The end of an Age? Gaiman on Batman

Neil Gaiman is going to be writing a Batman story in 2009. The title "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?",is ominous and calls back to "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" which was the last Pre-Crisis Superman story written by Alan Moore before Superman was rebooted by John Byrne. [Link]

The slide announcing the project and team was met with loud applause at the panel, and while seeing Gaiman return to comics is a big deal, for DC fans, the announcement is something of a bigger deal.

Why? The title – it’s an obvious homage/reference to 1986’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” written by Alan Moore, with art by Curt Swan, George Perez and Kurt Schaffenberger. The two issue story, which spanned Superman and Action Comics was a loving tribute by Moore to Superman, and is easily among Superman fans top five all time Superman stories.

Essentially, Moore’s story closed the chapter on an entire age of Superman, ending the character’s Silver Age continuity in preparation for the reboot helmed by John Byrne. Is history going to repeat itself in Gotham City?

This could be huge. Is Final Crisis leading to a reboot?