The Man Underneath the Cowl
Tom King is one of the best Batman writers of all time. In fact, comicbook readers gave preferential attention to Batman comics over any other comics since writing duties were given to King.
Prior to King's Batman run, Batman comics was one of the few DC comics that kept the company afloat. The creative team of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and FCO Placencia has taken the industry by storm with their epic story arcs like The Court of Owls (FCO excluded), Zero Year, and Endgame.
King have big shoes to fill. Snyder and Capullo has set the standard for Batman stories. Anything not of equal spectacular than the New 52 run will be considered as a disappointment by most Batman readers. King took the challenge left by his predecessors by re-establishing Batman's humanity.
Batman #1 (2016) isn't the first time that King handled the Caped Crusader. King, together with Tim Seeley, wrote Batman as a supporting character in Grayson. The 21-issue run of Grayson (King and Seeley wrote issues 1-18) is an undercover spy story which puts Dick Grayson under a new persona to infiltrate Spyral. King flourished in these kind of story telling as he worked for the CIA for several years.
While Grayson is very different from Batman titles, King, nevertheless, thrived writing Batman comics. Probably, the main reason why readers love his work is that he humanized Batman and made him more relatable. This is not to say that other reiterations of Batman is not good. Come to think of it, for the longest time, Batman stories have relied so much on deus ex machina plot twists making him undefeatable and god-like. While those stories provide unforgettable moments in Batman history, the same failed to connect with the readers. King, through the re-establishment of Batman's humanity, was able to connect the readers to Batman by putting the latter in situations closer to human experience.
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Yes, Tom King is one of the best Batman writers of all time because he understood that there is a man underneath the cape and the cowl. Arcs like "I am Bane," "Rooftops," "War of Jokes and Riddles," and "Superfriends" have real-life situations as the central core of the story. Because of a more relatable stories, the message hit close to home.
Batman's humanity is his superpower. His ability to stand after falling down comes from his determination to survive as a human being and his perseverance to achieve his goal. Most of the Batman stories tell that Batman is the pinnacle of the human body. King, on the other hand, shows to his readers that Batman IS a human being--capable of succumbing to temptation and of falling in love.
This is the Batman which we can relate to. Genuine human emotions best exemplifies that Batman is a man to begin with. Yes, Batman achieved the status of a "god" in the DC Universe, but let us not forget that he is just like us. King constantly reminds us that we can be Batmen if we wanted to. And this is why Tom King is one of the best Batman writers of all time. He explored the human aspect of the Bat.
Paolo Ollero, 28, working law student, a comicbook enthusiast and a Batman historian, is one of the co-founder of The Dark Knight Philippines -- the premier Batman group in the country. He also contributes reviews and write-ups in Geekend Gladiator and Flipgeeks.
