Official Batman Titles thread 2.0 - - Part 11

[WompuM]

That's nice Ccon.

 

[CConn]

.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I don't like Bruce to be over 35.

I actually really liked the 40 year old Batman that was in the previous continuity.

 

[CConn]

I just think that's too old.

It makes him seem too stoic and past his time. Plus, at 40, he's physicality would really start breaking down.

Essentially, it starts putting him closer to a JSAer than a relevant superhero should be, IMO.

 

[The Batman]

I don't like Bruce to be over 35.

Technically, he never gets older than that to begin with. The company line is that Batman is generally in his mid thirties.

And that's how it should be.

 

[CConn]

Yup.

Of course now he's like 30.

 

[WompuM]

So then:
Bruce - 37
Dick - 27
Jason - 24
Tim - 18
Damian - 10

Dick was Robin from, like, age ~11 until 18.
So Jason was Robin from 15-16.
Tim was Robin from 15-18

Doesn't really work. If Dick started being Robin in year 3 of Batman's career, that put's Bruce starting at like 18.

 

[CConn]

I'd go:

Bruce - 35
Dick - 22
Jason - 20
Tim - 18
Damian - 10

Dick was Robin from 12-17
Jason was Robin from 15-16
Tim was Robin from 15-18

That would have Bruce starting at 22, which isn't too bad.

 

[HighFivingMF]

I don't have a problem with it because I don't read Teen Titans.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Well, before Flashpoint they had Bruce start being Batman when he was 25 in Batman: Year One and Grant Morrison had his career span 15+ years. Plus he had a 10 year old son. And Nightwing: Year One had Dick be pretty old too, before Flashpoint he was pushing close to 30.

 

[The Batman]

Grant Morrison still has the best answer on this topic:

"It doesn't matter. You must understand these people aren't real," Morrison said to laughter. "Batman is a mythical figure. I'm being funny, but I'm not being funny. They don't live in the real world."


"We've already got the real world. Why would you want fiction to be like the real world? Fiction can do anything, so why do people always want to say, 'Let's ground this' or 'Let's make this realistic.' You can't make it realistic because it's not. So basically Batman is 75 years old, and Robin is 74 years old. They don't grow old because they're different from us. They're paper people."

 

[WompuM]

Yes. That's all good and fine but that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[The Batman]

I think it does, but to each his own.

 

[CConn]

No, you're right. It does.

 

[RustyCage]

Grant Morrison still has the best answer on this topic:

"It doesn't matter. You must understand these people aren't real," Morrison said to laughter. "Batman is a mythical figure. I'm being funny, but I'm not being funny. They don't live in the real world."


"We've already got the real world. Why would you want fiction to be like the real world? Fiction can do anything, so why do people always want to say, 'Let's ground this' or 'Let's make this realistic.' You can't make it realistic because it's not. So basically Batman is 75 years old, and Robin is 74 years old. They don't grow old because they're different from us. They're paper people."

The age thing: Time passage in comics quite obviously doesn't have to coincide with the passage of real time. If we're going to be stupidly sarcastic about it, does that mean the first comics should have covered him being born and growing up as a toddler? His example is an obnoxious non sequitur.

'Why would you want fiction to be like the real world?': The point is for the reader to fantasize about an attainable solution to major problems, for the writer to provide them with that sense of aspiration toward a tangible goal. A large appeal of the better Batman stories is that it makes you feel like, if you push hard enough, you could accomplish what Bruce Wayne accomplishes. You do that by painting a reflection of reality.

When you break the illusion of attainability too much, the Batman comics begin to dissolve into little more than another generic sugar-high. He stops standing out from the crowd as much, and people like me find themselves looking for other comics that are actually relevant.

Which isn't to say you can't write a good story unless you're realistic, but it's kind of the heart of Bruce Wayne. He's not got any powers, he's a real man with a real drive. If someone can't see the appeal or value of that, they have no business writing Batman in any form.

 

[CConn]

Yeah, I'm sorry, but Grant Morrison > You.

Always, Grant Morrison > You.

 

[WompuM]

Really? Grant Morrison = Scottish. WompuM = American.
America > Scotland
WompuM > Morrison

 

[Karem-Knight]

The age thing: Time passage in comics quite obviously doesn't have to coincide with the passage of real time. If we're going to be stupidly sarcastic about it, does that mean the first comics should have covered him being born and growing up as a toddler? His example is an obnoxious non sequitur.

'Why would you want fiction to be like the real world?': The point is for the reader to fantasize about an attainable solution to major problems, for the writer to provide them with that sense of aspiration toward a tangible goal. A large appeal of the better Batman stories is that it makes you feel like, if you push hard enough, you could accomplish what Bruce Wayne accomplishes. You do that by painting a reflection of reality.

When you break the illusion of attainability too much, the Batman comics begin to dissolve into little more than another generic sugar-high. He stops standing out from the crowd as much, and people like me find themselves looking for other comics that are actually relevant.

Which isn't to say you can't write a good story unless you're realistic, but it's kind of the heart of Bruce Wayne. He's not got any powers, he's a real man with a real drive. If someone can't see the appeal or value of that, they have no business writing Batman in any form.

I agree in parts, but Morrison has more than proven he has grassed this aspect of the character. Even with the more zany concepts he still kept to that core of the character as The Return of Bruce Wayne was at it's heart, the story of a normal human being fighting the impossible. And winning.

I mean it may not be realistic but there are plenty of moments (mainly R.I.P) where we see him at his absolute worst only to come back up again and again to keep fighting.

 

[CConn]

Grant Morrison just lives in Scotland.

He's really from the Planet Korgha in the 8th dimension.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Grant Morrison just lives in Scotland.

He's really from the Planet Korgha in the 8th dimension.

ixnay on the eighth imensionday.

 

[CConn]

Oops, sorry!

Um, he's really from Planet Korgha.

In Michigan.

It's right by Lansing.

 

[Motown Marvel]

I know im late on this, but batman 11 was amazingly awful.

 

[WompuM]

It's never too late.

 

[WompuM]

Haha. Suck it Snyder.
https://***********/Ssnyder1835/status/224750574585917440

 

[CrimsonMist]

Ha, I love the blatant disregard for their own continuity that they had to reboot in order to have it make sense.

In the meantime, let's make Hawkman a continuity nightmare again.

Comics!