If you’ve been paying attention even a little over the last few years, you’re aware of an internet meme thathas beenadapted endlessly, it seems. It usually depicts Robin saying something that sane people are tired of hearing (and reading on Facebook), and Batman slapping the shit out of him for being a dumb-ass.
Thing is, the art was clearly lifted from an actual Batman comic book. Can anyone tell me which issue it was, when it was published, what the story line was, and what the characters were actually saying?
I really loved those Imaginary Stories as a kid, they could put our heroes in all sorts of weird and wonderful situations and the great thing was it didn’t affect the canon one little bit. Do they still do that stuff today? (Haven’t read them in years.)
All-Star Batman and the Boy Wonder is what you are referring to. Separate continuity than main verse. Intentional jerk Batman. Didn’t read it myself. I would not have liked, and I understand many fans did not. And not just for that. Apparently (I’ve read other say, haven’t read myself), after Batman picked up Dick from the circus and was on his way home with him and explaining what was going on, there was a milk carton with Dick’s face on it seen before they even got home. Other egregious timing issues also played in, some said.
That said, even in mainstream continuity, there have definitely been times Batman has been what I would call emotionally abusive to his children/apprentices. He does these “tests” and has faked his death or faked another member of the family betraying them and forbade Cass from associating with people outside the family, and revealed Tim’s secret identity to his girlfriend because he, himself was too chicken to call Alfred, who he was on the outs with and all sorts of stuff like that in the late '90s early 2000s. Not to mention denying/delaying medical help to one his apprentices (done again in New 52). Couldn’t stand to read him then (though the rest of the Bat family was good in the late '90s). I understand he’s a bit better since Rebirth, but I just hate the de-aging of Dick and Barbara so very much (though at least Dick is back being Nightwing again because the other bit of N52 was much less to my liking) and the few Batfamily issues I’ve read since then don’t do much for me.
Actually, according to the cover, it wasn’t just an imaginary story–it was an “Imaginary Novel!”
I always found that somewhere between amusing and irritating, depending on my mood that day: the way Silver Age DC used to use the word “novel” to mean “comic book story that occupied an entire issue.”
I think it was Alan Moore who wrote a note at the end of a Superman story he wrote:
*
“Hope you enjoyed this Imaginary Story… but then, aren’t they all?”*
In the 1990s, they would do it in an imprint called “Elseworlds.” They had Batman set in Victorian London, Batman set in the Old West, Batman as a Vampire, etc.
Frankly, they shouldn’t need a special label for this stuff. It’s all imaginary. If you want to publish a story in which Bruce Wayne became Batman when he was turned into a vampire, then just do it.
I disagree. It’s good to have a separate label. Good for fans who like to timeline and track continuity. And good because some people don’t want to read it (rather continue with the ongoing storyline currently in the comics). A separate title means that you don’t alienate the fans who don’t want, and can charge extra (rather than having it part of regular title) and get more sales. Also means the writers don’t have to worry about any of the other continuity, either. Although it sounds like you might be a “who cares about continuity” person. I am not. I hate bad continuity - either in comics, television shows, or movies. Yanks me right out of the story and I just get irritated because previous episodes/issues said he was an only child and now his sister and nephew are coming to visit, and no one thinks this is at all odd.
You need at least some degree of continuity, else why even call it the same character? There are some things that you just can’t change in the main continuity, because they’re too important. For instance, part of Batman’s essential schtick is that he doesn’t actually have any powers, despite routinely fighting against and alongside those who do. Making him a vampire upsets that, so you can’t do that in a main-continuity story. But it might still be interesting to see just precisely how different he would be as a vampire, so it’s still worth writing an Elseworlds or imaginary story about it.
I said there’s no need for a separate imprint like “Elseworlds.” Those are stories that clearly advertise that they are “Batman is Sherlock Holmes” or whatever.
I am a “continuity has its place” person. Continuity is important for a seven-book Harry Potter series, for example, but only within that series. It shouldn’t be used as a cudgel to limit every subsequent iteration of a story or character.
So a series of stories written by Mike Barr shouldn’t have to worry about continuity details from a series of stories by Gerry Conway. And an ongoing story in Batman should be able to ignore continuity in ongoing stories in, say Superman or Detective Comics. Each creator and each arc should have the freedom to recreate the world as it sees fit.
Hamilton wrote a lot of the early “Silver Age” Legion stories. I never knew that simply because writers weren’t credited in those days. I learned later because I have a book of his short stories and wanted to see what else he’d written.
