When a story and it's main character can undergo a million transformations and still stand the test of time you know it's something special. I am speaking specifically about Batman in light of the recent announcement of DC's transformation of the Batman mythology. The fact is that if you are a true follower of Batman's then you have seen a broken Batman, a scarred Batman, a despondent Batman, and just about every emotion in the depressive spectrum.
What makes the character special is the way that duplicitous nature of Bruce Wayne plays out.The character can trick so many people into thinking he is a vapid playboy when he is really a brooding, stubborn, untrusting, tormented soul. The way the character is written in almost every comic book and film makes him impossible to completely love and hate. Batman creates that ambivalence that does not fully lend itself to a complete devotion to the hero or complete hatred for his sometimes antagonistic behavior. What is special about the bat?
The fact is that unlike Superman, who is a capitalist democracy boy scout, Batman believes in order at any cost. The single time that Superman subscribed to that belief was during Kingdom Come. While Superman was portrayed as a Reganite puppet in the latest DC animated feature Batman was portrayed as a hero taken to limits, putting himself in a self impose underground exile in order to continue his work as a maligned but effective protector of a city that has lost the understanding of peace and civilization.
As a rogue hero willing to kick the crap out of Superman while almost sacrificing himself and as an all out juggernaut willing to take every enemy of society to an ungodly limit one thing is for sure, Batman really kicks ass.
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