NS: New York Times Article Spoils Batman #50

[history79]

"The answers to the questions are found in letters the couple have written to each other before their wedding day. Mr. Wayne’s correspondence reveals an acceptance of Ms. Kyle, who in her time has been a jewel thief, a villain, an antihero and a mob boss. “You’re not someone who can be figured out. Or solved. And never will be,” he declares. He also writes that he can be “more than a boy whose parents are dead,” that he can be “the man who loves you. Who will always try to love you better.”

Ms. Kyle’s letter lays out the truth as she sees it: “You’re still a child, Bruce. A hurt child.” Their happiness, she speculates, would kill Batman, who rescues everyone and turns pain into hope. “How can I do that,” she writes. “To save the world, heroes make sacrifices.”

In order to keep countless innocents safe, she concludes that she cannot marry Mr. Wayne. “My sacrifice is my life. It’s you.”

In the final moments of their story, the bride and groom end up at different locations in the early morning hours. In a silent page, Ms. Kyle sits on a rooftop, contemplating. She discards her veil and leaps toward the street. At the Finger Tower skyscraper, after an hour of waiting for his bride, Mr. Wayne realizes she is not coming. He throws off his tie and takes a similar leap, but in the opposite direction. Theirs is a story that is forever to be continued."

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/fashion/weddings/it-just-wasnt-meant-to-be-batman.html

Comments

[wizardru]

I'm old enough to remember when Batman WASN'T a tragic figure. There was a time when Batman being a driven, potentially mentally unhealthy obsessive was a fresh take, a new look. It isn't that Batman can't be a tortured, tragic figure, IMHO, it's that now it's assumed that it's all he CAN be. That Batman must be a jerk to everyone around him or that he has to be almost as broken as his enemies to be an effective Batman.

I mean, contextually now the argument is...well, you'd have to be crazy to be Batman, right? But that argument is put forth for many other characters, many of whom have similar circumstances. Spiderman is rarely presented as a borderline sociopath or that he must be one to be an effective hero. It's not that you can't do that, but I find the idea that its the only take for Batman anymore to be odd. Spiderman was still Spideman for 10 years while being married...it merely opened up different stories. The same is true for Superman.

I can understand not KEEPING Batman married, but I think a lot of people were really excited for the story possibilities this would have created (not unlike when Dick became Batman, for example). Just deep-sixing the whole thing feels like a massive rug-pull and a waste of time, especially after all the build-up to it. That's their prerogative, just like mine will be to not buy further.