Batman: Murdered By Bankruptcy
As in writing bankruptcy.
Bruce Wayne – who by night is Batman – gets murdered by a man claiming to be the father he thought was dead.
In a highly controversial new storyline Bruce, who first appeared in 1939, is killed by Simon Hurt – the leader of the shady Black Glove organisation.
Simon claims he is really Dr Thomas Wayne, saying he faked his own passing when Bruce was a child.
That’s about as bankrupt as possible.
Previously here:
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Mike Cane 2008 
November 29, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I’d say that whoever wrote that article has not been keeping up with this storyline except the latest issue, and has a serious reading comprehension problem. Also, the picture they ran with the article is highly misleading. It just shows the bullet bouncing off of the bulletproof clothing Batman wears under his costume.
Simon Hurt is definitely not Thomas Wayne. He says many outrageous things throughout the storyline in order to psychologically shake Batman. (For example, at one point he claims that he skinned alive an actor and wore the actor’s skin to a party.) Nothing has been shown in the storyline to validate the claim that Hurt is Thomas Wayne, and he appears way too young to be Bruce Wayne’s father. He also tells Batman that his group has planted fake documents and photographs about Bruce Wayne’s family, and “Your mother, your father, your faithful butler, Alfred — All will stand revealed as drug addicts, perverts, criminals.” Now, if he was really Thomas Wayne, wouldn’t he just say “I” instead of “your father?” He then says that if “Batman agrees to serve the Black Glove and willingly dedicates his life to the corruption of virtue” the documents and pictures will disappear. When Batman refuses the deal, Hurt says “Not even for them?” Again, if he was really Thomas Wayne, he would have said “us” instead of “them.”
There are numerous hints sprinkled throughout the storyline that suggest the real identity of Simon Hurt is… the Devil, or someone crazy enough to believe that he is the Devil. He tells Batman, “I am the hole in things, Bruce. The enemy, the piece that can never fit, there since the beginning.” Joker tells Hurt “devil is double is deuce, my dear doctor. and joker trumps deuce.” As Joker leaves Hurt and the Black Glove, he says “pleased to meet you,” an obvious reference to the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil.”
The so-called “death” of Batman is also not shown. It’s the classic “we see the helicopter exploding and falling into the water, but the bodies are never seen” gambit. Anyone with a working knowledge of comic book storytelling can tell that it means he’s not really dead.
November 30, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Thanks for that very detailed Comment. I should have known better than to trust the MSM when it comes to a niche story that requires actual expertise and prior knowledge!