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Topic: World’s Greatest…Punching Bag?? Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Joseph Gauthier
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 11 March 2009
Posts: 1413
Posted: 15 May 2022 at 11:50pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I get Batman's aversion to guns given his origin, but what's the rationale against any kind of armor, given all his other preparation (his wonderful toys, transportation, etc)?
...

Too bulky, too heavy. It would sap his strength, effect his agility, slow him down.


Edited by Joseph Gauthier on 15 May 2022 at 11:52pm
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Eric Jansen
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Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2280
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 12:07am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

The best artists, like Neal Adams or Don Newton, would show Batman working out in costume (or just the bottom half) and it made perfect sense--it looked right.  He should be lithe.

He should evade bullets (and situations where he'd be trapped by shooters), not walk through a barrage of machine gun fire (as the latest movie showed).  He's not Iron Man.

We get the armor idea from the movies...but, if you hear the actors talk, it's almost impossible for them to move around in those suits!
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Kevin Sharp
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Joined: 09 December 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 326
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 1:04am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I still remember from childhood a B&B story where Batman was chained to a wall — still wearing his utility belt! — and stood by helplessly waiting to be rescued by the co-star (WW I believe).
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ron bailey
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Joined: 16 October 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 910
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 1:27am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I always imagined something more along the lines of a football player's selectively protective gear to still allow for agility and flexibility in the outfit, and that we were just being shown the artistic shorthand for it.  < id="protanopia"> < id="deuteranopia"> < id="tritanopia">
That being said, it really is hard to beat his classic Neal Adams/Jim Aparo look.
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Jason Czeskleba
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 30 April 2004
Posts: 4545
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 1:54am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I think the idea that no one should be able to lay a glove on Batman is a relatively new one, originating in the 80s.  There's many stories over Batman's first 40 years in which he is sapped from behind or overpowered by a sufficiently-large group of thugs.  The earliest examples of the former I can find are in Detective #36 and #37.
 

O'Neill and Adams were simply continuing that tradition.  Perhaps because that's the way I first encountered the character, I much prefer a street-level Batman like this to the character he's become, who can take on 20 guys simultaneously, Bruce-Lee-style, and emerge victorious.  They've really gone too far in the other direction.
 


Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 16 May 2022 at 1:55am
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Michael Penn
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Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12406
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 11:31am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Batman fighting and defeating a large group of assailants is also established right at the very beginning of the character -- it's even mentioned in the next panel from that above in D.C. #36 where one of the criminals notes that only in the midst of Batman taking on a dozen men was there that chance to strike him. Also, in that panel from D.C. #37, he was struck by the person that Batman had just a second earlier untied himself, thinking him an innocent victim of the group of men Batman had just defeated.

I don't think either scene turns Batman into a "punching bag," to use JB's term.
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Michael Penn
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Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12406
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 11:54am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

JB, were you referencing this scene?

Ubu  Babblings about DC Comics 4
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

No. The “Bigger Melvin” scene.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 12:41pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

The best artists, like Neal Adams or Don Newton, would show Batman working out in costume…

•••

Most of those stories would have been done full script. Credit belongs to the writers.

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Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12406
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Ah, yes. Funny how Batman sneaking up on Bigger is one of the most perfect, even definitive, Batman scenes ever made, and then it's immediately followed up by Batman dropping his guard, for no reason, not once, but twice. 
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Jeffrey Rice
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Joined: 10 September 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1161
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

To be fair, Batman has a tough skull. How many times has he been "creased" by a bullet?
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Charles Valderrama
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4716
Posted: 16 May 2022 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

O'Neill and Adams goal was to take Batman back to his roots... AND treat him as realistic as possible. Batman was vulnerable when the story called for it and I think it made his achievements/strengths stand out more.

-C!
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