>>8020087Nobody responded, so I'll post my head canon. Batman is crazy. He KNOWS he's crazy. He is fixated on a single traumatic experience years, maybe even decades ago. In 'The Killing Joke', Joker goes into this in detail saying that he and Batman are fundamentally the same, but he embraces his insanity while Batman fights it.
THAT is what Batman fights. He SAYS that he fights against crime and for justice, but at the heart of the character he NEEDS to believe that his villains can reform, get healthy, and go back to normal, because HE wants that and can't do it. If he loses hope in them, then he gives up on himself.
How is Mr. Freeze holding on to his wife different from Bruce holding onto his parents? How is Two-Face becoming disillusioned with the justice system and taking matters into his own hands different than Batman? The Riddler's obsession with proving his superiority by defeating a puzzle that never plays by his rules? Catwoman breaking the law and alternating between selfish motives and altruism?
These stories are always more interesting to me than 'Ninja-Sherlock kicks poor people in the face #371' or 'Campy gadget-man and his technicolor dream team Part 3 of 4'. Unfortunately, there's only so times you can pull that off before the lesser writers catch on and make 'That one story, but again and in SPACE!'
I will freely admit to being very biased in this, because I self-insert into it. My corner of the world has a lot of traumatized people in it. I'm one of them. I've lost a few, and I see a few more about to go. I still try to stop them when I can, but it's hard when the crazy bastards make so much damned sense.
