It's...a valid question, really. What do people say about Bruce?
Some of the same things they said about Lord Peter Wimsey in his fop-about-town mode, is my guess, plus some things high-class people would whisper and lesser mortals would scream and everyone would think was terribly funny and terribly scandalous.
Surely Gothamites have noticed Bruce is all mask and air. He's rich and eligible and something of a celebrity. There will be lots of people watching him wherever he goes, and he only has about two-tenths of a life at the best of times, so, really, smart people must know he's hiding something, and the ever-present teenaged Robins would look like a big fat clue. And the rest of the masses must think he's cold and empty and vague and vapid. And everyone probably thinks he has a dungeon in that castle of his, complete with whips and chains and nubile young boys.
That's my opinion, of course. I think that Bruce Wayne is one of the least convincing cover identities ever conceived by superhero, and that encompasses some doozies. It's just - Batman doesn't want a normal life. He couldn't cope with one. I don't think he even understands what that is. And I doubt he could handle being all Bruce for very long. (I truly believe that if he hung up the mask for any length of time he'd lose it in a big way.) His cover identity is not just full of holes but thirty years out of date; it's a suit he had hand tailored when he was 19, and he's not 19 anymore, and the suit doesn't fit him at all.
And the sad part is, Tim at least seems to have learned the shell game, where the shell is the paper-thin cover identity, from Bruce. Though he had more of an excuse; he's been stretched too thin for way too long, and now that he doesn't have any reason to give a shit I don't know why he'd bother to maintain even the slightest cover. If they do to Tim what it seems to me they have to in the wake of Certain Recent Events, well, bye-bye Tim Drake, hello the only Robin who can compete with Batman in every category, from brains to need for therapy to kinks that probably lean heavily on watching and anonymity. (Um. That last part could just be me; I'm a pervert and all.)
This is part of the reason I'm avoiding even spoilers for the DCU comics these days. The universe is changing, and I'm afraid I won't like it, that it's going to go in a direction that won't make any sense to me. (So of course I'm going to wait until kindly and brilliant FF writers have made sense of it for me, and then I'll be able to face spoilers and scans and maybe - who knows? - even an actual book or two.)
And oh my god I can blather. Would someone please shut me up now?
(Btw: if you get a chance, could you comment or email me when you get offpanel on a new host? I've been missing the stuff contained therein for a long, long time.)
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Some of the same things they said about Lord Peter Wimsey in his fop-about-town mode, is my guess, plus some things high-class people would whisper and lesser mortals would scream and everyone would think was terribly funny and terribly scandalous.
Surely Gothamites have noticed Bruce is all mask and air. He's rich and eligible and something of a celebrity. There will be lots of people watching him wherever he goes, and he only has about two-tenths of a life at the best of times, so, really, smart people must know he's hiding something, and the ever-present teenaged Robins would look like a big fat clue. And the rest of the masses must think he's cold and empty and vague and vapid. And everyone probably thinks he has a dungeon in that castle of his, complete with whips and chains and nubile young boys.
That's my opinion, of course. I think that Bruce Wayne is one of the least convincing cover identities ever conceived by superhero, and that encompasses some doozies. It's just - Batman doesn't want a normal life. He couldn't cope with one. I don't think he even understands what that is. And I doubt he could handle being all Bruce for very long. (I truly believe that if he hung up the mask for any length of time he'd lose it in a big way.) His cover identity is not just full of holes but thirty years out of date; it's a suit he had hand tailored when he was 19, and he's not 19 anymore, and the suit doesn't fit him at all.
And the sad part is, Tim at least seems to have learned the shell game, where the shell is the paper-thin cover identity, from Bruce. Though he had more of an excuse; he's been stretched too thin for way too long, and now that he doesn't have any reason to give a shit I don't know why he'd bother to maintain even the slightest cover. If they do to Tim what it seems to me they have to in the wake of Certain Recent Events, well, bye-bye Tim Drake, hello the only Robin who can compete with Batman in every category, from brains to need for therapy to kinks that probably lean heavily on watching and anonymity. (Um. That last part could just be me; I'm a pervert and all.)
This is part of the reason I'm avoiding even spoilers for the DCU comics these days. The universe is changing, and I'm afraid I won't like it, that it's going to go in a direction that won't make any sense to me. (So of course I'm going to wait until kindly and brilliant FF writers have made sense of it for me, and then I'll be able to face spoilers and scans and maybe - who knows? - even an actual book or two.)
And oh my god I can blather. Would someone please shut me up now?
(Btw: if you get a chance, could you comment or email me when you get offpanel on a new host? I've been missing the stuff contained therein for a long, long time.)