BATMAN: Fall Of The Dark Knight #Wattys2016

An aging Batman finally crosses the line and does the one thing he swore he would never do one night during a confrontation with The Joker and his girlfriend Harley Quinn. Bruce Wayne has to deal with the repercussions of his fateful actions as not only the people of Gotham turns on Batman but also his former allies as well, including Gotham's tough-as-nails new mayor and the first Robin Dick Grayson and Gotham's new police commissioner Harvey Bullock who replaces the retired James Gordon. His life slides into further turmoil after the sudden death of his longtime butler and confidant Alfred Pennyworth. Then, just when Bruce finally gets his life back on track with the help of former Catwoman Selina Kyle, he is forced to face an old and deadly foe Bane when he kidnaps Dick's wife and former Batgirl Barbara Gordon and their baby daughter Jane Marie. Armed with an armored Batsuit he created in case Superman ever went rogue called The Hellbat, Bruce Wayne goes into battle one last time as Batman to try to save those he cares about.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Given all the hoopla surrounding the movie Batman v. Superman, I wanted to write my own Batman and/or Superman story. After coming up with different scenarios for my story, including my own version of Batman v. Superman (which I still might write later on), I finally decided on this one (for now at least). I wanted to go beyond the controversial The Killing Joke-where The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl-and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns that show a blatantly darker side of BM. Of course, it will be up to the individual reader if I succeeded or not.