The Myth of Batman and My Concerns about "Fan Appreciation"

[Darkseid1]

There has become a cultural consciousness of who the character is.

The thing about this is that there has always been a "cultural consciousness" of the character ever since the 60's. This is nothing new. The 60's show made Batman a pop culture icon. The West show did this, and did this alone.

The aspects of the character that we find the most effective have stuck and survived the years of multiple incarnations. There are surely hundreds of examples of books that show Batman doing very uncharacteristic "non Batman" things.

This is true. There are aspects of the character that have stayed the same since 1939. A man who had his parents killed in front of him as a boy grows up and decides to dress as a bat to try and stop what happened to him from happening to anyone else. Theres also the batcave, the vehicles, the villains, the bat family. All these aspects have been the same since the characters inception. For all 70 years. The problem is, despite all these elements have been a part of Batman from the very beginning, people still cannot acknowledge the 40's, 50's 60's, and sometimes even the 70's of Batman.

It's all part of the process of developing a character as rich and enduring as he is.

In all honesty, I dont see where there has been much development of the Batman character. The only thing I have seen is the change in personality. My opinion is, in recent years though, the writers of the Batman comics cant seem to figure out what Batmans personality should be. How many relaunches, or "fresh starts", or whatever has been attempted in the past 5 - 10 years? Hell, its going on again right now. Everytime they seem to have a balanced Batman persona, like at the very beginning of the One Year Later, they quickly abandon it and revert him back to, what this "new" generation thinks is "cool", the *******. The unapproachable, selfish, arrogant, violent Batman. I dont call this development. I call it ruination.

For some of us, Dark Knight and Batman Begins came at a time when the history needed focusing, and pruning. In my opinion, the greatest aspects of the myth lie therein.

The history doesnt need anything other than acknowledgment. Its the present that needs focusing, and the only pruning that I see that needs done is the elimination of this current thought of Batman being this terrible human being with a death wish vendetta.

In my opinion.

 

[NickyTea]

In my opinion.

And by God, sir, you're entitled to it.
I'm happy you have reasons for your opinions. Not everyone has that, you know.

 

[Grommers]

Yes you are entitled to your opinion, and to be honest some of it I agree with others I don't...like I do people acknowledge Adam Wests Batman in history, however this character has never really had a set personality, which I believe is finally being set in stone, which in my opinion is good for the character, as it will differentiate him from the other characters, and one less thing for story writers to worry about, as well build up on other characters that are possibly not as fleshed out.

Personally I've been liking the direction Batman has been going, and looking at TDK, overall comic books, it looks like its headed in the right direction.

 

[SHADOWBAT69]

I dont believe Batmans personality will ever be set in stone. Thats the thing with these comic book characters. You cant. They have to change with the times and with what the fans want. If they dont, the characters will not survive. That should be the one thing that the Batman character has shown us over the last 70 years. I also think tthats why the current storyline in the Batman comics is removing Bruce from being Batman. They need to change him up again and leave him in the same place for awhile. Theres been too much fluctuation in Batmans personality over the last so many years. He goes from the dark, self centered, brooding character to the more approachable, caring for others crusader. The writers seem to have lost what it is that can bring all these aspects together to make everyone happy. Hopefully when Bruce returns, they will have figured this out. Becasue, lets face it, the current direction theyve had Batman going in has not been a favorite of everyone. I read and hear an equal amount of complaing as I do praise, and it seems as the negative is getting more and more lately.