A few years back, I got to speak with cartoonist Tom Batiuk about the fortieth anniversary of his strip, Funky Winkerbean. And then something happened that doesn't often happen to comic strip artists.

When I saw that there was an old-school Archie once more on the shelves, I made a mad dash to pick it up. My son fell in love with Archie Comics just in time for them to be too mature for him to read, so he's been grabbing up all the new digests and back-issues at used book stores.

I've really been enjoying the METAL one-shots, and the overall big picture, high concept of the thing really intrigued me. It was like hearing a Grant Morrison pitch, and I love all the big picture, high concept ideas of Grant Morrison.

DC is teaming up with Archie Comics (after teaming up with IDW, Dynamite, and Dark Horse -- gosh is there somebody missing from all the company-crossover fun? Let's marvel over that for a moment...) to bring us the team-up that nobody demanded: Harley & Ivy and Betty & Veronica!

Your name is Bruce Wayne. You're just a kid. And you're kneeling over the broken, bleeding bodies of your parents as their murderer runs away down the alley.

At that particular moment, something happens. Something formative.

So here's the thing with DARK NIGHTS: METAL. It's the latest chapter in a continuing idyll that began with FINAL CRISIS and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. That's going back to 2009, and continuing on through The New 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE series. That's an 8 year story-arc for those keeping track on fingers and toes.

Tim Drake, aka Robin III, made his debut in a storylne called "A Lonely Place of Dying." Then he became Red Robin in the New 52 version of the DC Universe, retaining that identity into the Rebirth version.

And then he decided to give it up. Which happened almost moments before he was killed.

How much trouble can you attract with just 140 characters?

Since the advent of Twitter, millions of us have been given the chance to find that out, venting our frustrations and clicking the ol' submit button before having a cooler head.

Could there be two more kindred spirits that Diana of Themyscira and Conan of Cimmeria? It's too bad they are kept apart by years and publishers.

I've been following just enough of METAL to know a little about what's going on. That's enough to enjoy the tie-in books, especially the one that involves two of my favorite characters in the DC Universe, Batman and The Flash.