At the New York Comic Con a few weeks ago, DC Comics announced a new weekly Batman series called Batman: Eternal, which will start up in February. The book will have regular Batman writer Scott Snyder acting as the book’s show runner along with frequent collaborator James Tynion IV, with a host of others taking point on much of the plotting and script-work. It’s an interesting way to run a weekly comic book series, one that mirrors some of DC’s previous attempts with a structure in place that shows the company has learned from past mistakes. Whether it succeeds or fails in building a cohesive narrative without monopolizing the time of all creators attached remains to be seen, this will be an interesting series to read. That said, I can’t help but wonder what this book would read like if it took it’s inspiration from my current favourite weekly periodical: 2000AD.

2000AD is a British science-fiction anthology series that began in 1977. Filled to the brim with high octane stories that ranged from the deadly serious to darkly humourous to straight up slapstick, the series has grown over the years to become of the Britian’s most successful comics publication. Much of this success has to do with the title’s flagship character, Judge Dredd. Developed for the series at it’s conception, Dredd arrived in the second issue (or Prog, as is the book’s vernacular) and has been a staple ever since, skipping just three subsequent editions of the series. These days, Dredd headlines the weekly as the anchor series, as well as a companion monthly entitled Judge Dredd Megazine. Between the pair of publications, Dredd has been featured in well over 2100 stories. The remainder of both periodicals is divided between different ongoing and not-so-ongoing serials and one-shots, all shades of a similar style and format. Each feature runs anywhere from 5-6 pages in 2000AD, where the weekly narrative better supports shorter morsals. Over in the Megazine, the stories are a bit longer - but not by much - to accommodate for the monthly schedule, and the larger page count.

Combined, 2000AD and the Megazine form an ongoing narrative of sorts. Anchored by Dredd and Mega City One (the city in which Dredd operates), the series and the characters progress in real time, and each Dredd story and spin-off counts towards the larger narrative structure. This results in some brilliant storytelling where plot-lines can be seeded years in advance, sometimes gestating slowly, sometimes bursting forth with violent ferocity. Much of this incredible world building can be laid at the feet of John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd, who has been with the series off and on since the beginning. While many writers take turns telling Judge Dredd stories, they all seem to be working from the same roadmap and playing the same game. Certain inconsequential seeming Progs will turn out to be quite vital to Mega City One’s future as twists slowly formulate over weeks and months. That said, the series is never that hard to jump onto - once every several months, the editors line things up for an Prog where all the features are brand new, allowing for easy access for new or lapsed readers - though I would say that even without this program in place, 2000AD would be easy enough to jump onto.

Despite it’s weekly nature, and the fact that many of it’s stories are serialized anywhere from 3 to 13 weeks at a time (sometimes more, if the book is in the midst of a “Dredd Epic”), the 5-6 page morsels are more than filling. The writers and artists work within the structure beautifully to provide you with enough story that you remain satisfied when you reach the episode’s end. If it’s a particularly great serial, you’ll also find yourself frothing at the mouth for more. (My reactions to Zombo and Gunheadz were particularly potent.) It’s a great format that keeps readers coming back for more, week in and week out - and I think it would be the perfect format for a monthly superhero book. More specifically, I think it would be the perfect format for a Batman title.

2000AD’s, ongoing Mega City One narrative and DC’s ongoing Batman narrative share a lot in common. While DC would never have Batman occur in real time (2000AD gets a lot of leeway with Dredd due to all the crazy future life-extending technology at their ficticious fingertips), they both attempt to present an ongoing narrative set (by and large) in a singular setting. Batman: Eternal is said to specifically explore Gotham and those who don’t often get a proper spotlight in the confines of a monthly serial - already, it seems like they’re hewing a little closer to a 2000AD structure. Where I know the books will differ, is how they use their pages. A regular issue of 2000AD would have 5 different stories, making for a rough page count of 26 comic pages. If Batman: Eternal sticks to format, it will run 20 pages with a singular continuing narrative through-out. I think it would be amazing if DC went full on 2000AD and aped their structure more specifically, tweaking things a little to account for the different audience expectations they have here in North America. After all, if you ran a weekly book called Batman, you would be strung up if you had Batman only appear in 6 pages - even on a weekly basis. The end result would be the same: you would get a full 24 (and sometimes 30) page Batman story by month’s end; but North Americans aren’t a patient lot. We want our heroes, we want our stories, and we want them now. That said, I think if DC ran a Batman weekly with 10 pages of Batman, followed by two 5 page rotating features, they would come out pretty unscathed. The trick would be to emulate 2000AD storytelling, rather than what is currently offered over here.

In the past, most anthologies, weekly or otherwise, have taken longer stories and chopped them up into smaller pieces without so much as a though given to how those smaller chunks will read. 2000AD has a style where each serialized part still manages to feel whole, even as it spurs you onto the next part. The weekly is put together incredibly well in this way, and it’s longevity and relative health speaks volumes of their methods. If DC could do that with Batman, or hell, if Marvel could do that with Spider-Man, I would read the crap out of those books - and I think a lot of other people would too. The only problem, really, would be distribution. The direct market place is no place for a weekly series - at least one that’s not returnable. A discussion about distribution methods will be another article in and of itself. For now, I just like the idea. I like the potential of seeing a series like this, one that happens at a rapid, pace, one that counts, and one that leaves room for other characters to feature on a rotating basis. If any of the larger comic book publishers could make this happen, I would be extremely happy. That said, there’s a reason why I don’t run comic book companies, so… you know, take all of that with a grain of salt.