Batman was a real person, no superpowers, nothing but his mind and an incredible ability to kick the shit out of people. As a heavy set kid who read comics it was easy to click with a hero who made himself into a superhero, down deep we all wanted to do that to. For thirty long years, through good times and bad, I always read Batman comics. I couldn’t always collect them but I always managed to sneak a read. Batman and Detective were always there for me and I remained a dedicated fan.

So here I am thirty years later not collecting Batman and Detective Comics for the first time because DC Editor Dan Didio has decided it’s more important to sell books than pay the proper respect to one of comic books greatest heroes. As of right now Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman, he’s just given it up.

I know that people are waiting with baited breath for Final Crisis #5 to find out how precisely Bruce Wayne ends his reign as Batman but in reality the how and why doesn’t matter. Batman is Bruce Wayne and Bruce Wayne is Batman, it’s not a cowl or a belt of tricks or a car or anything else, it’s the thought process. Without that you have the empty shell of my hero, a phantom instead of a Dark Knight.

Batman is fascinating because of his drive and his sacrifice, the years spent building his character up into something larger than life. To think you can replace that by sticking some other character into the costume is to lose sight of what Batman really is. This isn’t Johnny Bravo, he doesn’t “fit the suit”, and the entire idea of Batman lies in Bruce Wayne’s mindset, who he is and how that dictates what he does. You can’t replace that and to try is simply insulting.

First of all Bruce Wayne wouldn’t give up being Batman. Batman RIP alluded to the fact that Bruce would find out something about his father that would drive him away from being the caped crusader. Even though that isn’t what happened the very idea of that pushing Bruce Wayne away doesn’t gel with who Batman has become over the years. This is no longer the angry little boy out to avenge his parents, this is an adult who he dedicated himself to trying to make the world a better place. Not just for his parents but for a multitude of reasons.

Over the years Batman has continued his quest for justice based on the lives he’s saved and the lives he hasn’t been able to save. The ghosts of the people he has fallen just short of helping haunt him almost as much as his parents. This is also all he knows, all he’s known for so many years that walking away just isn’t an option for him. That’s what made him such an incredible hero, that’s why I bought in month after month even though Batman couldn’t fly, or run fast, or bend steel with his bare hands. He wasn’t some guy handed powers and told to go and do good, he made himself that way, and he pushed himself to be that. By that logic Batman wouldn’t stop until he was dead, not because he’d had a bad day.

To try and cushion the blow we’ve had everything thrown at us but the kitchen sink. Comic legend Denny O’Neil has written a tie in book for Batman RIP, as has Neil Gaimen. We have these one shots from various Batman villains coming up as well as this ridiculous Battle For The Cowl story arc where Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake all battle to see who gets to become Batman. That’s really the point though; they won’t be Batman, who ever wins will just be a pretender to the throne. It isn’t that those three characters aren’t interesting but they are not Batman, they lack the sixty plus year’s worth of luggage that makes Batman who he is. Without that this is just another guy-in-tights story.

Corny as it sounds Batman has always given be something to believe in. The world around me continues to let me down but not Batman, even when he didn’t do the “right” thing it was because he was pushed into an untenable situation. I was always drawn to the idea that Batman didn’t kill, even though it’d be easier for him to just pick people off. I’ve even debated with friends on why Batman hasn’t taken out The Joker, made him the one exception to his golden rule.

I like to think it’s because what Batman stands for is bigger than his personal hatreds, even when the Joker crippled Barbara Gordon, killed Commissioner Gordon’s wife or beat Jason Todd to death. Being an incorruptible symbol of justice is Batman’s whole life and that’s what makes him impressive, well that and the fact that with no superpowers he still manages to make all the other DC Heroes nervous. Will that same intensity be delivered when one of this other characters had won the cowl? I doubt it.

To make Bruce Wayne just walk away from being Batman shows a massive lack of understanding about the character and his place in the history of comics. The fact that DC’s editor approved this idea is a really hard thing to come to terms with but not hard to understand. Didio’s obvious uncaring vibe towards Batman first became truly evident when he allowed Frank Miller to write the abysmal All Star Batman And Robin. Regardless of your feelings on Frank Miller nobody can claim that the All Star title is anything but a tragedy, a slap to Bob Kane’s face by a corporation who has lost its way.

Another problem with Didio is that since he’s been on the scene he has been dedicated to bringing Hal Jordan and Barry Allen back. With Batman gone, Superman leaving planet Earth and Wonder Woman largely pushed to the side Didio has done a great job of diminishing the top three so as to make room for this new DC Universe. I’m all for Barry Allen returning and I cheer for Hal Jordon coming back but at the expense of Batman? Didio’s need to leave his mark by shaking up the DC Universe comes at too high a price and the Dark Knight is largely paying that price.

Since DC Comics hasn’t killed Bruce Wayne we can be reasonably certain he will return to his post in the future. It might be a year or two years but the smart money is on Bruce donning the cowl again at some point. When Bruce Wayne finally does return what does that say about either his commitment to his crusade or how terrible the situation was that drove him to stop being Batman? It simultaneously takes the thunder from either idea and in some small way takes a piece of all that has been built into Batman over the last six decades.

One other bone I’d like to pick with Didio and DC is how they handled this whole thing in regards to Batman RIP. Promising us a resolution by the end of the storyline and then saying “Oh no oops” and forcing us to read Final Crisis to find out what ultimately drives Bruce Wayne from being Batman is really bad form. It just adds to the idea that this isn’t some well thought out part of Batman’s history but instead another cheap trick to hawk comic books. Batman deserves better than that, hell we all do.

Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Denny O’Neill, Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino, Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, Norm Breyfogle, Darwyne Cook, Steve Englhart, Marc Waid, Paul Dini and so many others have added their genius to the legend of the Dark Knight. These fine writers and artists gave dorks like me something to believe in by creating a hero that could exist in the real world. Now Batman is gone, maybe dead forever, maybe not, but still never to be what the character once was. After all this time and all this love and dedication we the fans deserve better than to see our hero crawl away from his calling just to try and sell more copies.

Well, at least there are back issues.