Hi JB,

If you were given a 100% free-hand to do a "Man of Steel" for Batman, would you keep the character of Robin?

In addition -- are there any established elements of the Batman mythos that you would drop or streamline?

Thanks!

Established elements I'd drop -- the Batmobile. Impractical in today's urban environment. Also -- and I cringe as I write this -- a Batman created in the modern world would simply have to wear some kind of body armor. Not kevlar, mind you. This would be comicbook body armor, so would be thin as silk. But it would have to be there.

This was mentioned in the Neal Adams' thread, about the necessity of body armor.

What the movies still seems to miss is that "body armor" in the comic book world doesn't have to be visually literally what we associate with body armor. Just a simple line of dialogue explains that what we see as "fabric" is able to withstand a full hit up to a .44 Magnum and, though injury is likely, death-prevention is the name of the game.

As far as cowl design, JB, would you go with long Adams ears or short Sprang ears?

Serves no purpose. Rather missing the point, the editors introduced Robin to "give the kids someone to identify with." But the kids were already identifying with Batman. They hated Robin. After all, Batman held out the promise that if you work really hard for years, you could become Batman. But Robin was a kid, and he was already Batman.

Serves no purpose. Rather missing the point, the editors introduced Robin to "give the kids someone to identify with." But the kids were already identifying with Batman. They hated Robin. After all, Batman held out the promise that if you work really hard for years, you could become Batman. But Robin was a kid, and he was already Batman.

***

 Even as a six-year old kid, I never wanted to be Robin. I remember arguing with my cousin over who would get to be Batman.

I would love to see JB do Batman!

Will somebody re-publish The Batman 3D graphic novel to see a really great Batman done right.