Batman #684 - DC

Ok, now I understand why Nightwing is getting cancelled. I'm not saying anything bad about Nightwing, but . . if he's going to take Batman's place . . until someone steps up to do it . . he's going to be patrolling Gotham and interacting with Batman's usual cast of supporting characters. In other words . . even though this book is titled Batman . . it reads more like an issue of Nightwing. Hence . . there's no need for 2 books. Which is rather unfortunate . . really. I can see Dick taking up the stack for a little while, but . . I think he wants to be his own man. He appreciates what he's been taught, and he looks up to Bruce as a mentor and a father, but . . . even though he's the logical choice for succession . . . to him it wouldn't feel right. No matter what he did, or what he accomplished, I think that he wouldn't feel that he was ever good enough or big enough to fill the shoes. Plus, he respects Batman. He doesn't want to replace him. Which, I'm afraid, is going to be a bone of contention because . . I don't think he's really going to be all that fond of anyone else trying to replace him either. Right now it seems like he's almost going out of his way to not do things the way that Bruce would have. Even though his way was usually right . . . he doesn't want to be compared. He doesn't mind being the man that Batman trained and mentored, but . . . I don't think he'd ever want to be known as the man who replaced Batman. I also think that we're going to be getting a new heroine in Gotham in the form of Millicent Mayne. I'm not sure what her roles going to be, or how she's going to fit into all of this drama, but . . . I think there's more in store for her than we currently know. Her story is just beginning to unfold. This story-arc was written by Denny O'Neil. I thought it was ok. But like I said, it read like an issue of Nightwing. And I wasn't overly thrilled with Guillem March's art. It was decent, but . . that was about it. Overall, I thought this issue was a little boring compared to recent issues. However, there is going to be some filler here while we get ready for the next big story arc. I can appreciate what they're doing here, tying these stories together with the Detective title, but personally I think the books need their own separate identity. However, we've got a lot of stuff to sort out here so maybe the synchronicity of the titles is the more prudent option. But really . . . I just want to know where Batman is.