What I would've wanted to see in Battle for the Cowl
(Yeah, I'm just gonna keep on spamming you tonight, flist. I've got a crapload of posts I've been meaning to do for a while.)
When editorial at DC was kicking around ideas of what to do in Battle for the Cowl, putting characters like Oracle, Batgirl and Catwoman in a central role, or as competing alongside the boys for the Cowl, must not have occurred to them. I mean, they're on the covers and they have bit parts. But it would've made more sense to have them play a central role than Jason Todd.
It's actually canon that Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) wanted to take over for Batman eventually. Tim has always said he didn't want to be Batman, didn't want to be exactly like Bruce. Dick has put on the bat-suit before, but being Batman, who uses fear as a weapon, has never been a good fit for him. After all he went through in Countdown, I don't know why Jason Todd would have any interest in it at this point. If he did, he wouldn't have thrown his Red Robin costume in a dumpster.
Mind you, if I had any power of influence on DC editorial, there wouldn't have been a Battle for the Cowl in the first place. You've got Gotham in turmoil because the word's out that the Bat is dead and therefore the city belongs to crime once again, right? So let them deal with that. It should've been "the Battle for Gotham" instead, culminating in Dick realizing that to get the city back to normal, he has to assume the mantle of the Bat. They could still have used similar marketing gimmicks, replacing "I AM BATMAN" with "GOTHAM CITY IS MINE!" and "WHO WILL WIN GOTHAM?" or whatever.
Okay, so Oracle & co are back in Gotham. Now, with Batman dead, by default I think we would see two leaders emerge: Dick, who is Batman's natural successor, and Barbara, who is (I would argue) a successor of Batman as well. Dick is extremely capable, but he can get a lot more done in a time of crisis by collaborating with Babs.
Both of them are great networkers: Oracle has a huge contact list, with many of them owing her favours. Dick is practically everybody's friend. If Dick can't get a hold of someone, Barbara can. If someone doesn't want to help Barbara, they're probably amenable to helping Dick. (Example: Powergirl happily helped Dick move in and out of New York. Barbara is probably able to contact PG in two seconds flat, but has to beg and plead her case before PG will help her.)
Out of all the other players, both of them have been a part of The Mission and working with Bruce the longest of all the other bat-people (excepting Alfred of course), and both have strong influences over the others.
I'd even go so far as to say that the "Jason problem" could've been contained and somewhat resolved if Barbara and Alfred took turns in backing him into a corner and lecturing him. (Barbara, because both she and Jason have been victimized by the Joker, and maybe even because the Joker also killed Jason's mom and Sarah Essen, Barbara's step-mother. And Alfred, because he's the GODDAMN Alfred. I do not for one second believe that Jason could or would ever lay a finger on Alfred, and Alfred would have some piercingly effective tough-love and/or tea-and-sympathy for Jason.)
As for other internal drama (that is, within and between our group of heroes who are fighting to save Gotham from itself), you would have everyone's different methods, states of mind, and various stages of grief all clashing and causing friction.
But in the end, they'd find a way to work things out, re-arrange themselves and find their places in the hole in their lives that Bruce's absence has created. They'd all find or figure out where they each want to go from here. Dick decides it's his duty to carry on what Bruce began. Cass decides she needs to learn more about forensics, the justice system, etc, if she wants to be a player on par with Batman and Oracle. Tim decides he wants to travel and cling to the hope that Bruce isn't dead. In Tim's absence, Stephanie says "nuts to this!" and starts wearing purple eggplant again. Oracle decides to re-establish Gotham as her and her team's home base. Catwoman further directs her energies into being more of a Robin Hood, stealing from or busting the very rich, evil and corrupt. Jason decides to get a life. Damien...okay, I don't know what the hell I'd do with Damien. I guess he could be Robin for a while if he weren't such an ass to Alfred.
In any case, it'd be like the complete and total opposite of War Games! Instead of everything going wrong and the bat-family splintering and going madly off in all directions, it would be everyone coming home and uniting to save Gotham together one last time. I cannot think of any better way to honour Batman and his legacy than for his family and friends joining forces, combing their skills and talents, to win (even if temporarily) the fight to which Bruce dedicated his life.
Of course, all of that would mean that the world (or more accurately, the DCU) could survive without Batman. And I gather that the point of all of this is to show us why Bruce Wayne, and only Bruce Wayne, can ever be Batman, why he's important and iconic and all of that. So what I fear is that we're actually going to see our post-RIP bat-heroes fail eventually, and have Bruce, the One True Batman, swoop in and save the day. And I suspect that it will be rather unsatisfying, sadly.
What's weird is that despite my not being very gung-ho about the possibility of a Dick/Babs relationship again, I can totally see it happening and maybe even working with my scenario. In the absence of Batman, the two of them combining forces could more than make up for him. And I think if they're regularly working together like that, and they've both matured and each know themselves better, I can see their not falling into the same problems they had before. Maybe they'd find brand new ones, but I can see the potential for something.
And finally, if I were in charge, if Dick is the new Batman, it would make sense to me if Peter Tomasi was to write him as Batman. Tomasi had such a feel for the character and I think it would be a smooth transition for him to follow Dick from Nightwing to Batman.
When editorial at DC was kicking around ideas of what to do in Battle for the Cowl, putting characters like Oracle, Batgirl and Catwoman in a central role, or as competing alongside the boys for the Cowl, must not have occurred to them. I mean, they're on the covers and they have bit parts. But it would've made more sense to have them play a central role than Jason Todd.
It's actually canon that Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) wanted to take over for Batman eventually. Tim has always said he didn't want to be Batman, didn't want to be exactly like Bruce. Dick has put on the bat-suit before, but being Batman, who uses fear as a weapon, has never been a good fit for him. After all he went through in Countdown, I don't know why Jason Todd would have any interest in it at this point. If he did, he wouldn't have thrown his Red Robin costume in a dumpster.
Mind you, if I had any power of influence on DC editorial, there wouldn't have been a Battle for the Cowl in the first place. You've got Gotham in turmoil because the word's out that the Bat is dead and therefore the city belongs to crime once again, right? So let them deal with that. It should've been "the Battle for Gotham" instead, culminating in Dick realizing that to get the city back to normal, he has to assume the mantle of the Bat. They could still have used similar marketing gimmicks, replacing "I AM BATMAN" with "GOTHAM CITY IS MINE!" and "WHO WILL WIN GOTHAM?" or whatever.
Okay, so Oracle & co are back in Gotham. Now, with Batman dead, by default I think we would see two leaders emerge: Dick, who is Batman's natural successor, and Barbara, who is (I would argue) a successor of Batman as well. Dick is extremely capable, but he can get a lot more done in a time of crisis by collaborating with Babs.
Both of them are great networkers: Oracle has a huge contact list, with many of them owing her favours. Dick is practically everybody's friend. If Dick can't get a hold of someone, Barbara can. If someone doesn't want to help Barbara, they're probably amenable to helping Dick. (Example: Powergirl happily helped Dick move in and out of New York. Barbara is probably able to contact PG in two seconds flat, but has to beg and plead her case before PG will help her.)
Out of all the other players, both of them have been a part of The Mission and working with Bruce the longest of all the other bat-people (excepting Alfred of course), and both have strong influences over the others.
I'd even go so far as to say that the "Jason problem" could've been contained and somewhat resolved if Barbara and Alfred took turns in backing him into a corner and lecturing him. (Barbara, because both she and Jason have been victimized by the Joker, and maybe even because the Joker also killed Jason's mom and Sarah Essen, Barbara's step-mother. And Alfred, because he's the GODDAMN Alfred. I do not for one second believe that Jason could or would ever lay a finger on Alfred, and Alfred would have some piercingly effective tough-love and/or tea-and-sympathy for Jason.)
As for other internal drama (that is, within and between our group of heroes who are fighting to save Gotham from itself), you would have everyone's different methods, states of mind, and various stages of grief all clashing and causing friction.
But in the end, they'd find a way to work things out, re-arrange themselves and find their places in the hole in their lives that Bruce's absence has created. They'd all find or figure out where they each want to go from here. Dick decides it's his duty to carry on what Bruce began. Cass decides she needs to learn more about forensics, the justice system, etc, if she wants to be a player on par with Batman and Oracle. Tim decides he wants to travel and cling to the hope that Bruce isn't dead. In Tim's absence, Stephanie says "nuts to this!" and starts wearing purple eggplant again. Oracle decides to re-establish Gotham as her and her team's home base. Catwoman further directs her energies into being more of a Robin Hood, stealing from or busting the very rich, evil and corrupt. Jason decides to get a life. Damien...okay, I don't know what the hell I'd do with Damien. I guess he could be Robin for a while if he weren't such an ass to Alfred.
In any case, it'd be like the complete and total opposite of War Games! Instead of everything going wrong and the bat-family splintering and going madly off in all directions, it would be everyone coming home and uniting to save Gotham together one last time. I cannot think of any better way to honour Batman and his legacy than for his family and friends joining forces, combing their skills and talents, to win (even if temporarily) the fight to which Bruce dedicated his life.
Of course, all of that would mean that the world (or more accurately, the DCU) could survive without Batman. And I gather that the point of all of this is to show us why Bruce Wayne, and only Bruce Wayne, can ever be Batman, why he's important and iconic and all of that. So what I fear is that we're actually going to see our post-RIP bat-heroes fail eventually, and have Bruce, the One True Batman, swoop in and save the day. And I suspect that it will be rather unsatisfying, sadly.
What's weird is that despite my not being very gung-ho about the possibility of a Dick/Babs relationship again, I can totally see it happening and maybe even working with my scenario. In the absence of Batman, the two of them combining forces could more than make up for him. And I think if they're regularly working together like that, and they've both matured and each know themselves better, I can see their not falling into the same problems they had before. Maybe they'd find brand new ones, but I can see the potential for something.
And finally, if I were in charge, if Dick is the new Batman, it would make sense to me if Peter Tomasi was to write him as Batman. Tomasi had such a feel for the character and I think it would be a smooth transition for him to follow Dick from Nightwing to Batman.