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Here we see an example of a staggeringly long shadow!

When Frank was working on BATMAN: YEAR ONE, he told me about a joke he'd come up with, to have Lt. Gordon's wife pregnant, and then, oops! It turns out to be Barbara.

Someone at DC (astonishingly) actually spoke up, and pointed out that this would mean Barbara was younger than Dick Grayson, so the joke was eliminated -- but the chronology remained broken, forcing Barbara to become Gordon's niece and "adopted" daughter -- and, later, his actually daughter, because Gordon had been boning his brother's wife.

sigh

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If it had not already arrived, the tipping point was rapidly approaching -- that point at which the fans-turned-pro would completely overwhelm the Old Guard, and there would be, effectively, no one left with any kind of business sense. Long term thinking became next Tuesday.

It was around this time I pitched my "Batman & Robin" series. I'd heard from a number of retailers across the country that the Tim Burton Batman movie had brought kids (with their parents) into their shops, seeking Batman material, and the parents immediately rejected what was available as inappropriate. Nothing there, then, for the "entry level" kids.

My pitch was greeted with something not far from hoots of disdain. "Batman," I was told, in so many words, "is considered one of our ADULT characters."

No, I tried to argue, Batman is being purchased by aging fanboys, but if you think a real grownup, with no prior interest, is suddenly going to start picking up Batman comics to read on the commuter train home --- well, you're out of touch. But that was beyond obvious by that point.

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Imitation is the sincerest form of copying.