introduced it for the "New Look" Batman in the mid-'60s. The point, which I did make very clearly, is that this particular version has a raised rim around it that matches the Burton movies' specific version, and is not just the standard Infantino oval.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Another thing i'll add is that I re-read the quote from the article and Morrison says that we'll see Bruce going around the world and training people, that he wants to bring more people in. So it would seem that Bruce doesn't think that he has enough allies.