Tie ins

I used to get excited over tie ins but now I'm starting to dread them. I don't really count things like the Requiem issues since they didn't take over the story and the actual tie in sections were usually very brief. Or in the case of RHATO didn't happen in the story it's self but had a cover saying it did, which I didn't mind given the plot. Sometimes it makes sense like for the Booster Gold title to tie into JLGL, Flashpoint or have a mini series that connects to The Return of Bruce Wayne. They don't always have much in terms of the characters doing something that directly relates to main plot but we can get something enjoyable out of it. I liked the Flashpoint/Booster story and the TMVP mini series. I would have loved for Booster to do more for the actual plots of the main storylines for both of those but hey at least I enjoyed what I got.

More about the Batman titles tie ins under the cut.



In terms of Bat related books there's far too many tie ins. Night of the Owls? I actually liked the RHATO issue but the concept of every title related to Batman fighting a Talon wears thin. Some of the characters involved didn't have to be there so while it made sense for Gotham based heroes having the others all just happen to be there? It doesn't work to well when you think about it. Still I was fine with the ones I read (RHATO, Catwoman and Batwing.) Then came Death of the Family. While I don't care for the main story I can understand the tie ins based on the plot. Still it doesn't make sense if you read it against the Batman title since Joker defeated all of them before Batman arrived at Arkham. Even so he was gunning for the family and a lot of them have history with him. Again I liked what I got (Batman and Robin, RHATO, and TT.) But the timing with Inc. was disastrous.

Now we have a whole month without any of the main books to focus on the villains. Most of these books will be $3.99 except for the issues (second printing?) without the 3D covers (I recently found out about this happening due to retailer ordering.) Still it's annoying because you miss out of your favorite books but still some might connect to the current storyline due to it sharing the same villain. But what happens two months later? Year Zero. It's an idea I wish stayed with Snyder because nothing I've heard about the tie ins has me the least bit interested and I have a feeling the writers didn't get much of a say either. Why do I think that? Because Gail Simone wasn't asked to write the Batgirl story, they already had someone else in mind. I was starting to breathe easier when my bat title wasn't named with Nightwing and Batgirl. But guess what? Yeah it was announced.

Right away I'm getting a bad feeling over it. The cover revealed it even before the interview with writer James Tynion the Fourth did, it connects to the back up to Batman #0 he did. One that I can't stand due to Jason being written as a moron that panics and gets strong armed into a stupid situation his character wouldn't do before Tynion came along. It's safe to say this interview doesn't ease my fears, quite the opposite. When a mysterious figure is mentioned...I can see this going very bad for a number of reasons. If it's Talia that's more manipulation and makes their connection even weirder since it means she stalked him before he even met Bruce. It would be interesting if a good take of Noctuna was done. Oh yeah and this will be $3.99? All the year zero tie ins?