The moment when I realized we were clearly discussing two entirely different characters, however, came when he said that what he really loves best about the character is that he doesn't have to kill you if you're a bad guy, and then demonstrated what he meant by smiling and putting his thumbs in position to push them through my eyes.

Batman, you see, will push a criminals eyeballs in. He will blind someone he doesn't like. Or spiral fracture their leg. And then come back and do it again the next night. Over and over. He will break you and scar you and hurt you until he feels justice has been done. And that's what is good about Batman.

No amount of continuity repair is ever going to fix that.

Batman, you see, will push a criminals eyeballs in. He will blind someone he doesn't like. Or spiral fracture their leg. And then come back and do it again the next night. Over and over. He will break you and scar you and hurt you until he feels justice has been done. And that's what is good about Batman.

No amount of continuity repair is ever going to fix that.

+++++++++

I have great affection for Frank Miller and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, but it must be said that the long-term damage that book did to Batman is staggering. Not that it’s the book’s fault, per se, but rather the effect the book had on so many people who didn’t get it. People who tried again and again to hitch their wagons to its depiction of Batman as ruthless and sadistic. 

The military pouches on the utility belt, the batarangs-as-shurikens, the Batmobile-as-tank, Batman crippling people, etc., etc. These are all elements which worked well in context, but have had a very long shadow over the character which they really shouldn’t have.

Now that we have unlimited, wall-to-wall violence coming out of our ears, the stories have never felt more limited and one-note. Even if it isn't every character, it's off-putting to have Squirrel Girl in the same panel with someone who hangs out with Venom or Ares, vicious, slavering murderers who just happen to be killing the "right" people this month. Next month, who knows? The world of comics is now an ugly, mean-spirited, petty little back alley and that isn't just Gotham. 

Two starship captains, eighty some odd years apart from one another,  each beamed down against his will to face off with the alien captain of another vessel. Communication between the opponents is limited. The terrain is unfamiliar and potentially hazardous. On one world, the danger is from the carnivorous, reptilian alien captain. On the other, it is from an invisible carnivorous, reptilian creature. 

The first captain is able to save himself by devising a diamond-firing cannon from the surrounding mineral deposits and limited plant life. The second would literally have frozen to death overnight due to his inability to start a simple campfire. 

Seriously, how is "Kirk vs. Picard" even a thing? :-)

+++++++++

I see the Dark Knight as someone that Batman and Robin would have gone after - not to aspire to. Strip the bat from the Dark Knight and you have an old, bitter, revenge and rage based villain. He mutilates his foes; he is overbearing; he uses deadly weapons in his fight; he seems to have no sense of perspective of criminals, and would shuriken a jaywalker as soon as an arsonist.

And as noted, this cannot be fixed. Even if DC Comics were to start Batman over completely - as in, going back to the performance of Zorro - some writer or two would not only not come up with something new, but would see it as a clear path to recreate Batman even closer to the Dark Knight.

*I will not speak to the sequels. There are some things decent men just do not speak of. Yes, I hated them; they seemed to lack the solid story that TDKR had to build on.