COMICS PORTAL: A New Batman Coming to Earth 2

Editor’s Note: Major Spoilers is happy to welcome Wayne Hall to the writing staff. Every Monday, Comics Portal presents Wayne’s thoughts on a comic event from the week before.

Without further ado, Comics Portal!

It’s important to know that I’m a big Batman fan. I’ve been following the Dark Knight since the first comic I ever read, which had Batman in England flying around a castle! Even as a kid, I remember thinking, “Wow! I have to read more of this!” Thus a lifelong passion was born!

I think that Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are the new Dynamic Duo, making the Batman monthly comic a huge hit and a delight to longtime readers like me. I personally can’t wait for Batman: The Zero Year to arrive! There’s even a new digital series coming based on Adam West (now called The Bright Knight) and his take on the hero called Batman ’66.

So it should come as no surprise that DC’s Earth 2 comic, one of the surprise hits of the New 52, is getting a new Batman. After all, the Justice Society always had to fight for attention since Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman usually weren’t in their ranks. Their children, including Power Girl and Huntress, often were, but it just wasn’t the same!

Here’s how this new development was announced on The Source, DC’s blog: “A new age of ‘Wonders’ is dawning. This May, EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1 will fly into stores. Written by James Robinson and illustrated by Yildiray Cinar, CAFU, and Julius Gopez, EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1 features a stunning cover by Andy Kubert, and introduces the new Batman of Earth 2! Take a sneak peek at the interior art for EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1, featuring the new Caped Crusader leaping into action and continuing the fight against crime. But who could be under the mask? And how will the ‘Wonders’ react to a new Batman?”

In this newest version of the Justice Society, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman died in the very first issue of Earth 2. Then too, Huntress and Power Girl have come to “our” Earth in their own title, World’s Finest. So they need a Dark Knight there!

Also, Earth 2 has become one of the most diverse universes in comics today, with a Filipino hero and with Alan Scott, that world’s Green Lantern, now being young and gay. It’s often my feeling that the Earth 2 comic resembles what would happen in the real world if superheroes became possible. Nice job!

Of course, the big question everyone’s likely asking is, just who is the new Batman? Well, I doubt it’s Bruce Wayne since he’s been dead so long on Earth 2. My first take was that, since this new hero’s costume resembles the one worn by Thomas Wayne in the Flashpoint event that took place before the New 52 launched, it could be him! But there are a lot of Robins around who could easily don the cape and cowl, so since Damien Wayne recently died in “our” continuity, I’d go for him. But it could just as easily be Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. I can’t see Jason Todd doing it. I think he’d make his own identity there, much like he has in the New 52 as Red Hood.

Given this is an alternate universe, it could also be Jim Gordon’s or Alfred’s son as well. If they really want to be daring about it, put someone we’ve never heard of (at least, at the start) as Batman. Hey, it could happen!

If you haven’t been reading Batman or Earth 2, I highly recommend both! They’re good reading, and I can never get enough of that!