-
[QUOTE=Bored at 3:00AM;3917376]I enjoy Batman & Hal's contentious relationship, because it is accurately based upon their respective personalities. It doesn't mean that they hate each other, because they don't. I think they both have deep affection and respect for each other. I also think they completely disagree with the other's approach towards being a hero. Mark Waid had great fun with their dynamic in the Post-Infinite Crisis Brave & Bold when Bruce & Hal went to Vegas together.[/QUOTE]
My favorite line of that story involved Hal recklessly gambling his way to a big jackpot and Batman/Bruce saying "I wish Barry was here to see this". When Hal asked why He said "So he could finally see you with money".
Hal was never all that stable in his civilian ID (especially compared to a guy like Barry Allen), trust Bats to make an issue of it.
-
The only difference between Bruce and Hal is that Bruce was born into money so he doesn't have to work, whereas Hal wasn't born into money and because of the other things that occupy his time he can't hold down a job for long. But Bruce would be in the same boat if he didn't have money--he would be constantly in debt because he spent money on car repairs and new Bat-a-rangs.
Bruce dates a lot of women but has fears of commitment. Hal dates a lot of women but has fears of commitment. Bruce is in arrested development. Hal is in arrested devekopment. Bruce has daddy issues. Hal has daddy issues. Bruce has a thin angular foe that is his shadow self. Hal has a thin angular foe that is his shadow self. Bruce believes in justice but bucks against authority. Hal believes in justice but bucks against authority. Bruce is the standard bearer for a whole class of heroes that strive to be like him, but he shirks that responsibility. Hal is the standard bearer for a whole class of heroes that strive to be like him, but he shirks that responsibility. Bruce betrayed his friends. Hal betrayed his friends.
The two characters have always seemed very alike to me. Now if they don't get along because it disturbs them to see their own flaws in another person, then I could get behind that. But I think they come off as stupid if they don't see that they're cut from the same cloth.
-
[QUOTE=Jim Kelly;3921779]
The two characters have always seemed very alike to me. Now if they don't get along because it disturbs them to see their own flaws in another person, then I could get behind that. But I think they come off as stupid if they don't see that they're cut from the same cloth.[/QUOTE]
I think that's the exact crux of their relationship with each other. However, whereas Bruce takes himself waaaaaay too seriously, Hal doesn't and that annoys the living &^% out of Batman, whose entire mystique is predicated upon him being this scary creature of the night. Whereas Hal just points out how he's just some pretentious rich guy in ridiculous bat costume.
-
[QUOTE=Bored at 3:00AM;3921815]I think that's the exact crux of their relationship with each other. However, whereas Bruce takes himself waaaaaay too seriously, Hal doesn't and that annoys the living &^% out of Batman, whose entire mystique is predicated upon him being this scary creature of the night. Whereas Hal just points out how he's just some pretentious rich guy in ridiculous bat costume.[/QUOTE]
Also...what is more disturbing to an individual whose effectiveness depends greatly on fear than another individual who seems impervious to fear?
[color=red]Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)[/color]
-
[QUOTE=Buried Alien;3921936]Also...what is more disturbing to an individual whose effectiveness depends greatly on fear than another individual who seems impervious to fear?
[color=red]Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)[/color][/QUOTE]
Or a hero who's element is the darkness while the other's is the light...
-
[QUOTE=Buried Alien;3921936]Also...what is more disturbing to an individual whose effectiveness depends greatly on fear than another individual who seems impervious to fear?
[color=red]Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)[/color][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Frontier;3921955]Or a hero who's element is the darkness while the other's is the light...[/QUOTE]
mmmm lovely thematic juxtaposition
-
Bruce taking himself so seriously is what bugs me about the modern Batman. Bill Finger gave him a sense of humour.
-
I like them all being friends actually.
-
I can't think of Justice League friendships without thinking of Snapper Carr. Maybe that's because the first JLA comic I ever read was JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 52 (March 1967). Not the best introduction to the Justice League as it wasn't a group adventure--but Snapper was the glue that held this oddball omnibus together.
[img]https://blogintomystery.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/jla52a.jpg[/img]
-
[QUOTE=Jim Kelly;3922130]I can't think of Justice League friendships without thinking of Snapper Carr. Maybe that's because the first JLA comic I ever read was JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 52 (March 1967). Not the best introduction to the Justice League as it wasn't a group adventure--but Snapper was the glue that held this oddball omnibus together.
[img]https://blogintomystery.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/jla52a.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
I loved Snapper in those Silver Age JLA trades. He's hysterical :p.
-
[QUOTE=Jim Kelly;3921779]Bruce believes in justice but bucks against authority.[/QUOTE]
I have rather the opposite read on Batman—he is a firm believer in authority, but it should always be his authority. The Justice League is lucky in that he is such an effective leader as he is. Likewise, he is not so much a believer in justice as in the law.
-
[QUOTE=kjn;3922435]I have rather the opposite read on Batman—he is a firm believer in authority, but it should always be his authority. The Justice League is lucky in that he is such an effective leader as he is. Likewise, [B]he is not so much a believer in justice as in the law.[/B][/QUOTE]
I agree with you on liking his authority more than any other source, but if he were more interested in law than justice, he wouldn't be a vigilante.
-
I liked those stories where the second tier characters got to shine. "Man, Thy Name is Brother" had Snapper enlisting the aid of Green Arrow, Hawkman and Flash to help their brothers around the world, in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 57 (November 1967).
[img]https://img1.etsystatic.com/064/1/11136738/il_570xN.791799943_76v7.jpg[/img]
While in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 142 (May 1977), Steve Englehart shifted the focus away from the big guns to let Elongated Man, Atom and Aquaman have their own little adventure.
[img]http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/161167454709-0-1/s-l1000.jpg[/img]
-
[QUOTE=Lightning Rider;3923522]I agree with you on liking his authority more than any other source, but if he were more interested in law than justice, he wouldn't be a vigilante.[/QUOTE]
I would agree with this as well. Like most authoritarians, Batman is strongly anti-authority, unless that authority is himself--most clearly shown in Miller's Dark Knight Returns during which he opposes the increasingly authoritarian American government, then promptly sets up his own cult of violent sociopathic juvenile delinquents whose blind loyalty to him is based upon his ability to brutally beat the living $#!^ out of their previous leader.
-
[QUOTE=Jim Kelly;3923911]I liked those stories where the second tier characters got to shine. "Man, Thy Name is Brother" had Snapper enlisting the aid of Green Arrow, Hawkman and Flash to help their brothers around the world, in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 57 (November 1967).
[img]https://img1.etsystatic.com/064/1/11136738/il_570xN.791799943_76v7.jpg[/img]
While in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 142 (May 1977), Steve Englehart shifted the focus away from the big guns to let Elongated Man, Atom and Aquaman have their own little adventure.
[img]http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/161167454709-0-1/s-l1000.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
The Englehart JLA stories are all collected in the Justice League Bronze Age Omnibus vol 3, right?
