Batman #686

It was all a dream... Batman will wake up next to Robin and everything will be okay.

@chlop HAHAHA..good one.

They are stories. It's not really real... it's just a dreamlike way of look at the Batman mythology through different lenses. That's why you have various time periods. In one panel, the Joker is the Animated Series version of the Joker. They are all fictions, but there are truths within -- just like any good story. Trying to fit this into continuity is going to make it impossible to enjoy -- it's like fitting a dream into your waking life, ya know?

I just dont understand why we have to see so many incarnations of these characters. I get it now it's a loosely based on Superman's end story by Moore....But I just didnt feel the need for any of this. Last Rites or 'The Butler Did it' by Morrison did a much better job doing those references and showing his impact to Gotham.

Isnt the Omega Sanction beam that Batman was shot with suppose to force him to live in a constant state of alternate lives that always end badly? Mr. Miracle escapes such a fate in soldiers of fortune. Way I see it this issue depicts the alternate lives that Batman is having to endure. I could be totally off base however.

@TNC - these tales are entirely different different from Morrison's and IMHO they're told better. MOrrison was trying do examine different eras of the Batman, but he was trying to make sense of it all through some weird meta-pop filters. Gaiman is playing more with the ideas of myth, of storytellers spinning tales. But as you noted, he's telling really good linear stories within this context. That for me, is why this is a win.

Also: this story isn't really based on Moore's story, except in the most basic theme -- Moore was allowed to tell an out-of-continuity "imaginary" story, and Gaiman is doing his version of that. And Gaiman's sweet spot is stories, myths, and legends, and how sometimes fiction can be true even if it never really happened. So that's the approach he's taking. 

I guess because this story is set in the regular Batman book, people expect it to be in continuity (and rightly so). If this was a seperate 2 issue mini-series & people knew it was an Esleworlds style story, it might save some confusion ... & it would also stop people unwarily buying this kind of thing if they are not interested in it.

Please read my comment I left in the robbydzwonar review. The same answer fits here as well. This book in my opinion is one of the best I've read in the past 12 months. ***** stars. 

@Wade: There is a good point, why is this in the main Bat books? Why isnt this a 2 issue mini or a complete one-shot? Again I am not usually a guy who is like 'OMG! Why isnt this in continuity!?' But clearly this is a Golden Age setting, but it mixes in modern age characters.....Again it just doesnt make sense to me on when or where this is suppose to take place.

Other then that I loved the Alfred story, but it would've been more suited for a one-shot then a main series.

Maybe part 2 will answer some of your questions.

As for why this story isn't a mini series: it doesn't really need to be. Detective Comics, Batman, Action Comics, Superman have a long history of random stories that aren't always progressing in linear continuity. But again, I'd bet part 2 answers what's going on and if not, then it's just an out of continuity story. Simple as that.

"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" was also in the main books. And it was not in continuity. They're just following suit. It's after Batman's death, so I think it's a fair place to have a dream-like story that's not set firmly in one time/place. But hey, that's just me. I think "continuity" is waaay overrated.

I have to agree with you, TNC... it was just blah, not what you'd expect from Gaiman dipping his toe in the DCU pool.

Again, for a guy who loves to dissect Morison's meta musings and increases his score when he understands the story, you sure come down hard on a pretty straight forward allegorical tale about the Batman mythos.

Again, your bias is showing.