Batman upgrades and downgrades

"Batman Comics Desperately Need a New Status Quo" – MSN CBR

The article claims that Batman comics are "stale" and suggests a variety of fixes, such as Bruce Wayne permanently losing his fortune, making sure stories convey a sense of true mortal danger during fights, also stating the character is more interesting without the "Batman Family" tagging along, and emphasizing that the more powerful Batman appears, the less interesting he becomes as a character. Each of these claims is of course rather subjective, but the "Batman Family" problem is probably the most obvious issue.

What is the problem with "Batman Family" stories? The added concerns about relationship risks and dangers for all the members of Bruce Wayne's extended family is an inversion of the original Bat-Man (and for that matter, Spider-Man, too) ideal in which any hint of connection with other people by the superhero automatically puts that other person in danger.

Also, when the emotional life of the "Batman family" is explored extensively, the theme shifts and the focus and concept of the star character moves away from the essentials that make him unique and original. A secondary problem is that it seems to CBB that many Batman writers actually want to write superhero team books but are compelled to do so through the lens of this traditionally lone superhero, Batman.

These conflicting concepts often clash and dilute the Batman concept. The reality of DC Comics publishing Batman is that they produce what feels like an endless number of additional Batman titles, meaning nearly any non-traditional concept could be explored without drawing space from the main titles where one would expect the essential nature of the character would be the most guarded (but is not the case).

Building a better Batman

In the past, one of the ways DC Comics managed different "flavors" of Batman was to utilize a three-way split: Detective Comics carried the more traditional, "darker" Batman that engaged in street fighting and in moving around Gotham City in a more intimate way with the city itself playing a more important part in the tales; the regular Batman title which carried a somewhat socially friendlier version of Batman that regularly dealt with the vast Rogue's Gallery of flamboyant villains; and then Brave and the Bold which was the team-up book that was probably the friendliest version of Batman of the three, and containing possibly the least amount of shaded darkness. All three relied upon a traditionally singular version of the character working out of the Batcave and driving the Batmobile off on an errand of rescue or battle.

A clumsiness enters the Batman stories when the "Batman Family" gets too elaborate and complicated, and instead of the extra characters providing a brief diversion from Batman's monomaniacal war on crime, they overstay their welcome and start to take over the title and the heroics, and Batman shifts into "Bat-Father" mode and the stories become rather complicated Relationship Comics.