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Except when Gil Kane or José Luis García-López drew Superman. Then he looked 29 or at most 32. Curt Swan's Superman, the definitive Superman for so long, NEVER looked 29. More like 39!

I've seen letter columns from SUPERMAN or ACTION COMICS from the 1960s where the editor declared that Clark was 34, anyway. I don't know when the "29" rule was made official.

ITEM: Adam S. - putting Bruce Wayne in the Lazarus Pit and using it as an explanation of his youth suggests that the Pit is full of Kool-Aid that too many writers have been drinking. It IS an explanation of his youth and vigor, but it shouldn't be necessary. Worrying about Batman's age is pulling the curtain aside too far.

ITEM: I disagree entirely that Curt Swan's Superman always looked older than 29. The slightly recessed hairline in the Silver Age did make him seem a touch older, but that wasn't in Mr. Swan's Bronze Age Superman. (As I recall, another change is that the spit curl reversed, but I'd have to double check to be sure... and it's not important enough to me right now.)

Also, even at 29, Clark Kent and Superman are always the grown up in the room, so there has to be a degree of maturity in his appearance. Mr. Byrne showed this in Man of Steel... a mature man, obviously not in his younger 20s, but still in the prime of his life.

ITEM: KOOL-AID BATH: If we consider the original Justice League of America, six of them have perfectly good reasons to not appear older.

Aquaman, being Atlantean, would probably age differently than human beings. Same for Martians and (later) Thanagarians.

Flash's changed physiognomy could easily prevent him aging.

Green Lantern's power ring could do the same.

Superman... well, a powered Kryptonian might not appear to age at all. And as I recall, "old Superman" was only ever in imaginary stories (dreams, hoaxes...) or due to external influences.

Wonder Woman... an animated clay statues, empowered by the gods, and immortal, probably wouldn't age anyhow.

So Batman, Green Arrow, and the Atom would probably age regularly... but considering how many space missions and dimensional crises they went through, any explanation could change them to eternally young.

Snapper Carr...? Um, yeah, next question? :)

Robin may not have been a great character, but turning him into Batman-lite isn't the solution either. 

I pine for Dick Grayson's Robin. I bought the trade for THE NEW TEEN TITANS recently (#1-8 from 1980), and it was a pleasure seeing Robin in that. I was never as enamoured with Nightwing. 

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I don't think that's why the writers have done it. I think it's been to have Batman heal from injuries and such. 

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That would be true if Dick had something like Bruce's personality. He doesn't. They're very different people. 

But one is still a clone of the original, with similar origins. And the only reason they're "different" these days is because Batman has been turned into an anti social ***** by writers trying to swim in the waters of Frank Miller.

I tend to think of Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis as more responsible for the "humorless anti-social Batman" than Miller. Read the early issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL. It's almost like a Batman parody. 

In DARK KNIGHT Batman even smiled on occasion because he was so happy to be out beating the crap out of criminals again. 

Batman is at least supposed to be a detective. Has Nightwing ever displayed any serious detective skills? Tim Drake seems to be the real detective out of all the Robins. ("Out of all the Robins" isn't a sentence I enjoy typing.)

By the way, something ironic (maybe):

Jason Todd, first iteration: no one likes him, he's too annoying.

Jason Todd, second iteration: absolutely no on likes him, he's really too annoying.

Didn't need to kill him, though. Why not just write him out of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS? Just have him stop being Robin and send him off somewhere never to return. No 1-800 number stunt needed.