History YMMV / BatmanTomKing

* DesignatedHero: Perhaps the biggest complaint most people have with this run post-Issue #50 is how hard it makes it to root for Bruce at all. His treatment of his family after [[spoiler:the failed engagement]] became so abusive that it made several readers very uncomfortable, especially considering the fact that he never really gets called out on it or apologizes for it, or, in fact, suffers any real consequences for it. The blanket excuse of Bane [[spoiler:and Thomas Wayne]] manipulating him is obviously supposed to be a patch on that, except it actually makes Bruce even ''more'' unsympathetic, because said manipulation would've never worked if the issues in those relationships hadn't ''already been there''. The fact that he's acting worse than he was when Jason, and later Damian died (two other notable instances of Bruce's emotional instability) does not help matters, and makes him look like a self-centered asshole. It's gotten to the point that many people have outright disowned Tom King's Batman just because of how unheroic he's been acting.

** Batburger, the fast food chain capitalizing on Batman and his associated characters. The place's mere existence, though [[OlderThanTheyThink it was actually introduced]] in ''Series/Batman1966'', would have already turned it memetic, but the fact that they have food items and decor themed around ''[[MerchandisingTheMonster active serial killers and terrorists]]'' has led many to incredulously joke about how obscenely [[IncrediblyLamePun tasteless]] the place is.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: It's generally agreed that the general idea of "The Gift" story arc (issues #45-#47), where ComicBook/BoosterGold goes back to the night Batman's parents were killed and unintentionally leads to the present changing due to ForWantOfANail, is a good idea... but the arc does so by having Booster ''stop the murder of Bruce's parents'', which makes Booster look like a moron[[note]]not helping that he cites the actions of Mongul during ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' as an inspiration[[/note]]. Why not have Booster take Bruce back to the night of his parents' murder one last time (which he ''does'' end up doing as part of a plan to revert the timeline) and either have Bruce panic and save his parents, or have Bruce take a photo with his parents so he has a memory of him with them as an adult, causing them to show up in Crime Alley after the time they would've been killed, and have ''that'' change the present?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: It's generally agreed that the general idea of "The Gift" story arc (issues #45-#47), where ComicBook/BoosterGold goes back to the night Batman's parents were killed and unintentionally leads to the present changing due to ForWantOfANail, is a good idea...but the arc does so by having Booster ''stop the murder of Bruce's parents'', which makes Booster look like a moron[[note]]not helping that he cites the actions of Mongul during ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' as an inspiration[[/note]]. Why not have Booster take Bruce back to the night of his Parents murder one last time (which he ''does'' end up doing as part of a plan to revert the timeline) and either have Bruce panic and save his parents, or have Bruce take a photo with his Parents so he has a memory of him with them as an adult, causing them to show up in Crime Alley after the time they would've been killed, and have ''that'' change the present?

** While the premise of Bruce rising up to defeat his enemies after suffering a great deal is interesting, since [[Comicbook/{{Knightfall}} it was done before to great success]], the way it was executed this time was not. This involved Batman's familial connections severed in ways that will really pull a reader's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief[[note]] Dick was shot in the head and became ''Ric'', Jason shooting Penguin and exiled from Gotham by Bruce himself, now currently helping out Luthor, Tim 'dying' and getting punched by Bruce, Katherine shooting Clayface which caused a rift between her and the family, Alfred ''dying'', etc...[[/note]]. It doesn't help that Bruce has been the one that is mostly causing the rifts instead of trying to reason with his family, to the point that it looks like an OutOfCharacterMoment for him and makes him look like a DesignatedHero. This can be explained with him depressed after the wedding fiasco and Bane [[spoiler: and Thomas Wayne]] manipulating events to force Batman to be alone, but fans are just wishing for the arc to end.
** Many fans are not amused by Bruce's declaration that only Selina can give him happiness, considering the above situation with his family and the fact that King tries to push this idea towards readers as the story progresses

* ArcFatigue: After issue 50, many fans are eager to see Tom King’s run end, especially since a lot of things that happen from that point makes the story feel very contrived and shark-jumping, even by Batman’s standards. It notably requires [[IdiotBall every other hero in the Justice League to stand there and do nothing]] [[SupermanStaysOutOfGotham while Gotham gets turned into a craphole]] [[OutOfCharacterMoment and while Bruce suffers]], because apparently “the government told them to” and it requires Bane to be able control Gotham like the Court of Owls out of almost nowhere.

* RomanticPlotTumor: Bruce/Selina arguably became post-Issue #50 after [[spoiler:the wedding was called off]]. Bruce's constant lashing out at everyone, up to and including his own family, for what happened gets tiring real quick to the point of becoming UnintentionallyUnsympathetic, and the fact that he's acting like it's the worst thing that ever happened to him is not helping matters.

* AbandonShipping: Ironically, for a run that practically ran on their development as a couple, a lot of people ended up actually abandoning Bruce/Selina after [[spoiler:the failed wedding]]. This is mostly because of how out-of-control and abusive Bruce started acting afterward, to the point that many believed that Selina was actually better off without him and made the right choice in leaving him. The fact that it also became something of a RomanticPlotTumor also didn't help matters.

** As pointed out by WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall, the changes to the timeline caused by Booster Gold saving Tomas and Martha in "The Gift" don't really make much sense, most notably how Dick Greyson became a murderous Batman in the new timeline.

* FansPreferTheNewHim: Even though it was likely never going to stick around due to StatusQuoIsGod, many fans were saddened by Batman's decision to abandon the well-loved rebirth batsuit in favor of going back to his classic grey and black batsuit in issue #53, with many wishing had he kept it going forward due to many finding it to be a well designed blend of Batman's previous batsuits.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While not a consensus opinion, many decry it as this. It was filled with a surprisingly large number of confusing plots that [[AntiClimax went nowhere]], had a big fixation on a very simple and retreaded idea (Batman not needing to be miserable to be Batman), had strange dialogue decisions that made it hard to read, and was so decompressed that it was the complete inverse of King's usual style (limited series) employed for his acclaimed works. King [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqA5OhFCWNU also]] had to put up with a lot of ExecutiveMeddling in his book that added further to the lower quality, as some of the things he intended to be resolved easily ([[spoiler:Nightwing's [[BoomHeadshot bullet through the head]], originally healed by ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} and Alfred's NeckSnap, originally revealed as a hallucination]]) were mandated by Creator/DanDiDio to last a lot longer ([[spoiler:Nightwing developing amnesia and Alfred dying for real]]). To top it off, Bruce's characterization, which was already contentious in recent years, became flat-out unsympathetic -- instead of a well-meaning but emotionally inept man he's usually characterized as, he came off as a selfish DesignatedHero who abuses the people who love him when he doesn't get his way and was overly obsessed with his relationship with Selina, to the point that he outright claimed that she was the only person who could ever make him happy (completely disregarding the family he built for himself).

%% ** Batburger, the obviously-in-bad-taste restaurant chain.

* AntiClimaxBoss: One of the biggest criticisms of the run, is that King will build up what appears to be a dramatic culmination between Batman and many villains, namely Bane and [[spoiler:Flashpoint Batman]] over every arc, only for the conflict to be resolved strikingly easy or through minimal battle.

** "Kite Man. Hell yeah.", Kite-man's catchphrase gained popularity as he ascended to EnsembleDarkhorse, in part because of its tragic story. Nowadays it's not uncommon to see Kite-Man related comments on the internet without someone else replying "Hell Yeah".

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Kite Man's oft-quoted CatchPhrase after Issue #27 reveals its origin: [[spoiler:it's a tribute to Kite Man's son, who was murdered by the Riddler.]]

* {{Wangst}}: Watching Bruce mope around after [[spoiler:Selina ditches him]] and acting like a miserable prick is partly why he became he so UnintentionallyUnsympathetic during this run.

* DorkAge: While not a consensus opinion, many decry it as this. It was filled with a surprisingly large number of confusing plots that [[AntiClimax went nowhere]], had a big fixation on a very simple and retreaded idea (Batman not needing to be miserable to be Batman), had strange dialogue decisions that made it hard to read, and was so decompressed that it was the complete inverse of King's usual style (limited series) employed for his acclaimed works. King [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqA5OhFCWNU also]] had to put up with a lot of ExecutiveMeddling in his book that added further to the lower quality, as some of the things he intended to be resolved easily ([[spoiler:Nightwing's [[BoomHeadshot bullet through the head]], originally healed by ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} and Alfred's NeckSnap, originally revealed as a hallucination]]) were mandated by Creator/DanDiDio to last a lot longer ([[spoiler:Nightwing developing amnesia and Alfred dying for real]]). To top it off, Bruce's characterization, which was already contentious in recent years, became flat-out unsympathetic -- instead of a well-meaning but emotionally inept man he's usually characterized as, he came off as a selfish DesignatedHero who abuses the people who love him when he doesn't get his way and was overly obsessed with his relationship with Selina, to the point that he outright claimed that she was the only person who could ever make him happy (completely disregarding the family he built for himself).

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** "Everyone Loves Ivy" is this to both those happy with Poison Ivy's turn to AntiHero and those who felt she ended up EasilyForgiven. [[spoiler: Ivy commits a massive case of WellIntentionedExtremist by brainwashing the entire world, she is still shown to be acting out of severe guilt over the innocent deaths she caused and is painted as a tragic victim more than a monstrous villain. With Harley's help, Batman and Catwoman are able to save her, with Batman telling her that she's not a villain and being sent to a trauma centre to recover. While not everyone is fully satisfied, it's agreed to have been a decent way to appease both sides]].
** The ''[[ComicBook/BatmanPreludeToTheWedding Prelude to the Wedding]]'' tie-ins cover the reactions of some of the Batfamily to the wedding, something that had been been largely absent in the main book.

* ArcFatigue: After issue 50, many fans are eager to see Tom King’s run end, especially since a lot of things that happen from that point makes the story feel very contrived and shark-jumping, even by Batman’s standards. It notably requires [[IdiotBall every other hero in the Justice League to stand there and do nothing]] [[SupermanStaysOutOfGotham while Gotham gets turned into a craphole]] [[OutOfCharacterMoment and while Bruce suffers]], because apparently “the government told them to” and it requires Bane to be able control Gotham like the Court of Owls out of almost nowhere.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: See TooBleakStoppedCaring above. We're clearly supposed to sympathize with Bruce for the gradual deterioration of his relationships with the rest of the Bat-Family after [[spoiler:Selina left him at the altar]], but the fact that Bruce is causing these rifts in ways that make him look, quite frankly, like an asshole are making very few readers sympathize with him. [[spoiler:The aforementioned AssPull about the punch he delivered to Tim was clearly meant to be at least partially an AuthorsSavingThrow to that, but it was poorly executed and contrived, and thus did little to remedy the problem]]. The fact of the matter is, while it's sad that [[spoiler:his relationship with Selina]] ended the way it did, it is absolutely ''no excuse'' to be treating his family in such an abusive manner.

* AntiClimax: One of the biggest criticisms of the run, is that King will build up what appears to be a dramatic culmination between Batman and many villains, namely Bane and [[spoiler:Flashpoint Batman]] over every arc, only for the conflict to be resolved strikingly easy or through minimal battle.

* BrokenBase: Catwoman knowing Superman's identity. It's either a major breaking of the Suspension of Disbelief and just heavily cheapens Superman's need for an identity or a more realistic evolution of Catwoman's skills.

** Even though King only used him for 1 story fans of the Riddler regard his run as this for the character. King's portrayal of Edward Nygma as a CompleteMonster who keeps tabs on people's families in case he wants to murder them later and has no qualms about murdering children in cold blood rubbed a lot of Riddler fans the wrong way.

** Gotham Girl. Some dislike her, as they feel fatigued at yet another young crimefighter joining Batman. Some don't think she's been developed well enough to warrant being the catalyst for the second and third arcs. Others, however, find her story to be appropriately tragic, and that she brings out Batman's best qualities in the end.

** The Wonder Woman portion of the "Supefriends" arc. Some liked seeing Batman and Wonder Woman's relationship and possible attraction towards one another explored. While others felt the story reduced Wonder Woman to an objectified [[HeroicSeductress seductress figure]] to test Batman's loyalty to Catwoman.

* CriticalBacklash: This run has had its serious ups and downs in reputation, starting off with generally high expectations before getting [[SeasonalRot really bogged down by inconsistent characterization, unpopular plot decisions, and serious pacing problems]], ending with audiences practically ''begging'' for it to finally be over with. In the years following the run's end, however, many readers returned to this run to find that it reads better in trade as an ambitious character study marred by ExecutiveMeddling, especially in comparison to more recent Batman works such as James Tynion's run (which many regard as SoOkayItsAverage) and ''ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers'' (whose reception was underwhelming, at best). It helps that a lot of the abusive actions Bruce undertook were in other books, not in the main book itself. It's still a deeply polarizing run (fans still debate the merits of Bruce's psychological journey, the broad treatment of the Bat-Family, as well as the framing of Selina as the only person that can make Bruce happy), but nowadays it's easier to find more fans than when it was first released.

* VindicatedByHistory: Many readers returned to this run to find that it reads not only better in trade as an ambitious character study marred by ExecutiveMeddling, especially in comparison to more recent Batman works such as James Tynion's run (which many regard as SoOkayItsAverage) and ''ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers'' (whose reception was underwhelming, at best). It helps that a lot of the abusive actions Bruce undertook were in other books, not in the main book itself, though most still hate the theme that Selina is the only person that can make Bruce happy.