The Batverse

So as someone who really hates Batman, and everything he does in the comics, I also hate the overuse of his existence, his fans and DCs complete and total reliance on such a mediocre character (though that is an entirely different article). Really what I hate is the sweeping aside of truly good and intriguing characters for the Dark Knight. All of his villains and sidekicks are truly more interesting than he is. So I think they deserved some spotlight time.

We know that I am obviously going to start with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, not only are they charismatic and perfect on their own but together they are even more intriguing, sweet, romantic and incredible. Harley was introduced to the world in the Batman cartoon and was so loved was transferred to the comic book universe. Ivy was introduced in comics and was transferred to the cartoons. Now more research will be required to pinpoint exactly how and when the two of them started having a romantic entanglement, but I think we can all agree that they had chemistry in the original Batman cartoon, I’d say that is where they got their start.

Next we have literally anyone that has ever played the role of Robin, though the comics keep trying to regulate them to nothing more than a side-kick they almost always get more fan love the dark prince himself. Dick Grayson who eventually becomes Nightwing - an obvious comic book favorite started as Batman’s sidekick. However he has more than outgrown his origins and held his own without his old mentor. Then we have Jason Todd who becomes more of an anti-hero in the Red Hood, he was initially very unpopular with readers but he became more of an acquired taste. Tim Drake, or Red Robin seems to be the only male Robin everyone seems to forget about. He is also scrappier than his predecessors, as he does not have as much natural combat ability as the other Robins. Next up, Stephanie Brown and the incredible sexism that she was handled with. After being fridged the writers tried to back peddle claiming that she was “never really Robin” but her character stuck with the fans despite the writers best efforts. Perhaps the most interesting Robin, one that definitely makes the Caped Crusader more interesting himself is Damien Wayne. The story of him and his relationship to both parents is perhaps one of Batman’s best outings. In fact it's the only time I would ever read a comic centered around Batman himself.

Last but not least I think one of the most interesting and amazing characters that surround Batman is, of course, Catwoman. Though Selina Kyle was created to shore up rumors about Batman’s relationship with Robin, she quickly became her own entity. She was also treated with misogyny and neglect for most of her time on the page, yet she remains one of the best adversaries to the Batman. I will share this quote every chance I get to people who try to defend the way she was written in comics, this was said by her creator, Bob Kane,

“I felt that women were feline creatures and men were more like dogs. While dogs are faithful and friendly, cats are cool, detached, and unreliable. I felt much warmer with dogs around me—cats are as hard to understand as women are. Men feel more sure of themselves with a male friend than a woman. You always need to keep women at arm's length. We don't want anyone taking over our souls, and women have a habit of doing that. So there's a love-resentment thing with women. I guess women will feel that I'm being chauvinistic to speak this way, but I do feel that I've had better relationships with male friends than women. With women, once the romance is over, somehow they never remain my friends.”

Yes Bob Kane sucks as does the way women are treated in the Batverse.

The people around Batman will always be more interesting than he is, his stories are repetitive and boring and quite frankly so is he.