Bat-Mite(Batman 674 spoilers)

[40footwolf]

Alright, so it's no secret that Bat-Mite has been a pretty prevalent force throughout this arc.

However, when I was reading the latest issue, Bat-Mite seemed to be talking to Bruce like he'd known him for a long, long time. He was reassuring him in much the same way a long-time hallucination of a schizophrenic would talk to the person.

Does anybody else think that Bat-Mite is a hallucination that Batman has been seeing for his entire life, and Grant Morrison is only now cuing us in to his existence? I for one think it would be a fascinating wrinkle into Batman's psyche and hope that Grant runs with it.

[Mysterio's Helmet]

Yes I'm under the impression that Bruce developed this "friend" during his 10 day deprevation to get him thru. And in dire times....Bat Mite shows up.

[Froggy]

damn

I GOTTA PICK THIS ISSUE UP!

[filthysize]

Yep. I'm pretty sure that's it.

[Jack Zodiac]

That looks like what Grant is doing. And he's pulling it off so well. We've seen Batman go crazy before, but it's always been so forced and heavy-handed. Here, Grant's taking a man who's been through so much crap in his short life as a superhero, and deliberately forced himself live in a dark, disturbing place, now it's all coming back on him, mentally and physically.

Holy hell, tying Dr. Hurt to the Three Ghosts was incredible. Completely worth all of the slow-burn to the boil we've gotten for the story in this issue. Everything comes to head here, and it's amazing. If it weren't three in the morning, I'd keep raving about it.

[Metronome35]

Ah, so this Dr. Hurt character has turned up before? When and where was that?

[Chiroptera]

Ah, so this Dr. Hurt character has turned up before? When and where was that?

I wanna know this too. This is the first I remember hearing about this character.

[Radioactive Zombie]

Is this the Third Man looking for Bats?

[Jack Zodiac]

I don't think Dr. Hurt is an old villain, he just showed up in the last issue when Morrison recounted the sensory deprivation experiment Batman underwent. And knowing that he's also responsible for the creation of the Three Ghosts is insane, because he's taking what he learned about Batman and applying that towards creating new, disturbed souls, making them all more than just physically twisted versions of him. It also makes me wonder if Hurt did anything else to Batman while he was in sensory deprivation.

[ukblueky]

Bat Mite????????? You mean the same stupid creature from the cartoon The New Adventures Of Batman (or something like that) The worst of the Batman cartoons.

[Jack Zodiac]

No, the character created in the comics back in '59, a good decade before the cartoon, that also featured him. Bat-Mite was like Superman's Mr. Mxyzptlk for Batman.

[HaroldAllnut]

No, the character created in the comics back in '59, a good decade before the cartoon, that also featured him. Bat-Mite was like Superman's Mr. Mxyzptlk for Batman.Yes I'm under the impression that Bruce developed this "friend" during his 10 day deprevation to get him thru. And in dire times....Bat Mite shows up.

I always sort of liked that Silver-Agey appeal that Bat-Mite had, and I was always afraid someone would come along and explain it away. Morrison's great and all, but it looks like he finally did it. He killed Bat-Mite!

[Jack Zodiac]

Yeah, but it shouldn't stop people from using him in all his wacky Silver Age glory. Like Loeb did on his run of Superman/Batman. He can still be a wacky imp from the Mitezone or whatever, but now, for Morrison's purposes, he could also be a very severe delusion to make Batman seem even crazier.

[gorosaurus]

I think Bat-Mite is real and Batman is in so much denial that he thinks that
Bat-Mite is a hallucination. Or what if Bat-Mite is real, and Batman is the figment of his imagination?

[Chad]

I remember when Morrison did his JLA/JSA crossover and got them involved in a war with the 5th dimension. Aquaman's role in this story was to be brought in Batman because other than Superman, Aquaman was the only JLAer who had experience with imps from the 5th dimension (I think he fought a guy named Qwisp). I thought this was Morrison's way of establishing that there never was a Bat-Mite in his Bat-continuity, but it now seems that this isn't the case - Bat-Mite just plays a different role nowadays.

I love those old Silver-Age stories and hate everytime one of them gets retconned, but if Bat-Mite is a hallucination Batman's been seeing his whole life...that would actually be pretty cool. Bat-Mite's pet however, adds a sinister level that I think will be hard to justify though.

[Omar Karindu]

Morrison's Bat-Mite has mentioned Zrrrf, the Pre-Crisis name of Mxyzptlk's 5th Dimension. Morrison's JLA established Zrrrf in relatively current continuity.

I think we're meant to assume all the wacky 50s stuff actually happened, and Bruce calls on it in extreme situations. If you've survived 5-D fanboys, alien worlds, and sensory-deprivation hallucinations, you can survive almost anything.

[Titanium]

Anyone else notice Batmite had a sheeda on his back?

[blckng]

I like the idea of Bat-Mite being a hallucination, but I thought Morrison was always writing with the idea that all of the old Bat-stories were in continuity, to some degree or another. My point is, what about Dick? If Bat-Mite's appearance puts those old stories back in continuity as a weird figment of Batman's imagination, what was happening to Robin? Is he just as crazy? Or have the stories been retconned so that only Batman saw Bat-Mite?

[Mister Intensity]

Maybe Dick accepts it and moves on while Bruce has to rationalize it somehow.

Mister Intensity

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think Bat-Mite is real as Batman. He just exists on a higher plane of comprehension. Morrison loves that stuff. I have no idea exactly where Morrison is taking all this, but he's gotten my attention.

[raul the cat]

Anyone else notice Batmite had a sheeda on his back?

Was that a sheeda? Cause the sheeda tend to run a little smaller and are a bit more anthropomorphic.

[4thHorseman]

Was that a sheeda? Cause the sheeda tend to run a little smaller and are a bit more anthropomorphic.

I think it's believed they can vary in size

[Titanium]

All i noticed was an insectoid creature crawling on the back of a fifth dimensional imp, similar to the insectoid creatures that would crawl on the backs of people in a megaseries written by Grant Morrison.

[DirtyHarrington]

Ah, so this Dr. Hurt character has turned up before? When and where was that?

Dr. Hurt appears un-named in Batman #156's "Robin Dies at Dawn" story. I highly recommend you check it out by any means necessary as it adds way more depth to the story Morrison's telling so far. AT LEAST IN MY OPINION.

I'd also recommend checking out the Zur-En-Arrh story in Batman #113.

ON ANOTHER NOTE, does anybody know any "definitive" Bat-Mite stories from the silver age?

EDIT: They really should reprint the old stories Morrison's drawing from at the end of the next trade or something.

[Captain Jim]

other than Superman, Aquaman was the only JLAer who had experience with imps from the 5th dimension (I think he fought a guy named Qwisp).

Quisp was a water sprite, not from the 5th dimension. And he was an ally of Aquaman's, not an enemy.

[blckng]

Quisp was a water sprite, not from the 5th dimension. And he was an ally of Aquaman's, not an enemy.

Actually, Qwsp was both. He was originally a friendly water sprite in the original Aquaman run, but was retooled by Morrison during his JLA run. Revealed as a denizen of the 5th dimension, Qwsp had apparently returned to Earth to find the comparatively chipper Aquaman of the Silver Age replaced by the GRIM & DARK Aquaman of PAD's run, complete with hook-hand. He decided to go down a similar road. So he went all evil and manipulated Yz and Lkz into nearly destroying Earth.

[carabas]

All i noticed was an insectoid creature crawling on the back of a fifth dimensional imp, similar to the insectoid creatures that would crawl on the backs of people in a megaseries written by Grant Morrison.The Sheedah had insects and arachnids as mounts and pets, but the mind-controling spineriders that stick on a person's back were stricktly tiny pixies that looked entirely human.

[Jeff O.]

Pre-Crisis, Bat-Mite once played cards with Quisp on the cover of AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS No. 13. It seems Quisp was in the tank -- though the sprite claims he had nothing but water the whole time.

Though looking in the opposite direction, Mr. Mxyzptlk sat in their vicinity. Perhaps Bat-Mite and Quisp didn't let Mxy into the game because they thought it would be bad for their image to be seen playing cards with a bad guy. (Hope it was just a game of GO FISH.)

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/03235151950.13.GIF (http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/03235151950.13.GIF)


__________________

[Jack Zodiac]

Sweet Sergio cover! :D

[40footwolf]

Or what if Bat-Mite is real, and Batman is the figment of his imagination?
Knowing Grant? Not as much of a stretch as you'd think:D!

[brb2323]

These are some great comments. I just started reading Batman around 660. I've always been a fan just never read the comic. I love hearing everyone talk history of Bats and Bat-Mite. I loved 674.

[mgs]

bat-mite is in it! O.O whoa!damn

I GOTTA PICK THIS ISSUE UP!

me too! :)

[vitorocks1]

a while back right before Superboy died, Mxyzptlk kept poppin' up around Superman and sorta warning him, as well as, and feeling bad about Infinite Crisis. What if this thing with Bat-mite is the same thing but about Final Crisis.

[JCAll]

*sniff* Bat-Mite's finally back. I almost feel like crying.

Though I'm not quite sure if it happy to have him back tears of crap they've ruined him tear.
Im sure he'll make out though. Nothing can goo too wrong for Everyones (second) Favorite Imp.

[JCAll]

Morrison's Bat-Mite has mentioned Zrrrf, the Pre-Crisis name of Mxyzptlk's 5th Dimension. Morrison's JLA established Zrrrf in relatively current continuity.

I think we're meant to assume all the wacky 50s stuff actually happened, and Bruce calls on it in extreme situations. If you've survived 5-D fanboys, alien worlds, and sensory-deprivation hallucinations, you can survive almost anything.

Zrrrf was also the name of the Fifth Dimension, or at least Mxy's relative location in the Fifth Dimension, in Countdown.
So I guess that's officially back in continuity.

[mgs]

I didn't get the whole arc, but I got this issue and bat-mite's appearance was kinda weird., Strange. Bruce didn't really acknowledge him and his speeches were oddly detailed, and his scenes took me out of what was happening too much.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Dr. Hurt appears un-named in Batman #156's "Robin Dies at Dawn" story. I highly recommend you check it out by any means necessary as it adds way more depth to the story Morrison's telling so far. AT LEAST IN MY OPINION.

I'd also recommend checking out the Zur-En-Arrh story in Batman #113.

ON ANOTHER NOTE, does anybody know any "definitive" Bat-Mite stories from the silver age?

EDIT: They really should reprint the old stories Morrison's drawing from at the end of the next trade or something.

This bears repeating. This arc makes a lot more sense knowing the background, way back even before my time, in Batman #156. I believe this was at the start of the Julius Schwartz "New Look" era. I believe it's reprinted in one of the "Greatest Batman Stories" volumes.

[Captain Jim]

I believe this was at the start of the Julius Schwartz "New Look" era.

Nope, this predates New Look.