SEEKERS OF THE BAT

More from the lovely Ms. Brown: This scene had Cassandra Cain handily demonstrating to her friend that she simply didn’t have the skills to go toe to toe with the deadliest Batgirl past or present. Enjoy!

Although Batman technically began his career using guns, he was retconned as being loathe to the idea due to their role in his his parents’ death. Thus, writer Grant Morrison set this scene; Batman’s ‘death’ during Final Crisis. At the moment that Batman breaks his sacrosanct code, he effects his own demise. By using a gun to kill, the Batman is no more.

JG Jones gives us this piercing photo of Batman for the cover of one of the Final Crisis books. This would be one of the final appearances of Bruce Wayne as Batman before his disappearance into the past. Note the ghostly eyes. Having a mask with white pupils is a comic book standard, however when rendered photo realistically, the effect can be unnerving.

Edward Nashton, aka Edward Nygma aka The Riddler, was a brilliant young man whose aptitude for solving puzzles and cutting corners led him to crime. As a master schemer, he pushes Batman to his mental limits, however he has one major flaw: Be it psychosis, a desire to be caught, or simple hubris, he can’t help himself from leaving clues in the form of riddles before his crimes. This compulsion has also been explained as an obsessive compulsive need to tell the truth garnered from a childhood of parental abuse.

In recent times, Edward Nygma proclaims that he has reformed, and works as a private investigator for hire. However, you can be sure that the Batman keeps an eye on him at all times, in case the Riddler makes a grand return.

Interestingly, the Riddler was a minor, throwaway character until he was introduced to the Adam West television show where he quickly became an A-list Batman villain with his famous line “Riddle me this, Batman…”.

No great achievement ever came without sacrifice. In Batman’s case, he has completely shut himself off from the possibility of happiness in another person. As this poignant scene shows, he readily admits that his relationship to Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, lasted only because she was ‘the enemy’.  Although his devotion to his mission is total, he clearly still has moments of regret. Whether it is the result of a man fulfilling the promise of a traumatized boy, or a deep seated survivor’s guilt preventing him from accepting happiness, the Batman has decided to fight on alone.

After Bruce Wayne’s apparent death in Final Crisis, the rest of the Bat family had an internal struggle as to who should carry on as Batman. In this teaser photo, we have a sampling of the major players.  From left to right, the various Batmen are: Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Two-Face, Jason Todd, with a special mention to Hush (with a bandage around his leg), who surgically altered his appearance to match Bruce Wayne’s.

Dick Grayson eventually reluctantly gave up his Nightwing persona to become the new, kinder Batman taking his adoptive stepbrother Damian on as his Robin.

Although Batman’s goals have never wavered, his means to get there have. In fact, his characterization has been depicted in every possible way, depending on the agenda of the writer. Here’s a grid showing Batman quotes in each of the 9 alignments (a la Dungeons and Dragons).  But perhaps it is this flexibility that makes him such an indomitable adversary. As the Joker once put it “Once you think outside of his box, he builds a bigger box around you!”.

When Batman’s (Batmen?) of alternate universes stand toe to toe, the winner is… Batman?

Today, we have a couple of promotional shots for the Absolute edition of Frank Miller’s seminal work ‘The Dark Knight Returns’. In a dystopian future that has rejected its superheroes, a 55 year old Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement to continue his crusade against crime. To do so, the resurrected Batman has to forcibly take control of a gang of murderers, survive the return of the Joker, and single handedly take down Superman, who is now nothing more than a government weapon.

This book pioneered the ‘dark and gritty’ Batman which echoes through the years down to Christian Bale’s performance in the Christopher Nolan films. Although it takes place outside of the established canon (recognized as Earth 31), it remains to this day one of the most influential Batman stories ever told.

Detective Comics Issue #27 (published May 1939) saw the introduction of a strange, bat themed hero with lavender gloves. Perhaps it is no coincidence, but Detective Comics has gone on to become the longest continuously published comic book in the United States. On Feb 25, 2010, a copy of this issue was sold at auction for $1,075,500, briefly making it the most valuable comic book in history.