Posts Tagged ‘ Azrael ’

Yep, one of the top two iconic heroes of the 20th Century – arguably the most iconic – and I don’t get him.

That’s not to say that I don’t buy the comics, of course. I do. Batman and Detective Comics have been firm fixes on my list for years now (David Lapham’s City of Crime arc aside – I just couldn’t get into that). They’ve been there as a fixture since the Catacalysm arc, and on and off since Knightfall, and I read him for twelve years or so before that. Not just those two books either – Shadow of the Bat (remember that?) and Gotham Knights were there too, plus all the ancillary books (Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Gotham Central, Birds of Prey, Azrael, Catwoman…I drew the line at Anarky, thankfully).

I think that’s where my problem lies – I have more interest in the satellite characters of the Batman mythos than in the central man himself. Why? Because he doesn’t make sense – and more importantly, the fact that he’s been allowed to run around all these years by the rest of the world’s heroes doesn’t make sense either.

Sure, there was the whole parents-gunned-down-in-front-of-me thing. Sure, there was the billions in cash and stock options sitting around. Sure, there was the butler and kindly doctor (and look how well the good Dr Thompkins turned out) who inexplicably helped this orphan evade foster care and a steadying parental influence. And sure, there was the bat-through-the-window thing as well.

But it never crossed his mind to turn his hand to public office? To work the system from the inside and clean it up that way? At the very least he could have just bribed all the corrupt cops to go straight! But no, he takes to leaping off roof-tops and wearing a bat outfit (and not a very convincing one at that).

The closest parallels in the Marvel Universe are the Punisher and Moon Knight – but at least everyone acknowledges that they are certifiable. In the DCU, you can see everyone just kind of sliding over the topic:

“Batman? Absolutely, my best friend and staunchest ally. What? Crazy? Er…sorry, earthquake in Japan – gotta go!”

And if you look at those he surrounds himself, they’re kind of on a slippery slope too.

Batgirl (Babs) got shot then had cybersex with the Blue Beetle. Nightwing’s had his issues with breakdowns. Catwoman had a baby with the son of another guy she was sleeping with. Thomas Elliot, his best childhood friend went batshit crazy, became his new greatest foe and then got terribly over used. Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) finally found peace, then went batshit crazy off-panel and became head of the League of Assassins. Jason Todd died, came back to life thanks to Superboy Prime ex machina then went batshit crazy. Azrael was always batshit crazy.

Not a great track record there – only the current Robin, Tim Drake seems to be fairly well adjusted. Of course, he’s also trying to re-clone his dead best friend even while he makes out with his dead best friend’s girlfriend. So maybe we shouldn’t count our chickens on how he’s going to turn out just yet.

And yet people still think its okay to let Batman do what he does! Because, y’know, it’s all been working out so well so far. Oh, except for that time his files on how to take down his JLA buddies got into the wrong hands. Or that time his files to create a war between Gotham’s gangs got into the wrong hands. Or that time the satellite he designed to spy on the world’s heroes became intelligent and got into the wrong hands – and he didn’t even notice.

Batman.

Is it just me?