FWIW I always felt Batman’s mythology worked best if the criminal was just some nameless nobody.
I don’t mind Joe Chill as a character, depending on how he’s handled. I actually really liked how Batman Begins handled it: put a name on the murderer, have the police arrest him, have young Bruce Wayne sit across from the poor schmuck who was forced into crime out of economic desperation, and have Wayne realize, “This isn’t what killed my parents. My parents and Joe Chill are both victims of a system that takes people and turns them into Joe Chills.” And thats what he spends his life fighting - crime lords, corrupt politicians, and the occasional murder clown.
The whole, “If he catches the guy who killed his parents, he’d stop being Batman,” is something I don’t care for. I’m not a fan of stories that pathologize Batman’s crime fighting. Batman’s a hero. He fights crime because people need help, and he’s able to help them. If Batman catches Joe Chill and delivers him to justice, the next night, he’s still going to put on the cape and cowl, because locking up a mook like Joe Chill isn’t going to stop The Joker from poisoning the reservoir.
Gotham works for me because as a kid I was strictly Marvel. I’m not invested in the old stories. But I can see how it can distract from your enjoyment.
I wouldn’t go that far. I think Batman should see Joe Chill as the problem not another victim of circumstances. But I agree that having Joe Chill be an insignificant criminal rather than a supervillain is an important part of keeping Batman motivated. There’s only going to be one Joker but there will always be a never-ending line of Joe Chills.
As do I.
If it was somebody anonymous, Batman can never have closure. He has to fight crime because “crime” is what killed his parents. Not the Joker or Joe Chill or anyone he can blame specifically. Batman can catch all the bad guys he wants, but he can never make it not happen. He has to be driven, and if he were ever to be able to catch the one who he can blame, it would remove the central motivator for his life.
It’s like the movie Memento - he needs a purpose in life, and if he resolved his central conflict, he doesn’t have the option of just not remembering it. It would break him.
Regards,
Shodan
So what you’re saying is that Batman needs to wear a costume in order to hide his memory tattoos?
[And the Memento/Batman movie is now starting to become strangely real in my head…]
That was the Flashpoint timeline (dammit, Barry!).
Even in Batman 89 Joker is a poor, incorrect answer, it was Jack Napier, decades before Batman caused him to become Joker in the chemical plant accident.
And in even greater example of comic book “Small World Syndrome”, you have this character:
I just thought it was someone in The Purple Gang.
In jailhouse rock, the WHOLE rhythm section was The Purple Gang!
Srsly, I am no fan of Bats nor a scholar, but that was what I had always heard from them that are.
Your honor, we are prepared to prove that the defendant was under the influence of bat guano fumes at the time of his parents death and thus was not culpable for his actions.
I blame Donald Trump.
:rolleyes:
To be fair, he just had to kill a LOT of people.
If you look carefully in the opening credits of Watchmen, you’ll see that Nite Owl actually prevented the murder of the Waynes.