Do any of you wish the "Bat Family" never existed?

[Mantis Girl 94]

I will concede to having a Robin (just the original one)... But come on...

In this day and age do we still need a Bat-Family? Ever time I see a Bat-Family title I feel like I am watching my dad's old Super Friends TV Show collection. I don't read any of the titles and never will... I think it is ridiculous (same goes for Superman, Spiderman, etc)....

Thoughts? OR Just let me have it

[SiegePerilous02]

I'm kind of with you. Dick Grayson is one of my favorite characters and the dynamic he has with Bruce is one of the best in comics. He is the best of the sidekicks because he contrasts so well with his mentor, while his peers were mostly just mini versions of their adult counterparts. And Barbara, while not as vital of a character, has still proved her longevity and her importance to the mythos, either as Batgirl or Oracle.

But after a while it just starts to get ridiculous. I'm primarily a fan of Bruce's character, and the effect they have on him isn't always great. A lot of the Robins are great individual characters, but in-universe, Bruce continuing to collect a bunch of kids to fight crime even after some of them die horribly just make him look like a total creep. Either that, or he's written as an abusive, controlling ******* to give the kids someone to rebel against and validate their own character arcs. If Batman's character needs to be crapped over in order for the sidekick to look better, said sidekick probably isn't that great of a character to begin with. From what little I've read of Cass's Batgirl series, that seemed to happen a lot and turned me off of it completely.

That isn't to say I dislike any of the extended cast. I enjoy most of them in certain arcs (Rucka's Batwoman run, Batman INC, and currently in Eternal). But as a whole, I'm primarily into this universe for the psychological aspects of Batman and his villains, or the struggles of the average joes in the GCPD. All the annoying teen/young adult angst just doesn't mesh for me.

[t hedge coke]

I like it when there's a range. I'm glad there's a range. Sometimes it's just Batman and some mooks. Sometimes it's Batman, Alfred, Gordon, and some nutty costumed weirdo. Sometimes there's a Robin, or another vigilante running around the rooftops, sometimes it's whole teams of costumed dogooders.

It's all good, when you have a choice.

[Tupiaz]

I like Batman for the psychological aspect that he could have been his enemies and that they share a lot of the same psychological aspects. I don't really care for rest of the Batman family. I can read a story with a Batman member and I can enjoy them appearing in the stories. However I prefer stories with Batman being solo because I think it makes more sense and better stories. Having kids with you and fighting crimes doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[godisawesome]

I'm a bigger fan of the family than I am of Batman as an individual character. I think the next stage of Batman in another media will be as a patriarch figure. He played the head of a small family in BTAS, but I think there's a lot of potential in having a full fledged family like was present during No Man's Land in a movie or TV show. There's an extra measure of pathos and depth to Batman when he's the head of a family with multiple generations and more than one casualty. He's a combination of general, father, and cult leader. Someone someday is going to have a good story comparing Ra's and Bruce as patriarchs.

And in a way, it's kind of like the King Arthur affect. Individual characters apart from the headliner become massively popular with different segments of fans, and the mythology flourishes.

[MajorHoy]

So, you'd rather DC declare bankruptcy or something and stop putting out comics books?

I'm sorry, but is somebody holding you hostage and force-reading you various awful Bat-books?

It's one thing to say you don't like stuff, but isn't a little . . . selfish . . . to say that others who like the stuff shouldn't be allowed to have it not because it's dangerous or harmful, but because it doesn't interest you?

Just because they stopped publishing those books doesn't mean they'll instead publish books you like, does it?

[lancerman]

Honestly anyone who was a former Robin and Batgirl is fine. Everyone else could go away and I wouldn't lose sleep. To me my classic Batman status quo was Batman and Robin (dick) with Barbara doing her own thing as Batgirl.

So I'm cool with both of them graduating and being Nightwing, and I'm cool with the characters who picked of their legacy (so Jason, and Tim, taking the mantle and graduating to their respective roles that make sense). I'm cool with that because it's a natural expansion and honors the and sustains the original incarnations.

But yeah everything else could be dropped imo.

[Tupiaz]

So, you'd rather DC declare bankruptcy or something and stop putting out comics books?

I'm sorry, but is somebody holding you hostage and force-reading you various awful Bat-books?

It's one thing to say you don't like stuff, but isn't a little . . . selfish . . . to say that others who like the stuff shouldn't be allowed to have it not because it's dangerous or harmful, but because it doesn't interest you?

Just because they stopped publishing those books doesn't mean they'll instead publish books you like, does it?

Who was that messages for?

[Mantis Girl 94]

Ditto....it makes no sense to any of the responses

[The_Greatest_Username]

I will concede to having a Robin (just the original one)... But come on...

In this day and age do we still need a Bat-Family? Ever time I see a Bat-Family title I feel like I am watching my dad's old Super Friends TV Show collection. I don't read any of the titles and never will...

If you did pick up one of those titles and flipped through them you would see how violent they can be at times. At that point, you'll no longer be reminded of the Super Friends. Problem solved...

[M L A]

Well considering I find just about every Batfamily member more interesting than Batman himself and his interactions with said members usually make him more interesting/tolerable to me, I'd have to say no.

[ABH]

Batman still does the solo thing, a lot, even with the big Bat-family, so I don't really understand the complaint.

We Batman fans generally have the luxury of many books to pick and choose from, so go with the loner, if that's what you prefer.

[Alan2099]

In this day and age do we still need a Bat-Family? Ever time I see a Bat-Family title I feel like I am watching my dad's old Super Friends TV Show collection. I don't read any of the titles and never will... I think it is ridiculous (same goes for Superman, Spiderman, etc)....

Okay, a multi-billionaire that knows all the martial arts in the world and spends every night running around rooftops in a Bat themed Halloween costume beating up an evil clown and a guy with question marks all over his costume isn't ridiculous but him hanging out with Robin and Nightwing is.

[Flash Gordon]

I'd set up the BAT-FAMILY to be Batman, Nightwing (Dick), Robin (Damien), Batgirl (Cass), and Batwoman (Kate) on the fringes.

I wrote a lengthy post once on what I'd do with a fresh start to BATMAN. Sadly I lost it on my old computer.

I would make Richard Grayson more or less the same age as Bruce Wayne (maybe a little younger). He would be a cop who figured out the secret early on in Batman's career and joined him as ROBIN. Richard would be more of a Watson to Bruce's Holmes. So for about 10 or 12 years it's just Bruce, Richard, and Alfred. Bruce and Richard would have a falling out when Bruce brings a young orphan Cassandra Cain into his custody and allows her to become BATGIRL. Richard doesn't want kids involved and thinks Bruce has gone mad, and he takes off on his own setting up shop as NIGHTWING. Down the road we'd find out Bruce fathered a son during a fling with Talia, and we meet Damian Wayne who just sort of takes the ROBIN mantle.

Richard's cover would be as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard, Cassandra as his adopted daughter, and Damien as his son.

BATWOMAN would just do her own thing, with a slight connection to BATMAN. CATWOMAN would be his femme fatale, his Irene Adler. Barbara Gordon would be Richard's on-again/off-again love interest, who would eventually become the ORACLE.

I think this would offer a good range to the characters and distance them out a bit. No Tim or Jason.

[ish kabbible]

I just wish he stops dressing underage kids in costumes and putting them in deadly situations.