What's the attraction of Batman comic books?

[ManSinha]

I have often wondered what it is about the Batman mythos and stories that have propelled the character's rise to the current top spot across all of comic-dom. I understand his books, games and merchandise outsell even the Marvel counterparts. Is it good writing and stories and good creators for games and animated and cinematic movies? The appeal of the "non super powered human" holding his own and then some, in a world full of meta humans? All of the above?

At least the US given its wealth and military might may be linked more to a WW or GL in terms of synonyms given its place amongst the nations of the earth. I also understand that the appeal of Batman extends well beyond American shores. I just wondered what were the thoughts of the Batman fans regarding the reasons for the character's status today.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

Great Stories in all forms have media have helped Batman become Great with only one real rival in Spiderman. Batman and his world separate themselves from other franchises when it comes to all the characters that have been created linked to his world. You could argue Dick Grayson is a bigger media Icon than practically every Superhero outside of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men and the Avengers since while he has not had a solo show or movie has been a key character in TV/Film going back to 1943.

I think the attraction that Batman and his world have over other DC properties is a consistent human element. I know that most Superman fans want his most famous powers to always be there and I my self have no problem but when attracting new readers the suspension of disbelief may be a little to much and I kind of feel that he may have benefited more by keeping his power-level at his original level because he was just from a race of human millions of years ahead of earth humans and did not rely on solar power for crazy power or have weakness to kryptonite.

[db105]

Some ideas:
* Antiheroes are more fashionable nowadays than straightforward heroes.
* His lack of superpowers somehow makes him more cool.
* Grittiness and darkness are fashionable too.
* A complex character, with many different ways to interpret him. From lone street-level vigilante, to family drama to crazy superhero shenanigans, many different and apparently contradictory styles work well with him.
* The existing wealth of great stories.
* A great supporting cast and villain gallery
* An easy to understand but psychologically powerful origin story.

[ManSinha]

I think the attraction that Batman and his world have over other DC properties is a consistent human element. I know that most Superman fans want his most famous powers to always be there and I my self have no problem but when attracting new readers the suspension of disbelief may be a little to much and I kind of feel that he may have benefited more by keeping his power-level at his original level because he was just from a race of human millions of years ahead of earth humans and did not rely on solar power for crazy power or have weakness to kryptonite.

Thank you for the response and you as well db105. It is intriguing to me as an observer of human nature that an "advanced human" who is genetically blessed (yes some people can never be athletes or Nobel prize winners no matter how hard they try) in both the mental and physical departments causes a different level of the suspension of belief angle than an alien with an array of powers at the tip of his fingers. But as they say for the stock market, the wisdom of the crowd is its own and often times belies attempts at a scientific explanation.

[JBatmanFan05]

Some ideas:
* Antiheroes are more fashionable nowadays than straightforward heroes.
* His lack of superpowers somehow makes him more cool.
* Grittiness and darkness are fashionable too.
* A complex character, with many different ways to interpret him. From lone street-level vigilante, to family drama to crazy superhero shenanigans, many different and apparently contradictory styles work well with him.
* The existing wealth of great stories.
* A great supporting cast and villain gallery
* An easy to understand but psychologically powerful origin story.

Bingo. And his age is important too...by age I mean he's nearly as old as Superman, going back to 1939, so he's this great old pulp character that's had all the time to seep deeper and deeper into the popular and geek culture.

But it's always "all of the above" when it comes to determining what gives a superhero lasting power, it's never just one thing. Batman has been the right character at so many right places and times in books, film, TV, etc.

[joybeans]

- A wealth of well-loved writers (Loeb, Miller, Moore, Morrison, Brubaker, Rucka, etc)
- Multiple acclaimed and culturally defining adaptations (1966 Batman, Batman: The Animated series, Burton's Batman, Nolan's Dark Knight, Arkham video games)
- A very wide mythos that spanning a wide net of interesting characters
- Supporting characters with enough narrative potential to carry their own stories (Nightwing, Harley Quinn, Jim Gordon, etc)

[JBatmanFan05]

- Multiple acclaimed and culturally defining adaptations (1966 Batman, Batman: The Animated series, Burton's Batman, Nolan's Dark Knight, Arkham video games)

Not to mention the 1943 and 1949 Columbia serials. The 1943 serial was re-released as An Evening with Batman and Robin, which proved very popular, and its success inspired the 1966 Batman series.

[Lee Stone]

They adapt him to the story to be told, rather than write the story around him.

He's been a "caped crusader", a "dark knight" and the "world's greatest detective", and others... all of which involve a different approach to the character.
There's Batman in relation to Arkham, Batman in relation to the Justice League, Batman in relation to street crime, Batman in relation to Gotham...
And each different take brings in new readers.
While there's many Batman fans, they don't all like every interpretation.

For instance, I tend to like the caped crusader stuff like Batman '66, Brave and the Bold cartoon, Silver Age Batman and The Animated Series... and I tend to like the more down to earth detective and crime stuff like Bronze Age Batman, Batman: Year One, etc.

The downside to this is that you never really know which kind of Batman story you're going to get until you read it.
Where with other characters, you pretty much know what to expect.

[AlexanderLuthor]

Some ideas:
* Antiheroes are more fashionable nowadays than straightforward heroes.
* His lack of superpowers somehow makes him more cool.
* Grittiness and darkness are fashionable too.
* A complex character, with many different ways to interpret him. From lone street-level vigilante, to family drama to crazy superhero shenanigans, many different and apparently contradictory styles work well with him.
* The existing wealth of great stories.
* A great supporting cast and villain gallery
* An easy to understand but psychologically powerful origin story.

This is a good list that pretty much sums it up

[godisawesome]

If I could add one detail that I think plays into the whole line's success even beyond Batman himself:

The Batman line has rarely if ever lost momentum for its world or characters, and seems to have a better reaction to reboots than other lines because of a more continuous storytelling style. There are differences between the world of Golden Age Batman, Silver Age Batman, Bronze Age Batman, Post-Crisis and New 52 Batman. But instead of being hard reformatting a of the world, they've always been more of an integration of new elements to the same framework. Batman's first year has always been replaced by artists working with a character who's status quo is still roughly the same as it was before they started replacing the Golden Age version with the Silver Age version, Silver Age story with Year One or Year One with Zero Year.

It's not so much continuity as much as a defining any and all stories as having to match the quality of the line since the 1930s, if not improve on it, while simulataneously allowing the world to expand around Batman.

Dick Grayson is an older character with more appearances that Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, and half of all DC's characters, and he was never shucked off completely to reinvent the wheel. He was the first sidekick, then the boy wonder and partner, than the college kid and Titan, then Nightwing, then Batman, then Agent of Spyral.

Babs as Batgirl is roughly similar, and as much as guys like me argue that she should have kept her Oracle past and Cass and Steph should have been kept, she still has a roughly continuous story, and her latest revamping showed the advantages of just letting a creative team do their own thing without rejecting the past (compare that to Wonder Woman's JMS reboot.)

Batman's succes is built on all the traits everyone else has listed. But there's a good reason why we're going to have four characters who were all called Batgirl active again in a few months, or why the Robins just keep multiplying, all while there's still one single Flash book, one single Wonder Woman book,a nod why the Batman line is still larger than Green Lantern.

[Celgress]

I think one fact is the heroes and anti-heroes in the Batman mythos, including Bruce himself, are deeply flawed people their vigilante personas often bore of tragedy yet they manage to (mostly) do the right thing in spite of their shortcomings. In essence the characters aren't perfect they are multidimensional individuals who inhabit a dark, uncaring world yet strive to better themselves along with said world. Sure they stumble along the way, but they keep moving forward against the odds.

[Slim Shady]

Some ideas:
* Antiheroes are more fashionable nowadays than straightforward heroes.
* His lack of superpowers somehow makes him more cool.
* Grittiness and darkness are fashionable too.
* A complex character, with many different ways to interpret him. From lone street-level vigilante, to family drama to crazy superhero shenanigans, many different and apparently contradictory styles work well with him.
* The existing wealth of great stories.
* A great supporting cast and villain gallery
* An easy to understand but psychologically powerful origin story.

Pretty much this. The lack of superpowers is a biggie. I don't know if it makes him more cool, it's just that he's a regular person just like us. Much easier for people to relate to. The origin story is big too. I think everyone can sympathize with something terrible happening to your loved ones, and you taking the law into your own hands and going one man army on the people that did it. Plus, he's got the toys. Huge mansion with a freakin batcave underneath it, the Bat-mobile, bat-boats, bat-cycles etc etc...

[t hedge coke]

I don't really get the antihero thing. Batman's not an antihero. Even Miller's Batman isn't an antihero. Some kind of operatic god-thing, maybe, but what antiheroing? Superman's a bigger dick than Batman, hence "superdickery."

Batman, on the other hand, has been consistently passionate, compassionate, swooping through the night and taking out bad people, saving lives, and inspiring people in his stories, which is something we don't as often see with Superman or Spider-Man, and I think, psychologically, does boost him up.

Batman sleeps all day, goes to fabulous parties, saves lives all night, has endless money, has the best toys, has a family of friends and allies he's inspired and relied on, is respected at the highest and lowest levels of his world, and he's brilliant, handsome, charitable, and dates the most fantastic women on a consistent basis.

[joybeans]

I don't really get the antihero thing. Batman's not an antihero. Even Miller's Batman isn't an antihero. Some kind of operatic god-thing, maybe, but what antiheroing? Superman's a bigger dick than Batman, hence "superdickery."

That's not what "superdickery" refers to.

Batman, on the other hand, has been consistently passionate, compassionate, swooping through the night and taking out bad people, saving lives, and inspiring people in his stories, which is something we don't as often see with Superman or Spider-Man

Ummm... yes they do.

[Agent Z]

I don't really get the antihero thing. Batman's not an antihero. Even Miller's Batman isn't an antihero. Some kind of operatic god-thing, maybe, but what antiheroing? Superman's a bigger dick than Batman, hence "superdickery."

Batman, on the other hand, has been consistently passionate, compassionate, swooping through the night and taking out bad people, saving lives, and inspiring people in his stories, which is something we don't as often see with Superman or Spider-Man, and I think, psychologically, does boost him up.

Batman sleeps all day, goes to fabulous parties, saves lives all night, has endless money, has the best toys, has a family of friends and allies he's inspired and relied on, is respected at the highest and lowest levels of his world, and he's brilliant, handsome, charitable, and dates the most fantastic women on a consistent basis.

Not saying he hasn't been those things, but he hasn't been them consistently.