does batman retire?

March 25, 2006 9:32 PM

Are there any Batman comics dealing with the wane of his days and/or the actual retirement?

There're comics about the beginnings of Batman's career, and there're ones about his clumsy beginnings, and then even more about Batman in peak form.
The Dark Knight Returns even covers a resurrection of the cape and cowl.

It's mostly out of interest, but I may end up working it into a personality analysis paper.

Maybe.

posted by heeeraldo to media & arts (11 answers total)

I realize that the post-Infinite Crisis Batman series will run in real-time and that it'll bring about the eventual requirement for retirement, but I'm wondering about stuff currently, well, existing.
posted by heeeraldo at 9:33 PM on March 25, 2006

There was a timeline at some point in DC history where Bruce retired and married Selina Kyle (Catwoman). I think that was nixed in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Before that, there were several stories from the "alien of the month" period of the 50s where Bruce would watch his son, Batman Jr., woop ass on some Joker Jr. or somebody, but I don't think any of those stories were even considered canon enough to wipe out in Crisis.
posted by yhbc at 9:39 PM on March 25, 2006

Not a comic, but the Batman Beyond animated TV series gets a lot of respect from comic fans for the way it handles Bruce Wayne's retirement and the passing of the Batmantle to a new hero.

I think the sequence from the first episode showing Bruce Wayne's last adventure as Batman handled that situation about as well as it could ever be handled. I believe it just came out on DVD if you wanna see for yourself.
posted by toddshot at 9:45 PM on March 25, 2006

A recurring theme with Batman (Starting with Frank Miller and continuing with Paul Pope) is that Batman can't retire, because nobody can do his job but him.
posted by Hildago at 10:05 PM on March 25, 2006

toddshot - so... Batman == Dread Pirate Roberts?
posted by nathan_teske at 10:22 PM on March 25, 2006

You might want to checkout Batman: Digital Justice. It deals with Jim Gordons grandson discovering the whole Batman story with flashbacks to the end of Batmans career, detailing some of how he hung up the cowl.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:23 PM on March 25, 2006

You might also want to check out the Wikipedia article. It details some of the retirements of the various Batmans in the multiverse.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:26 PM on March 25, 2006

I second Batman Beyond, since I own the DVD and was a fan when I was just a little number.
posted by Number27 at 3:41 AM on March 26, 2006

In the 90s Batman broke his back and had to retire. But he got better.
posted by BackwardsCity at 6:46 AM on March 26, 2006

Does Kingdon Come count? It's future history, and even then he's still working.
posted by Rash at 7:59 AM on March 26, 2006

John Byrne did a series called Generations involving the original Batman and Superman of the '30's growing older in real-time.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:02 PM on March 26, 2006