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scans_dailyLately I've seen people complain that the situation in Gotham City is so terrible that they've started asking "What good is Batman if it never gets any better?". Since has been shown to not be the case, I thought that I'd do a brief series of posts about the positive changes the various versions of Batman have made to their city over the years.
As someone in the previous selection of scans said, the actions of Bruce Wayne out of costume are what stop Batman from just being a reactionary figure. He's not the Punisher, who only seeks out and destroys crime, he's also actively engaged in trying to make people's lives better, if not to prevent a potential descent into crime out fo desperation, then out of a sense of social responsiblity.
The origins of this have been shown to originate with his parents, who (depending on who is writing) are generally depicted as professional doctors (in Thomas' case) or full time charity workers (in the case of Martha). I've already done a bunch of posts about the things Martha was involved with (a free clinic in the poorest part of Gotham, where she also worked as a volunteer nurse, several charities looking after the victims of the child sex trade etc. etc.). But I think that I shall just post this part of her explaining WHY they're not just the idle rich that they could easily be.
In the previous section it showed that in Bruce Wayne: Murderer Bruce both donated money to and visited numerous teen rec centres around the city, but this kind of action is so associated with Bruce that, when Selina Kyle stole millions of dollars from Black Mask, Bruce was the one she turned to to build a community centre in her old neighborhood.
In the post Bruce Wayne: Fugitive issue 24/7, it highlighted the multiple things that Bruce does over the course of a day, be they direct things such as giving out scholarships...
...Hiring ex-cons who want to go straight...
...tricking other rich people into actually helping the city rather than just taking the course of action that makes them the most money...
...donating better equipment to the massively underfunded Bludhaven Police Department (this was when Dick Grayson was a cop there, oddly when Dick offered Justice League level tech to the GCPD's forensic department in Black Mirror, they refused to use it as they thought that by doing so implied that they couldn't do their jobs properly... yeah)...
...helping a nice gay couple rescuing one of them back in the day, in a move that they think was important enough to celebrate each year...
Or the very implication that he's around as Batman is enough to make areas of the city safe enough to wander around in at night.
Bruce also uses his connections with Wayne Enterprises to offer people the chance to get a legitimate career. Grant Morrison demonstrates his well with his reoccuring character Ellie, who is introduced as an (implictly underage) prostitute in his Batman and Son storyline...
...who is then seen in the background of numerous issues, including as a receptionist in Batman Incorperated. Hell, it's her that Damian dies defending from his Evil Twin!
And finally, in Paul Dini's Detective Comics run, Bruce used his influence to get onto the parole board of Arkham Asylum, in order to ensure that the staff don't randomly release patients onto the street via bribery or threats.
Bruce does change his vote after Harley shows that she's genuinely willing to reform, a state of affairs that lasts pretty much all the way up until the end of Gotham Sirens, just before the reboot more or less.
This was also a feature in the BTAS storyline that introduced Lock-up, where the implication that one of the guards is abusing the patients (the ones who can't necessarily fight back, such as a Scarecrow, the Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter and Harley... yeah, the dude claimed to enforcing the rules yet he picked on the older or comparatively physically weaker patients rather than the ones more capable of causing legit trouble, like Two-Face or the Joker... interesting, that) he called a hearing about it. Showing that, these guys might be his mortal enemies, but he doesn't necessarily want people abusing them who should be trying to help them get BETTER either.
As someone in the previous selection of scans said, the actions of Bruce Wayne out of costume are what stop Batman from just being a reactionary figure. He's not the Punisher, who only seeks out and destroys crime, he's also actively engaged in trying to make people's lives better, if not to prevent a potential descent into crime out fo desperation, then out of a sense of social responsiblity.
The origins of this have been shown to originate with his parents, who (depending on who is writing) are generally depicted as professional doctors (in Thomas' case) or full time charity workers (in the case of Martha). I've already done a bunch of posts about the things Martha was involved with (a free clinic in the poorest part of Gotham, where she also worked as a volunteer nurse, several charities looking after the victims of the child sex trade etc. etc.). But I think that I shall just post this part of her explaining WHY they're not just the idle rich that they could easily be.
In the previous section it showed that in Bruce Wayne: Murderer Bruce both donated money to and visited numerous teen rec centres around the city, but this kind of action is so associated with Bruce that, when Selina Kyle stole millions of dollars from Black Mask, Bruce was the one she turned to to build a community centre in her old neighborhood.
In the post Bruce Wayne: Fugitive issue 24/7, it highlighted the multiple things that Bruce does over the course of a day, be they direct things such as giving out scholarships...
...Hiring ex-cons who want to go straight...
...tricking other rich people into actually helping the city rather than just taking the course of action that makes them the most money...
...donating better equipment to the massively underfunded Bludhaven Police Department (this was when Dick Grayson was a cop there, oddly when Dick offered Justice League level tech to the GCPD's forensic department in Black Mirror, they refused to use it as they thought that by doing so implied that they couldn't do their jobs properly... yeah)...
...helping a nice gay couple rescuing one of them back in the day, in a move that they think was important enough to celebrate each year...
Or the very implication that he's around as Batman is enough to make areas of the city safe enough to wander around in at night.
Bruce also uses his connections with Wayne Enterprises to offer people the chance to get a legitimate career. Grant Morrison demonstrates his well with his reoccuring character Ellie, who is introduced as an (implictly underage) prostitute in his Batman and Son storyline...
...who is then seen in the background of numerous issues, including as a receptionist in Batman Incorperated. Hell, it's her that Damian dies defending from his Evil Twin!
And finally, in Paul Dini's Detective Comics run, Bruce used his influence to get onto the parole board of Arkham Asylum, in order to ensure that the staff don't randomly release patients onto the street via bribery or threats.
Bruce does change his vote after Harley shows that she's genuinely willing to reform, a state of affairs that lasts pretty much all the way up until the end of Gotham Sirens, just before the reboot more or less.
This was also a feature in the BTAS storyline that introduced Lock-up, where the implication that one of the guards is abusing the patients (the ones who can't necessarily fight back, such as a Scarecrow, the Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter and Harley... yeah, the dude claimed to enforcing the rules yet he picked on the older or comparatively physically weaker patients rather than the ones more capable of causing legit trouble, like Two-Face or the Joker... interesting, that) he called a hearing about it. Showing that, these guys might be his mortal enemies, but he doesn't necessarily want people abusing them who should be trying to help them get BETTER either.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 10:46 am (UTC)Speaking of good BTAS episodes, what about the one that revealed why Dick quit being Robin to become Nightwing? I love the ending when it reveals that the guy Bruce roughed up in front of his family cleaned up his act because of that encounter and even got a job as a security guard at Wayne Industries (meaning Bruce was willing to give him a chance). As the guard praises Bruce Wayne for being such a great employer, Nightwing quietly concedes that "...Bruce Wayne is a good man."
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 02:38 pm (UTC)That said, I do like nice guy!Bruce... but I sometimes have trouble getting rid of the sheer dissonance with the real world whenever he reaches into his bottomless bag o' jobs. How does a bleeding-heart like that survive for even a year in corporate America?
And now I've got an evil, evil idea in mind. As contrast, anyone wanna see what is probably the only scene in all of comics where Bruce actually does a mass layoff of WE workers?
Re: the laying off WE Workers thing
Date: 2014-06-05 03:25 pm (UTC)In comparison, Tony Stark has had multiple storylines regarding corporate intrigue, mainly because his company has been a focal point of the character since the very beginning. If WE specialised in making high tech law enforcement equipment from the start, then we might be more invested in whether someone might subvert Bruce's control of the company in order to use its resources to start up an anarcho-corporate police state in which Wayne-Powers Industry uses mini-drones to keep the plebs toeing the company line. Or Something.
As it stands, Wayne Enterprises just floats in the background, a huge nebulous business with lines in shipping, construction, chemicals, electronics, communications etc. etc. That exists primarily to show how Bruce can afford to build his own private space station on the quiet with no one noticing, as he's effectively so wealthy that the value of money might have been utterly lost on him until he moved away from home to be a trainee vigilante hobo for a few years.
Re: the laying off WE Workers thing
Date: 2014-06-05 03:47 pm (UTC)Re: the laying off WE Workers thing
Date: 2014-06-05 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-06 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-09 03:40 pm (UTC)It's funny, I've read the 24/7 issue before and recognized some of the scenes from it posted here, but I'd mostly forgotten about it until now. I remember a similar issue of The Flash when Grant Morrison and Mark Millar were writing it, I think it was #134. Wally's leg was broken, so Jay had to fill in for him for a day and you see what Wally actually does with his time, especially since this was when his identity was still public. And then there's Wonder Woman v2 #170, when Lois Lane follows her for a day to do a profile piece. I always love "day in the life" superhero stories, because they take the concept to its limit. Has anyone ever done one about Superman? I can't remember ever hearing of one, but you could do so much with the idea. I guess All Star Superman #10 would count. No wonder it's my favorite issue of the series.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 03:59 pm (UTC)it's weird, it's a REALLY sweet scene (though i wish we could have had a flash back showing what batman did) but that ART (the shadowing and everything)....
also just had a really random thought.... since they celebrate batman day does Bruce celebrate gay Pride? also had another thought, what if three years ago Bruce saw that this nice gay man was gonna be attacked and he was like "NO! LOVE IS LOVE! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU ATTACKING THE LOVE OF THIS COUPLE!" and then we can have a GayPride Batman throwing rainbow batarangs and...
oh god think i drank too much coffee!
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 04:16 pm (UTC)The BATMAN: TURNING POINT miniseries also has some "Here's the good that Batman does" moments, especially at the end.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 04:44 pm (UTC)