The 20 most overdone ideas, clichés and tropes in Batman-comics

[JasonTodd428]

Here's two that I thought of off the top of my head that have been severely overused

-Secret organizations that have a global reach
-The evil relative cliche

I'd be very happy to not see either one of those for a good long while.

[Vil_Dee]

Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the real face.
Batman being a total asshole to all his side kicks and friends.
Batman taking down the whole Justice League on his own.
Batman and Joker are opposites and they are destined to fight forever.
Batman trying to save the likes of Joker.
Batman being over paranoid.
Batman and the prep-time excuse.
All the Robins being the same hair and eye colour as Batman. I can understand 1 or 2 but all of them?

You pretty much mentioned everything I like about Batman. . .except the all robins having the same hair and eye color which just makes Bats look like a creepy pervert with a fetish. . .nah, nevermind I like that too.

[Ood Omega]

Another one I like is Batman leaving a memorial bouquet of flowers or a single rose at a particular spot in Crime Alley.

All the Robins being the same hair and eye colour as Batman. I can understand 1 or 2 but all of them?

You mean all the Boy Wonders. Neither Stephanie Brown nor Carrie Kelley looked like Bruce. Also wasn't pre-crisis Jason Todd a blonde who died his hair?

[mdg1]

Jason was a redhead. Gingers are evil. :D

[zexion_armando]

Powerful imagery when done well

Doesn't mean its not overdone.

[dupersuper]

Doesn't mean its not overdone.

In a lot of cases, that's why a trope is overdone.

[dancj]

I am not but I have heard it from a very reliable primary source who has seen this in action. Google Maps has overhead satellite photos with clarity zoomed into street blocks. This is unclassified technology. Classified tech is much more advanced and if Google has the capabilities to clearly see your house, why can't a satellite zoom in say 5-10x more to see a clear face.

Because A - technology hasn't got that far yet and possibly B - There's going to be a limit to how precise an image can be after going through several miles of atmosphere which will refract the light.

According to various sites on Google, the highest definition satellite cameras at the moment have images where 1 pixel is 41cm. No-where near good enough to get a picture of someone's face.

BTW - I think a lot of the better images on Google are aerial photos not satellite photos.

[dubbauw]

Because A - technology hasn't got that far yet and possibly B - There's going to be a limit to how precise an image can be after going through several miles of atmosphere which will refract the light.

According to various sites on Google, the highest definition satellite cameras at the moment have images where 1 pixel is 41cm. No-where near good enough to get a picture of someone's face.

What you saw on google searches is unclassified satellite tech, or else it wouldn't be on google search. Classified is much better, hence why it needs to be classified.

BTW - I think a lot of the better images on Google are aerial photos not satellite photos.

If you're right about Google using aerial photos, then ignore my Google Maps comparison.

[Nefarius]

Here a few things:

1)Bruce is the mask and Batman is the real personality.Every writer after DKR used that,without the good execution.Besides,Miller's Batman fought crime for 20 years and losing one Robin.It's logical(in a realistic and grim way)to start seeing himself absorbed from darkness.

2)God!Joker.I am sick of Joker who can do everything and outsmart everyone

3)Joker immunity:Awfull if you combine it with number 2 of my list

4)MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!! :P

5)Batman being a jerk to his allies

6)"This is my city".

[TheDarkNut]

Another one I like is Batman leaving a memorial bouquet of flowers or a single rose at a particular spot in Crime Alley.



You mean all the Boy Wonders. Neither Stephanie Brown nor Carrie Kelley looked like Bruce. Also wasn't pre-crisis Jason Todd a blonde who died his hair?

I mean all the Robins in the DCnU.

[Choppa]

-Bruce and Dick have a falling out, Dick vows to go solo, and then returns a little while later. A few months later rinse and repeat
-An enemy takes advantage of Bruce's arrogance and he learns he needs to trust and rely on his partners only to forget all of it by the time of the next big crossover

Apologies for repeats.

[LEADER DESSLOK]

Agreed, I can't prove my source's credentials online, so if you choose not to believe me, that's fine, but if people choose to believe me, that's fine too.



Haha never heard of it. Perhaps I should have said "satellites that can get clear pictures of peoples faces given you can see at least most of their face." Good thing Batman isn't a satellite though! He should be able to work out line of sight with relative ease.



Again, I can't mail you a microscopic camera to you, so if you don't want to take my word, sure.



You'd have to direct that to Mr. Holmes, I was just giving examples of clones in Batman, but I think it's basically that taking technological liberties is not really a trope, and just a sometimes necessary short-cut to prevent each issue from taking up ten more pages from explaining and developing new tech or from the inefficiency of modern, everyday tech.

Don't mean to jump in here but I seem to remember an episode of 60 MINUTES which featured real-life British agents who carried James Bond-like equipment and one of those gadgets was a camera that was disguised as a tie clip. Also, tiny cameras are used these days to take X-Ray photos of the heart in order to decide if surgery is an option for certain patients. As Tony Stark might put it, size really isn't an issue with technology as ultra small, even microscopic equipment doesn't have to be manufactured by human hands. Even as we speak, the concept of liquid computers is being bounced around, and it's only my assumption that it hasn't been developed yet.

Without going back to the beginning of the thread, I don't think it should be an issue of whether Batman's "wonderful toys" exist in the so-called real world. Batman and Dick Tracy have always stayed ahead of scientific progress and I think that's part of the fun and appeal of these comic strips. That's why for me personally, the attempt by DC and Denny O'neil to make Batman "realistic" was a failure in the early 70s. Take away his Batmobile, utility belt and various other goodies and then you have a story about some nut who runs around in a bat-suit chasing crooks--who are expected to take him seriously!

[carabas]

Without going back to the beginning of the thread, I don't think it should be an issue of whether Batman's "wonderful toys" exist in the so-called real world. Batman and Dick Tracy have always stayed ahead of scientific progress and I think that's part of the fun and appeal of these comic strips. That's why for me personally, the attempt by DC and Denny O'neil to make Batman "realistic" was a failure in the early 70s. Take away his Batmobile, utitility belt and various other goodies and then you have a story about some nut who runs around in a bat-suit chasing crooks--who are expected to take him seriously!

It's less a case of making Batman's toys more realistic and more of science marching on and catching up.
Take Transmetropolitan for example. Spider Jerusalem has funky glasses that let him take pictures of whatever he's looking at, connect witeless to his computer, and had 2 gigs worth of memory. This was quite outlandish in 1997. In 2013, you can get better stuff.

[WhitOro]

I can only really think of 4 tropes that I'm sick to death of:

1) Arkham Jailbreak. It's a running gag at this point, not an actual event. In the first year of the New 52 we had a dozen of those, between the bat titles, justice league and suicide squad.

2) Batman goes through his rogue gallery all at once and defeats each and everyone of them in the span of a few panels. It makes them look like idiots and turns every single story where he struggle for six issue with a single one of them all the more idiotic.

3) Any villain (Joker in particular) kills one thousands people every time he appears, yet nobody puts rat-poison in his rations once he's in jail again. There's suspension of disbelief, then there's "this is retarded, somebody kill this guy please". Either the villains manage to escape and justify this, or the next time they're in jail somebody comes in and beats them into a pulp until they stop moving.

4) The Batdouche.

[dancj]

Take Transmetropolitan for example. Spider Jerusalem has funky glasses that let him take pictures of whatever he's looking at, connect witeless to his computer, and had 2 gigs worth of memory. This was quite outlandish in 1997. In 2013, you can get better stuff.

The thing with Transmetropolitan is that Ellis never stated how far in the future it is set.

I was always under the impression that it's actually set much closer than you initially think. Maybe even 30 odd years away.