Now this might sound nit picky but I am getting tired on the big arcs in Batman that have villains targeting Batman. Batman became a superhero to fight crime, but when all the big stories are about how criminals are targeting him, then it perpetuates the myth that without Batman you wouldn't have such drastic crime (which I would argue against).

Killing Joke: Targets Jim Gordon and Babs

Death in the Family: Targets Jason Todd

Knightfall: Targets Bruce Wayne

Fugitive: Targets Bruce Wayne

Tower of Babel: Targets JLA

Hush: Targes Bruce Wayne again

Death of the Family: Targets Bat Family

And I think thats why I appreciate tales that are about Batman's journey to save crime from criminals that hurt innocents. Year One, No Man's Land, and my all time favorite story Justice all touch on these things. I just think you can get a personal story out of a story about a superhero stopping a supervillain from committing a crime not directed at the superhero.

For example in Batman Fugitive, Bruce was framed for murder. Why? To target Bruce! While a converse story Mask of the Phantasm (the movie) a villain who has a costume kinda similar to Batman's was killing off people, and people thought it was Batman committing those murders due to the similar costumes. One story was circular (Batman exists, crime was made because Batman exists), while another one was how Batman was fighting crime and it just so happens that it also reflected on him.

While I do like the whole targeting Batman thing, I know what you're talking about. It's just that an issue of Batman hunting down common criminals isn't all that engaging. It's good for maybe an issue or two every now and then, but you have to understand that the criminals are FRUSTRATED. They start targeting Batman because he's done such a good job at fighting crime. With him out of th picture, they can go back to their efficient criminal ways. Also it's more fun to read about Joker prepping against Batman and targeting him.

That could be said for nearly every superhero

@Eternal19 said:

That could be said for nearly every superhero

This. I mean think of it from the villain's perspective. If you take down one of the top heroes like Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman or any other hero that's beaten countless villain's you'll get instant recognition. Just look at Bane. Every time he's mentioned, people are talking about how he broke the Bat's back. Also like ImTheDamnBatman pointed out, some of the villains are just plain pissed and sick of Batman coming through the ceiling when they're doing bad things.

Ya but then you wonder how much crime fighting the superheroes actually get done. And I think it is permissible to have the villain target the hero every once in a while, but it can get too much.

@batshrine said:

Ya but then you wonder how much crime fighting the superheroes actually get done. And I think it is permissible to have the villain target the hero every once in a while, but it can get too much.

For me it is more about the story. I do agree with idea that overall Batman should be fighting crime and not crime fighting Batman (that goes for every superhero real). I mean if the story make sense and develops characters then fine go for it. But the story has to make some kind of sense. Hush hate towards Bruce make so little sense it just plain stupid. I mean really? Is that the best you can do? Even for an insane person this is irrational. It real breaks the suspense of disbelieve (at least for me). I guess this is the essences here. I mean Erasers hate towards Bruce Wayne makes more sense than Hush hate. On the other hand The Killing Joke imo worked because it was logic.

@tupiaz: I totally agree with that!

Thats what American comics essentially are....aren't they?? The same sh*t over and over again. I am not saying I prefer manga and anime....I don't, but I do prefer how most of their stories have a beginning and an end.