Well, it's unfortunate the hallowe'en doesn't come
until the end of the month, because all the
"Hallowe'en" specials have to be prepared in advance
and we don't get to spring it on the actual day. Be
that as it may, welcome to the October, 1999 edition of
Artistic License.
I suppose last month's treatment of the so-called
"Superman Family" explains this month's choise of
subjects, coupled with the Hallowe'en angle, it seemed
to work. Back in the 70s, there were a couple of
"Family" books at DC Comics, "Superman Family" was one,
the other was "Batman Family" and that's the first
thing I thought of when I decided on the title for last
month. I just had to follow up with a treatment of the
Bats.
In dealing with Batman and his entourage, I decided to
walk away from the Dark Knight aspects of the character
and do an "Elseworlds" style job on the character, and
some of his companions.
For inspiration, I turned, as I often do, to the
comics of the past. In this case, specifically, Batman
Family and the stories of the Earth-2 Batman. Now, I
realize that a lot of readers have only a vague (if at
all) idea of what Earth-2 is/was and it's significance.
Back in the 1950s, a few writers and editors at DC
Comics introduced the concept of alternate earths to
the world of comics. First to explore the concept was
The Flash, Barry Allen, who travelled to Earth-2 and
met Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. Over the decades
since, many heroes and villains have discovered the
other earths and travelled to and fro. In 1985,
however, the fun had to end. For almost 30 years the
multiple earths had been a mainstay of the DC universe,
but in what I consider a monumentally short-sighted and
disrupting editorial decision, the multiple earths were
eliminated in the twelve-issue maxi-series Crisis on
Infinite Earths. I enjoyed Crisis (as it has come to be
known, but the consequences were immediately apparent
and the problems created by combining the conflicting
continuities of these worlds far exceed any benefit.
Prior to Crisis, the Golden Age heroes existed on
Earth-2, while the Silver Age heroes were on Earth-1, I
won't go into all the other worlds, but suffice to say,
the separation of the worlds kept their continuity
"clean" with only occasional intrusion from the rest of
the DC universe. The greatest flaw I saw was that the
greatest heroes in comics history were suddenly
eliminated from the Golden Age continuity. The three
superstars of DC Comics, the only superhero titles that
had been continuously in publication since they began,
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, were set firmly in
the Silver Age, with no incarnations in the past to
fill the roles they played in so many stories. Titles
in publication at the time, All-Star Squadron and
Infinity, Inc., were thrown into upheaval, and forced
to invent new and unbelievably contrived explanations
and origins for many characters. Early issues of
All-Star Squadron had featured appearances by Superman,
Batman and Wonder Woman, but after Crisis, these three
characters were eliminated from continuity and all that
they represented went with them.
Batman's absence from the Golden Age deprived us of
another excellent storyline and one of my favorite
story elements in the character's history. Today, we're
used to seeing Batman as a grim avenger, dark and
menacing and, above all, alone. Sure, he spends a bit
of time with Robin and the new Batgirl and even takes a
few moments out to chastise the Huntress, on occasion,
but most of his time is spent alone. Of all the great
heroes, Batman is the only one without a significant
love interest. I know, he's had the occasional fling
with Vickie Vale and Silver St.Cloud, among others, but
they never amounted to anything. There was never any
doubt that they would break up, eventually. The Golden
Age Batman was not so inclined.
In the pages of "Batman Family" there was a recurring
story-section dealing with the Batman of Earth-2. Set
in the 1970s, with Batman in semi-retirement, Dick
Grayson as Gotham City's D.A., and Bruce Wayne married
to Selina Kyle, the former Catwoman. Bruce and Selina
also had a daughter in her early 20s, Helena. At some
point, one of Selina's former criminal associates
attempted to frame her for a murder she did not commit,
and she was killed while clearing her name. Batman set
out to avenge her and was, himself killed, leaving
Helena to avenge them both. Helena became the Huntress
and fought crime in Gotham, until she, herself, was
killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, along with the
Robin of Earth-2.
Enough history. Suppose Bruce Wayne was able to reform
Selina, would she be content to sit home and raise a
baby, while her husband risked life and limb fighting a
seemingly hopeless battle against crime? I don't think
so. Could Bruce stop her if she decided to turn her
skills tofighting crime beside him, rather than
committing crimes? Again, I don't think so. So where
does that take us?
Well, what we have here is a family. And not the
cheesy, warm-fuzzy nonsense of Batman & Robin, that
awful movie. Batman, Batwoman and Robin, we'll assume
that when Helena is born, Alfred will sit up at night
and rock her to sleep, while Mom and Dad are out making
the city safe for decent people to live in. Perhaps
they would adopt Dick Grayson, so she'd have a big
brother to look out for her.
Since I did this in a modern setting, I went with
modern styling on the costumes. For Batman, I tied to
keep the classic look, making the biggest alteration
with the bat-emblem. I saw something like it in a
comic, once, and I remember liking the look of the
smaller oval with the bat extending past it, like a
huge bat silhouetted against the full moon. For
Batwoman, I tried to work in some of Selina's Catwoman
costume lines and colors, with a gold bat-emblem alà
Batgirl. With robin, I just reworked the lines of his
current costume, adding flared shoulders in place of
the short sleeves and extending the mask into
protective headgear. I also reworked Robin's colors a
bit, changing the yellow cape lining to medium gray.
Well, I guess that about does it for this trip.
Hallowe'en is still a month away, but we can get into
the mood to have some fun, early. That's my plan,
anyway. I'll be looking for responses and suggestions
for future columns, so don't be shy.
Til, next time...
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