Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
| "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" | |
|---|---|
Cover of Batman 686 (Apr, 2009). Art by Andy Kubert.
|
|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Publication date | April 2009 |
| Genre | |
| Title(s) |
Batman #686 Detective Comics #853 |
| Main character(s) | Batman |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Neil Gaiman |
| Penciller(s) | Andy Kubert |
| Inker(s) | Scott Williams |
| Letterer(s) | Jared Fletcher |
| Colorist(s) | Alex Sinclair |
| Editor(s) | Mike Marts Janelle Siegel |
| Hardcover | ISBN |
| Paperback | ISBN |
"Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" is a 2009 story featuring the DC Comics character Batman. The story is published in two parts, in the "final" issues of the series Batman (#686) and Detective Comics (#853), released February and April respectively. Written by Neil Gaiman, pencilled by Andy Kubert, and inked by Scott Williams, the story is purported to be the "last" Batman story in the wake of severe psychological trauma that Batman endures within the Batman R.I.P. story, and his ultimate fate in Final Crisis.
The story's title is a reference to the backup stories published in DC Comics Presents from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s (which revisited various long-unused Golden Age and Silver Age characters; these stories were all titled "Whatever Happened to (x)?") akin to writer Alan Moore's "last" Superman story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?.
Gaiman described the job as something he had to take part in. "It's one of those things where they phoned me up and said, 'This is what's going to be happening with Batman. Would you like to write the last issue of Batman and the last issue of Detective Comics? And when they make an offer like that, you say yes."
Gaiman asked artist Andy Kubert to make the artwork throughout the series represent various eras of notable artists that had worked on Batman. Major names of mention by Kubert include Jerry Robinson, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, and of course, Batman's co-creator Bob Kane.
...
Wikipedia