Fox12 said:
Here's the thing, no comic ever deals with the real issues of superheroes. The Dark Knight Returns touched on some important issues with superheroes, but it immediately shoved those issues under the rug, as if they didn't exist.
Who gives Batman the right to do what he does? Sure, he pulls some kids from a burning building, no one raises a fuss over that. But cops get their authority from the government, and the government is (hopefully) controlled by the will of the people. There are problems here, of course, but it's better then a vigilante making his own laws. A cop has to read you your right when you're arrested. Batman doesn't have the authority to arrest people, and anyone he arrested in real life would probably get off. Do you want some vigilante spying on you? Gathering evidence? Arresting you? I sure as hell wouldn't want batman watching me with some cellphone gadget, like in the movie. It's a violation of civil liberties, batman doesn't get to make these decisions. They would have to fall in line with the authorities, or get put out of commission (which isn't a bad thing). We have laws for a reason.
Honestly, Watchmen did the best job of capturing this issue. Who watches the watchmen? And why do these individuals deserve our trust?
Oh fun!
Little disclaimer here, I'm no expert in comics or anything, so this should be terribly amusing to those who read them. It's like a baby learning to walk. Or commenting on batman comics when he hasn't read any.
While I do agree with your stance on the face of it, Fox12, there is one small problem when presented in the context of the larger DC universe, and that is that there are, independent of Batman's existence, superhuman psychopaths, escaped metahuman monsters, rampant chemical weapons wielded by insane scientists, and deviants possessing almost unlimited capital and dangerous knowledge- in short, beings that exist outside of society (or society in general) that can flaunt the law, and can elude not only normal law enforcement, but even the most extreme countermeasures. If someone like Batman is the only one who has the skill, devices and knowledge to tackle these threats, then I would think that the People should, at least at first, recognize his good deeds, and then later perhaps approach him privately concerning some sort of special contract/employment with the city, and draft up some general guidelines with his cooperation. Naive, perhaps, but not necessarily unreasonable. Incarcerating Batman, assuming it was at all feasible, on minor crimes (at least minor when compared to the crimes thwarted), only to later have to come to him for assistance in one of the Joker's capers, would breed only the most disastrous mistrust and contempt, I would think.
Now granted, Batman could easily (at least on the face of it) be replaced/represented as a government-ordained, under-cover super-soldier given unlimited funding.
But then he'd be Captain America- I just saw that, sorry. I type stream-of-conscious style a lot of the time.
