First off, I have no problem with the fact John Blake (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an amalgamated version of all the Robins. It makes sense. If Tim Drake is someone's favorite, for example, then they can see the qualities they like in Tim in Blake. Same goes for Dick or Jason. Maybe not Damian. Ha.. or Stephanie or Carrie for that matter.



But in my extended head movies, I have the various versions of the Robins and, to me, only Dick has dibs on inheriting the Batman name upon the immediate resignation (or faked death) of Bruce. So I chose to reconcile all of that.



I also noted a lot of people are in debate as to whether he should be Nightwing or Batman. It kind of doesn't make sense for him to change the name of the mantle.. but I didn't see anything wrong with adding in Nightwing elements WHILE he was proving himself worthy (hence the suit)



There was a whole lot more backstory planned for this piece but I couldn't fit it all into one page. I wanted to get more than a mention of Lucius in there, but couldn't squeeze it in. Also wanted to mention that Robin was interacting with the orphanage just upstairs from his headquarters. In any case, it is a 'to be continued' into the next character study of my extended Nolanverse story.

- One thing I refused to include was the idea that tragedy seems to be Helena's drive in all her incarnations (even the BoP TV show!) And I'm adamant that I retain Bruce and Selina's happy ending. So if there is some kind tragedy that occurs in Helena's life, it will not involve her parents who will continue to live on in post-movie bliss.



- Bruce and Selina being in Italy at the end of TDKR really paved the way for them to adopt the 'Bertinelli' guise. Thus the nice amalgamation of Helena W. and Helena B.



- I dig the idea that she took her Mom and Pop's costume and essentially mashed them together. She took the Bat belt, somehow melded it to the Cat belt, and painted it purple. She nabbed her mom's thief suit because she didn't want to be weighed down by her father's armor. But she did adopt his Memory Cloth cape.



- Helena improved her mother's goggles (notice the new hotness infrared visor rotates up to shape her bat ears)



- NBC Community fans may recognize the audience members in panel 2.



- Helena, like her parents, has brown hair.



- Helena has way more facial features from her mom. (Admittedly because Christian Bale's sharp features may be dashing - but don't make for a very pretty girl)



- I like the idea Linda Hemming presented in an interview concering Bruce and Selina wearing colorful clothing. This signified they had made it.. that they had let go of their former lives. So in order to keep with that theme, Helena is going in the opposite direction. So in each panel, her outfit is getting darker.



- I kind of regret I didn't give her a more youthful body build. But I wanted to give her a physique that's somewhere between Catwoman and Batwoman. Plus I was watching the Olympics and was inspired a bit by the ever bad-ass Hope Solo.

Ok this is probably where I lose some people. A.) Because there's a lot of Damian haters out there.. and B.) Because what I propose in this particular piece is a little outlandish. Namely, Talia being pregnant AND her baby somehow miraculously surviving.



But Little D is a personal favorite of mine, and I also like to entertain the idea that once the credits rolled on TDKR, the audience can continue the story no matter what. And the potential that Damian poses in the Nolanverse was just too juicy of a subject to not explore.



Some notes:



- At first I regretted that Bruce isn't represented in the piece. But then I found the fact of his absence kind of fitting. If Damian was going to break free from his programming, he'd be doing it either on his own or with the help of John Blake Batman. Plus, it makes this piece a kind of polar opposite of the Huntress piece, who is very much a product of being Bruce's daughter



- Purposely kept Talia's possible survival kind of vague. For people that hope for it, then she probably did. For people that don't buy it, then fine.



- Die-hards will probably recognize the remaining members of the League of Shadows



- Shiva is again being played by the wifey



- The sword Damian is carrying is a Philippine blade called the Kampilan. It looks crazy, but it's very real.

With a Nolanized Harley Quinn I wanted to do a couple things:



- To keep as much of her original design as possible. I'm not sure what drives people to redesign her. Don't get me wrong - I dig her look in Arkham City. But there's something very pure and elegant about her O.G. Bruce Timm look. (Note I just said Arkham City. The Arkham Asylum look is bearable. The New 52 look is horrid.) Plus in TDK they kept the Joker's outfit pretty much intact, so I figured this would be a nice parallel. It's not exact, of course (circus tights might be a stretch) - but I kept the major shapes and where the reds and blacks go.



- Make her outfit something you can feasibly buy at any goth store. I guarantee you can go to Melrose or the Haight and buy something far more outlandish then what I've presented here. In her origin from the animated series, she literally goes to a store and grabs all the necessary pieces for her costume in one swoop.



- Kind of predictable, but I did give her half of a cut smile. But I wanted her to be more surgical about it so I had her use a scalpel (Which is what she's holding in this image. Those aren't butter knives.)



The idea came to me because in Nolan's world, Batman's sorta sidekick took over the job. So why not Joker's sorta sidekick also do the same?



I can't take any credit for the story beats here. It's really a mish-mash of Paul Dini's Mad Love, The Dark Knight Returns (Joker's state of mind) and a bit of David Mack's Kabuki: Metamorphosis (which is an excellent read, btw)

Really wanted a beautifully tragic Shakespearean dynamic with the fate of the Gordon family. Where one becomes an embodiment of the weight of guilt and trauma his father carries erupting. The other is the embodiment of her father's hope and goodness. Note that both sides of this piece are imperfect mirrors of each other.



Some notes..



James Gordon Jr./Two-Face II



- I felt a little bad about this. The actor that portrayed Little James Projected a sweet kind of innocence in TDK. That being said, that's what makes this all the more tragic.



- The "death" of Dent really leaves a Two-Face void in the Nolan universe. People that follow my ish will remember I had Det. Ramirez as the next Two-Face, but I felt this was way more impactful.



- He's wearing an actual Cleveland State University sweater (notice the mascot is slashed)



- There's been several points in the comics where Harvey Dent scars himself to become Two-Face... something that really resonated in me so wanted it to happen in this universe.



- This is heavily influenced by the Batman story 'The Black Mirror' by Scott Snyder. Except little James here is far less psychotic. But I really wanted to push that it's more trauma that drives him here, and not born psychosis.



Barbara Gordon Jr./Batgirl



- I'm assuming some will complain I didn't put Barbara in her usual skin-tight outfit. But I strongly believe that the heart of her story is that she made the Batgirl suit herself. It wasn't until later did she have any kind of Wayne funded equipment. She made do with what she had at her disposal. And logically, she'd have access to police-related equipment. So, being the clever girl she is, she spliced some riot gear with a wing suit. Sure you could say I super "Nolanized" her look, but above all of the Bat family she really had to do it all alone.



- For people still not happy, they'll notice in the last panel she eventually does get a more hi-tech suit once she hooks up with the new Batman.



- Heavily influenced by Gail Simone's Batgirl#0.

Recently CMB member IgnurRant has posted these fan made photos of a fan vision of what he thinks could happen after. When I saw them I loved them. They were so well put together. The backgrounds and stories for each character were great. I decided to do a little research about it. Turns out fan Ben Deguzman put together backgrounds and stories in a comic strip format for some characters. Here are his designs and some notes of his for what he used as insipration. You have to check these out.I have to say that this is very well put together. Somehow he says he will make a Tim Drake, Jason Todd, and Poison Ivy version. My favorite has to be the Gordon kids how one event makes them both go 2 different directions. Whata re your thoughts and which is your favorite? Comment below. Peace.