REVIEW: The Wedding of Batman & Catwoman in ‘Batman #50′

Batman fans and comic book readers have been waiting for this issue for too long. Despite the dragging stories in between, DC Comics has finally released the most anticipated wedding in comic book history. The Dark Knight, who is probably the last person in the DC Universe whom the fans thought would marry last, finally found his match in Catwoman. It is exactly the wedding you never thought would happen.

After all the variant cover announcements and the promotional materials, DC Comics come out flat in the most embarrassing way. The issue is a little disappointing since fans were expecting a “happy ending” after all the hype. The New York Times spoiler fanned the flame and made the situation worse for comic book readers, in general. Batman #50 is definitely a PR nightmare.

Nonetheless, the story is still good and I think that it is Tom King’s best-published work at the moment. After reading the book over and over again, the highly criticized issue started to grow on me. The story has an open-ending which doesn’t clearly scrape off the idea of a happily ever after for the star-crossed lovers.

King sees a bigger picture and Batman #50 validates that vision. He cares about each and every character he writes. He doesn’t drop them off after serving the character’s purpose. To the contrary, he develops each character no matter how big or small, villain or hero, main or supporting character. Batman #50 proves that by bringing back Bane and Holly Robinson. After receiving a beating from the Dark Knight, do you really think that Bane would let that slip by? This is where I believe King did a great job.

Another thing that made the book bad is the stunt that they pulled with multiple guest-artists. It felt like DC Comics was trying to celebrate something with those interior pages drawn by talented artists like Frank Miller, Lee Bermejo, and Neal Adams just to name a few. The only important thing that happened in this issue was the breaking of the bat in a different level. Is it something worth celebrating? No, I don’t think celebrating misery is a modern trend.

Overall, Batman #50 has a good story and an intriguing ending but it also suffered from poor marketing and false advertising. DC should have realized that fans have been waiting for this since Batman #24. They can’t expect the fans to wait for 50 more issues to see what happens between Batman and Catwoman. Nonetheless, I think King is highly invested with these characters and that it is doubtful that it will end this way. This is another purpose for this and it excites me to see what King has underneath his sleeves.