sup:)

My contribution for the @brucewaynepinupzine

He's a human person in a room full of superpowered creatures who aren't beholden to the same social constructs and power limitations as he is.

All of his kids refuse to take off their capes, and he has to wrangle both keeping them alive and letting them be independent.

He's doing all of this while reckoning with trauma because everyone he loves has died and resurrected.

He's seen the intangible concepts of the universe, and some have taken him up in a damn fight he barely walked away from.

Everyone he's ever had affections for doesn't love him in his entirety and only prefers a specific facet of him that takes so much of his sanity to maintain

Everyone he's ever cared about has belittled his trauma one way or another

Almost every one of his friends and family has vilified him unjustly to compensate for their own moral failings, consistently trusting HIM to be able to take the mental and emotional strain.

Worst of all? Half his dc writers in the last 20 years don't know his own damn lore.

Like half the shit he's attacked for are bad faith interpretations of his participation in comic tropes.

Child soldiers? You mean the sidekicks every hero has so young readers have someone to identify with? Billionaire who spends his nights beating up the mentally ill? Because he's seen first-hand that the many, many philanthropic things he does won't be enough to fix the city. Bad parent? The few instances where it wasn't just a batkid getting pissed off for Bruce saying no or trying to institute reasonable safety measures, it's an accident, or an alternate personality, mind control, or a valid crash out because this kid just Fucked Up and needs to understand how serious it is. And there just aren't that many instances, compared how many instances of the opposite there are and just how many comics/other things feature Bruce Wayne.

Like??? It's a fictional superhero??? who is meant to be the paragon of restorative justice and the persisting belief in people's capacity for good??? AND WE ARE MAD THAT HE'S IRRATIONALLY FORGIVING PERSON WHO STUBBORNLY BELIEVES IN THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF REDEMPTION??????

It's a fictional superhero??? whose canon spans for nearly 90 years and has endured the hands of so many writers and political climates??? a subversion and retrospection vessel for oppressive systems and social constructs like capitalism and patriarchy???? AND WE ARE MAD THAT HE IS POLITICAL + INCONSISTENT????

Like OHHHHH?????? We're mad that BATMAN ??? fucking BATMAN ???? the traumatized fictional man who lost his parents to senseless violence caused by systemic collapse is using his resources and strength to stop people committing senseless violence and funnelling his entire life and worth to fixing the system?????

WE'RE MAD THAT THE SYSTEM REFUSES TO BE FIXED???????

AND IT'S HIS FAULT???? HE INDIVIDUALLY IS AT FAULT????

IN A STORY ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY AND BELONGING WHEN TAKING THE ROAD TO REFORM AND REHABILITATION????

... Is this a bad time?

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