Why Consistent Characterization is Important
I’ll be honest: I went into Damian: Son of Batman with more than a little trepidation. There are a few reasons for this. The first – and most obvious – is that Damian is no longer with us, and since he was killed off in Batman Incorporated earlier this year, my affection for the character has only grown. It’s not that I’ve come to distrust DC’s handling of characters that aren’t the Trinity, but… okay, no, that’s exactly it. I went into the book wary of what DC was going to try to pull. The second reason is that the book is both written and drawn by Andy Kubert. Doing double-duty as writer and penciller means that the book is entirely Kubert’s vision, but the sword is double-edged; he has to handle a lot with this book, and I worried going in that it would be too much to tackle. Even knowing Kubert’s history with the character – he was the artist working with Grant Morrison when Damian was created – I worried that something would fall through the cracks. The third reason that I was nervous is that this story doesn’t happen in canon. It’s essentially an Elseworld, a DC-sponsored alternate universe that takes place in a world in which Damian didn’t die. That means that the rules are a lot more lax, and Kubert would be allowed a lot more leeway with what he could and couldn’t do in the story. Add to that the fact that Kubert revealed over the summer that he’s been planning this series for years – and thus, that it’s not something that grew organically out of the character’s story as we now know it – and I was understandably apprehensive about the book. As it turns out, my fears were justified.