Batlantis

Not so long ago, a BatCat fan cross tagged one of her post about Rebirth Batman #40, surely as a result of the WonderBat development in both Issues #39 and #40 …

I made a comment about BatCat being from an historical stand point more like a “War/Sex/Hate” kind of relationship rather than a real “Love Story” and of course it unleashed “War/Hate” …

Over the time I’ve read numerous comments about how much BatCat “love” you can find in the history of Batman and Catwoman , how old their “Love story” is, and thus I was kind of confused with what I could remember from my own youth or recent history … but I had really a hard time to see any signs of such an old and strong love story. 

So I decided to check the comics for real legit history, rather than just reading another post from other people, who read themselves from other posts, that resume other posts, written out of informations from other posts …

But DC Comics has a wast History … and I don’t really have access to all the comics ever published … so what do you do ? and where do you start ?

I couldn’t and I didn’t go extensively into oldtimers as far as the 40′s, the 50′s, the 60′s or the 70′s … but usually people agree that prior to the 80′s Catwoman was just one of many villains and any romance was impossible because of that. 

In an Issue from April 1968 of “the Brave and the Bold”, Wonder Woman falls in love for real with Batman after faking it first. A year later Steve Trevor Dies in her arms in a WW Issue of 1969. Later in another Brave and the Bold Issue 1978 Batman puts himself on purpose in danger of death to push Wonder Woman to surpass herself and break the chains that kept her prisoner earlier… it seems she cared enough… Meanwhile Catwoman, no matter the outfit, just wanted to get him into a coffin…

Still I was wrong and there is no point in denying that there are stories were he had a “love story” with Selina Kyle like the one below in the Batman (1940) Serie, but she was always a repentant criminal :

(Bruce and Selina - #308, #317, # 326 from 1981 to 1982)

Unlike the Catwoman in “Rebirth Batman”, the Selina in the Bronze era decided to turn her back on her criminal activities in #308 and that enabled the starting of a relationship with Bruce Wayne in # 317. Bruce knew about her Catwoman identity but he didn’t tell her that he was Batman. Even though she sincerely stopped her criminal activities, he didn’t trust his Girlfriend and she broke up the relationship because of that in #326. After that she had to put again the Catwoman mask and learned later that he was the Batman, she even became his “sidekick” in #392 a few Issues before the end of Bronze Age Batman.

Warning : If You “keep reading”, note that I cover mainly the Modern Age of DC Comics (around 1987 until now). I try to focus on the Batman and Catwoman relationship but parallel it with some important WonderBat moments to get a better overview. This may end up “pro-WonderBat” but it is not “anti-Catwoman”. And you should not judge Selina too quickly or too hard, even if she looks quite messed up. She did go through quite a bad twisted history as well as Bruce, but she didn’t have a caring butler, she wasn’t bathed in limitless wealth, securely sheltered in a great mansion, and for a girl/woman, the corrupted and evil streets of Gotham are a lot worse than for a boy/man … 

Severus: I see you wish to honor your husband's House by wearing its symbolic color. Green looks very beautiful on you.

They tell you Lily defended Severus in Snape's Worst Memory and Severus cussed her out. But Lily said some choice words to James; she didn't do anything to help Severus. She didn't use her wand to help Severus get down or cover him up or at the very least put up a ward that prevented the other students from seeing Severus half-naked and humiliated. She didn't fight off James, or call for a teacher. She said things like "put him down, let him go!" but she didn't do anything.

Then they'll tell you Severus was a bad friend because he called her a mudblood. They won't mention how Severus stood up to Voldemort who was at his prime, put his life on the line when he found out Voldemort targetted Lily. Then he went on for the rest of his life holding her memory in high regard, fighting tooth and nail to protect her son. He says crude things to her son, true. But what he always does is take every necessary action to protect him, even at the cost of his own life.

Snape agreed with the Grinch; he didn't really like Christmas very much, but he knew that Lili did, quite a lot, so he went to find a gift to surprise her (the Christmas miracle? ✧⁠\⁠(⁠>⁠o⁠<⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠✧).

Lily officially declared that she would never speak to the grumpy guy again, who every time she spoke to him and looked away. Unfortunately, the next day Professor McGonagall paired them up, and now she has to do work with that guy until the end of the year.

Snape had been having a difficult few days, between the stupid Marauders bothering him and problems at home, he barely got any relief when he practiced potions until Lily Evans showed up. She keeps trying to strike up conversations, which makes him uneasy for some reason. As the days go by, he finds it difficult to concentrate to the point that his workflow is affected. Determined to put an end to this matter, he decides to "continue the conversation" with Lili, but she tells him she doesn't want to talk to him anymore. This angers Snape, and to make matters worse, they have to do the final project together.

I've seen many enemies become lovers, so this was the idea of the week.

So was Minerva AND Dumbledore?

"he insulted his students!"

I lost count on the many times a teacher called me stupid because I was, indeed, being stupid af. And many times the golden trio are being stupid af, he is a double spy and a teacher on top of that, teacher to teens from 11 to 17, has been a teacher since he is like 21-22? The closer I'm to his age the more I get how hellish is to deal with teens, now imagine having to be saving the ass of this one particular kid and his friends every year because the world depends on it. He deserves to be sarcastic towards them a little.

"He was Neville's worst nightmare!"

He wasn't, Neville was a coward who was afraid of his strict teacher. That is his whole arc from the whole story, him being a very cowardly child to a brave man. And anyways, the whole point of that scene was for us to see the difference between Harry's mature fears (and as a red herring for Lupin's condition) vs his peers more childish fears. Or are we also calling Minerva McGonagall an abuser because she manifested as Hermione's bogart? No, right?

"He was such an asshole!"

No character needs to be 100% pleasant for you to relate to them or understand them. Also, he is a funny asshole.

"he hit his students!"

Madam Pince was wacking students who treated the books badly with their own quills until they went away, McGonagall sends students to the forbidden forest as punishment. He is the standard of that school man, idk what to tell you.