Real-Time Batman

[Iceburgeruk]

How would the story of Gotham city have progressed if the comics had been in real time (not minute to minute real time , just each year of comic time equals a year in the real world)?

I know Generations did it but Byrne seemed to fidge that by having Bruce Wayne cheat time and rejuvenate himself with the lavarus pits. I`m talking real time without cop outs.

Would Bruce Wayne have passed the mantle on to Dick Grayson?

Who would have succeeded Grayson as Batman? etc.

After a long time thinking about it my timeline would be:

1915 Bruce Wayne is born.
1924 Bruce Wayne`s parents are murdered.
1939 Batman debuts in Detective Comics #27
1940 Robin first appears.
1948 Vicki Vale First appears.
1950 Marries Vicki Vale. Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing.
1952 Alfred Wayne is born to Bruce and Vicki Wayne.
1955 Bruce Wayne divorces Vicki.
1956 The original Batwoman and Batgirl first appear. Bruce Wayne reluctantly retires.
1957 Bruce Wayne marries Selina Kyle.
1959 Helena Wayne is born.
1960 Dick Grayson becomes the second Batman.
1962 Alfred Wayne becomes the second Robin.
1963 Dick Grayson marries Betty Kane.
1964 The Second Robin/Alfred Wayne and several other young heroes found the Teen Titans.
1965 Bill Grayson and Bob Grayson are born.
1971 Elizabeth Grayson is born.
1973 Original Batwoman retires.
1976 Selena Wayne is tricked into becoming catwoman again and is subsequently killed. Helena Wayne subsequently becomes the Huntress.
1979 The Second Batman/Dick Grayson is killed. Alfred Wayne becomes the Third Batman.
1980 Bill Grayson becomes the third Robin and is a member of the new wave of Teen Titans.
1981 Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale remarry.
1983 Jason Todd becomes the fourth Robin.
1984 Bill Grayson becomes the second Nightwing. Helena Wayne marries D. A Harry Sims.
1985 Frank Sims is born.
1988 Elizabeth Grayson becomes the second Batwoman.
1989 Bruce Wayne dies in his sleep beside his wife Vicki Wayne. Jason Todd is murdered by the Joker.
1990 Much to the anger of Alfred Wayne, Tim Drake prowls the streets fighting crime as the fifth Robin.
1993 The villainous Bane breaks Alfred Wayne`s back. Azrael becomes the more violent fourth Batman. Bill Grayson defeats the out of control Azrael and strips him of his title as Batman.
1994 Bob Grayson becomes the Fifth Batman.
2004 Stephanie Brown becomes the Sixth Robin
2008 Bob Grayson/The Fifth Batman dies during the Batman R.I.P event.

I will add more once I figure it out. I might even manage to come up with some of the villains` timeline.

How do you think it would have played out? Would your timeline be quite different?

 

[The Batman]

i think this is why im glad comic characters stay the same...

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Its just an exericse of free thought. Just imagine.

We`d all love our heroes to live forever but at some point you have to allow your heroes to leave and for new heroes to arrive.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

i think this is why im glad comic characters stay the same...

Oh yeah and the keeping characters the same is the reason every new character or young character will never succeed because the old character will always remain and remain dominant.

Robin will never truly become Batman for the long term. Superboy was never gonna become superman.

Comic characters never changing is also the reason people give up on comics. When you first start reading anything can happen and excitement lies upon every page, after a decade or so you realise it is never gonna change and that nothing that occurs has consequences. There are no surprises or actual evolution waiting around the corner just shock deaths and retcons.

 

[The Jester]

Now will Alfred always serve as the butler and outlive them all? :P

Cool post

 

[Greg]

Comic characters never changing is also the reason people give up on comics. When you first start reading anything can happen and excitement lies upon every page, after a decade or so you realise it is never gonna change and that nothing that occurs has consequences. There are no surprises or actual evolution waiting around the corner just shock deaths and retcons.

Which is where indie books come in. A lot of Image books and others actually progress. Most of the "non-changing" books are the Big 2 mainstream stuff.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Now will Alfred always serve as the butler and outlive them all? :P

Cool post

LOL. I just assumed Bruce Wayne would name his son after Alfred. It just seemed the kind of thing he would do.

Alfred the butler prob died sometime in the 60s or early 70s.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Which is where indie books come in. A lot of Image books and others actually progress. Most of the "non-changing" books are the Big 2 mainstream stuff.

I know and that is why Indie books are interesting whereas the big two are stagnating, i mean look at fantastic four`s death in the fmaily stunt (here`s a hint about how it plays out sue dies but johnny changes reality so she lives and everything ends up exactly the same.) or the OMD/BND nonsense in Spidey where they are trying to make 70s spidey live forever.

 

[BubbaGump]

Well that's the thing. Comics (at least Batman comics) don't progress in real time. Heart of Hush (5 issues) doesn't take place in 5 months--it occurs in a couple of days.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Well that's the thing. Comics (at least Batman comics) don't progress in real time. Heart of Hush (5 issues) doesn't take place in 5 months--it occurs in a couple of days.

I would go withcomic book time if each hero was in his own universe but the shared universe is what kind of ruins comic time. How many titles does dc put out a month? Nearly 50 by my reckoning. And it would be highly unlikely that all 50 of those adventures occured at the exact same moment (especially when characters like batman and superman are on multiple teams, feature in multiple titles and have several of their own books all running at the same time). So most of the 50 adventures a month are occuring at different moments. And then each title has 12 issues a year. So even taking into account the occasional overlap that is 500 moments of noteworthy action occuring in the dc universe. At that number i would assume that is about a years worth of story, i mean thats about 1.5 comics per day annually. And thats just the bits we see. We all know that we only see about 15% of the events occuring at any given time in the dc universe, and thats being generous. Interludes between each arc are eluded to in the comics themselves. That would make it about 4000 adventures a year which makes sense to me.

 

[Majic Walrus]

Well that's the thing. Comics (at least Batman comics) don't progress in real time. Heart of Hush (5 issues) doesn't take place in 5 months--it occurs in a couple of days.

True. As far as we know it's only 1950 in Batman time.

 

[C. W. Saturn]

True. As far as we know it's only 1950 in Batman time.

No. It's 2008.

 

[Majic Walrus]

All I'm saying is that Bat-time does not necessarily run through our time because it's a work of fiction.

 

[The Batman]

Oh yeah and the keeping characters the same is the reason every new character or young character will never succeed because the old character will always remain and remain dominant.

Robin will never truly become Batman for the long term. Superboy was never gonna become superman.

Comic characters never changing is also the reason people give up on comics. When you first start reading anything can happen and excitement lies upon every page, after a decade or so you realise it is never gonna change and that nothing that occurs has consequences. There are no surprises or actual evolution waiting around the corner just shock deaths and retcons.

The fact is, the only people who care about legacies are the long term readers...and they cant seem to comprehend that the big two are always trying to get MORE readers. you cant do that unless you're accessible. Having one main guy as batman is accessible. Having a whole generations type thing is not. This why marvel will always sell more than dc...while dc has multple versions of the same character cluttering everything up, a new reader can pick up a black panther comic knowing that there hasnt been 4 main ones before him.

 

[The Only Woj]

how about:

1989 Bruce Wayne dies after tripping down a stone stairway in the batcave and bleeds to death, is partially eaten by bats.

or

1956 Bruce Wayne reluctantly retires.
1957 Bruce Wayne resumes the mantle of Batman to stop Joker plot, dies after severe peanut related allergic reaction at Joker hideout within an abandoned 'Planters Peanut' factory.
1959 Joker because severely depressed that peanut killed Batman, hangs himself.

or

1948 Vicki Vale First appears.
1950 Marries Vicki Vale.
1955 Bruce Wayne divorces Vicki after catching her in bed with Alfred.
1956 Bruce Wayne hangs himself in batcave. Alfred lives out his years in luxury after assuming ownership of Wayne Manor. Continues 'open-relationship' with Vicki.

 

[storyteller]

New characters never succeed because they are treated like they are just temporary. All the temp batmans were put in place with the the plan to bring Bruce back. Superboy was finally getting real development but that got cut short with his death. Bart Allen sales were doing well enough and wally was brought back(and now Barry).

Last I Checked Dick Grayson is still nightwing and hasnt put the robin suit on in a long time. Why? Because they developed him beyond the boy wonder. Batman, Superman, Wonder woman, can all be replaced with their sidekicks. Dc just needs to make the replacement a good read and actually keep them around for more then a years worth of stories(which is like a week comic book time).