I would love to see a version of Batman who is just blatantly fucking insane. Like he never sleeps, prays to his parents' graves every night, talks to a bust of his father like Hamlet, etc. Really show what a psychopath who beats the shit out of homeless people would be like.
You could even add a scene where he beats up some asthmatic so badly they end up in a coma and his family pulls the plug, causing Batman to go on a mental breakdown where he contemplates suicide. Also it should be set in like the 40s or 50s.
There's a comic run that's basically that called White Knight. I haven't read it, but from what I remember from hearing about it is that (spoilers in case anyone wants to read it)
spoiler
Batman is getting more and more violent and erratic as time goes on, eventually catching the Joker in a car chase that nearly kills multiple bystanders, who gives up and decides to let Batman take him to Arkham. Instead, Batman forces the joker to swallow a bottle of pills that Joker has in full view of the public and on camera, which puts him in the hospital. Joker wakes up apparently cured and not the joker anymore, but aware of what Batman did, so he wins a legal case with the help of lawyer Harley against the Gotham police for not interfering and runs for Gotham city council on the platform of stopping Batman by helping the poor of Gotham, and it's discovered that Bruce Wayne's billionaire buddies are directly profiting from Batman by buying up all the property he destroys for cheap
I don't know much else, how good it is, or how it ends. I just remember hearing about the plot and finding it interesting. I might give it a read if I see it around.
I would love to see a version of Batman who is just blatantly fucking insane. Like he never sleeps, prays to his parents’ graves every night, talks to a bust of his father like Hamlet, etc. Really show what a psychopath who beats the shit out of homeless people would be like.
this is basically what rorschach is. problem is, rorschach is poor (of course)
There's two Batman analogues in Watchman - Rorschach, who is driven to depravity by desperation and self-delusion, and Owlman, who just sort of fucks around from a position of privilege and squanders his enormous wealth chasing clout and pussy.
True, but I think Batman has a more skewed sense of duty, ala his no kill rule. I also think the fact he studied for like a decade across the world could introduce interesting concepts of mysticism (whether Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, etc.) Also, Batman has countless storylines to adapt, where Rorschach has 1.
I mean Rorschach doesn't have a no kill rule, doesn't have a strong connection to his parents, never traveled across the world learning how to be good at everything, isn't rich, doesn't have a roster of villains, has a different personality, isn't based in a gothic hellhole like Gotham, and doesn't have countless storylines to adapt. The only thing that'd be similar is that they are insane, and most Batman depictions already make him slightly insane (Batman: Imposter is a recent one which delves into his sanity).
The Kingdom Come limited series depicts a Batman who, ravaged by years of fighting crime, uses an exoskeleton to keep himself together and keeps the peace on the streets of Gotham using remote-controlled robots. He is late middle-aged and wears an eerie grin. It is no longer a secret that he is Bruce Wayne and is referred to as the "Batman" even when he appears in civilian guise. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-22
A kind of Late Stage Batman that crops up in a few other subsequent iterations as well. A man so obsessed with fighting crime that he becomes the de facto tyrant king of Gotham City.
I remember seeing a few panels of that a while ago, but I didn't know it was playing into the "Batman who lost his way idea," though I think most of Kingdom Come focuses on that theme
I would love to see a version of Batman who is just blatantly fucking insane. Like he never sleeps, prays to his parents' graves every night, talks to a bust of his father like Hamlet, etc. Really show what a psychopath who beats the shit out of homeless people would be like.
You could even add a scene where he beats up some asthmatic so badly they end up in a coma and his family pulls the plug, causing Batman to go on a mental breakdown where he contemplates suicide. Also it should be set in like the 40s or 50s.
There's a comic run that's basically that called White Knight. I haven't read it, but from what I remember from hearing about it is that (spoilers in case anyone wants to read it)
spoiler
Batman is getting more and more violent and erratic as time goes on, eventually catching the Joker in a car chase that nearly kills multiple bystanders, who gives up and decides to let Batman take him to Arkham. Instead, Batman forces the joker to swallow a bottle of pills that Joker has in full view of the public and on camera, which puts him in the hospital. Joker wakes up apparently cured and not the joker anymore, but aware of what Batman did, so he wins a legal case with the help of lawyer Harley against the Gotham police for not interfering and runs for Gotham city council on the platform of stopping Batman by helping the poor of Gotham, and it's discovered that Bruce Wayne's billionaire buddies are directly profiting from Batman by buying up all the property he destroys for cheap
I don't know much else, how good it is, or how it ends. I just remember hearing about the plot and finding it interesting. I might give it a read if I see it around.
I've heard of this but didn't know what it was about. Sounds really interesting
It has since come out as a paperback of the same name. I couldn't find a digital copy of it online, though.
There's a newer run called Curse of the White Knight, and White Night Presents: Harley Quinn, both also available in paperback.
Awesome, I'll have to check it out. Batman: Imposter is a new series which focuses on Batman's questionable sanity as well.
this is basically what rorschach is. problem is, rorschach is poor (of course)
Poor people are insane. Rich people are eccentric.
There's two Batman analogues in Watchman - Rorschach, who is driven to depravity by desperation and self-delusion, and Owlman, who just sort of fucks around from a position of privilege and squanders his enormous wealth chasing clout and pussy.
True, but I think Batman has a more skewed sense of duty, ala his no kill rule. I also think the fact he studied for like a decade across the world could introduce interesting concepts of mysticism (whether Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, etc.) Also, Batman has countless storylines to adapt, where Rorschach has 1.
So basically Rorschach?
Dead horse genre
I mean Rorschach doesn't have a no kill rule, doesn't have a strong connection to his parents, never traveled across the world learning how to be good at everything, isn't rich, doesn't have a roster of villains, has a different personality, isn't based in a gothic hellhole like Gotham, and doesn't have countless storylines to adapt. The only thing that'd be similar is that they are insane, and most Batman depictions already make him slightly insane (Batman: Imposter is a recent one which delves into his sanity).
https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Alternative_versions_of_Batman#Alternative_universes_in_modern_continuity
A kind of Late Stage Batman that crops up in a few other subsequent iterations as well. A man so obsessed with fighting crime that he becomes the de facto tyrant king of Gotham City.
I remember seeing a few panels of that a while ago, but I didn't know it was playing into the "Batman who lost his way idea," though I think most of Kingdom Come focuses on that theme