Why isn’t the rest of the world tired of this guy who should go to therapy instead of crouching on rooftops and brooding in shadows?
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It’s 1985. I’m four-going-on-five years old and wearing my Batman pajamas, complete with Velcro-on cape. My little sister, only two years old, is decked out on in her Robin pajamas. She’s the little one, so naturally she’s the sidekick. We’re fighting crime in our apartment the old fashioned way: by bouncing on the bed as much as possible. Because we’re also smart superheroes, we put pillows down around the bed, in case we fall. Genius.
Then it happens: that evil villain Gravity grabs my sister and she crashes to the ground in the one spot without pillows. She breaks her arm in two places.
That is my first real memory of Batman.
When our brush with the Bat-life happened, Batman had already been around for more than 45 years. This year is the 75th anniversary of the character, who was created in 1939 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. If you’re a comic book reader, you can barely walk into your local comic shop or open up a comic app without tripping over something Batty. (Then again, someone recently told me that “Guardians of the Galaxy” really flew under the radar, so I guess maybe my point of view is skewed.)
Not as much as hipsterish attitudes are overrated.
I’m amazed a rich white male can still be viewed with sympathy.
Anyone can be sympathized with given the right circumstances.
I know a lot of people who might agree with your assessment but I feel there’s also a lot that you left out about Batman as well. There are changes that Bruce goes through that do have a great impact on him, most notably being the death of Jason Todd, which in Bruce’s eyes is his greatest defeat (probably second now that Damian Wayne, his own son died) In Batman and Robin Vol 4. Requiem for Damien the entire first couple of pages have absolutely no dialogue and you get to see the pain of a father that has lost… Read more »