All this summer, readers of Batman have been wondering: Would Catwoman say yes?
This June, Bruce Wayne got down on one knee and popped the question to his long-time flame, Selina Kyle. But instead of giving us her answer immediately, Batman writer Tom King took the book in a different direction entirely, as Bruce sat down with Selina to tell her a secret he wanted her to hear before she made her decision.
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for Batman #32.]
King has focused on a singular theme since his run on Batman began alongside the rest of DC’s Rebirth initiative in June of 2016. If Batman’s character is defined by trauma, what would happen to him if he actually tried to heal himself? At San Diego Comic-Con, he said that in about 100 issues, he’d like to tell a story of Batman trying to find happiness.
“I believe you constantly have to work on yourself,” King told me when I sat down with him today at New York Comic Con. “You constantly have to try to evolve — but you don’t evolve ... You’re always pushing that rock up the hill and it’s always falling down. [But] that doesn’t mean you stop pushing the rock. I think that’s what it is for Batman. He’s working on his issues, he’s working on who he is, he’s trying to be a better man. But that quest may be quixotic. That may be a foolish journey he’s going on, but he doesn’t know it. And he’s willing to give it a try.”
And this week the Caped Crusader got a big step further on that journey, when Batman #32 revealed that even after hearing his terrible secret, Catwoman said she would gladly marry him.
But now there’s a new uncertainty hanging in the air: How long until the sturm and drang of comics brings Batman and Catwoman’s relationship to the chopping block in the name of drama? It’s a familiar question for comics fans.
So I asked King himself. Naturally, he couldn’t give me a specific answer — he wasn’t about to give away the secrets of his own run, and of course couldn’t speak for writers who would come after him. But he did have plenty to say on the idea that being happy would make Batman boring.
“You add happiness to Batman; you’re creating conflict. Because he as a character is fueled by pain,” King said. “He turns pain into hope, so what does a machine that turns pain into hope do when it’s fed happiness? When it’s fed joy? You give joy to Superman and he’s like ‘Yay, more joy in my life,’ that’s just another day. You give joy to Batman and it’s like ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’
“When you point Batman in the direction of the end of conflict, you’re actually pointing to greater conflict. I can’t make Batman darker than Frank Miller. I can’t make him crazier than Grant Morrison. That’s not new territory, you’ve seen that before, that’s boring.
“There’s no conflict in having Batman be sad. There’s conflict in having Batman be happy.”