Batman of Zur-En-Arrh Twist Coming Up...

[redsycorax]

One of the most intriguing reconciliations of Batman past continuity has been the reiteration of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. From being the secret identity of Tlano, a humanoid extraterrestrial inspired by his Terran counterpart during the sci-fi permutations of the fifties, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh has become a murderous, dark alternate personality created by the real article to entertain no holds barred combat if Bruce was ever subjected to psionic attack. However, in current DC continuity, it looks like the gaudy violent alter has left Bruce's subconscious and unprovoked, is now out of control with no such threat in place. And it seems to be occurring across the DC multiverse. Hmmm. If there's an Owlman of Zur-En-Arrh on Earth-Three, though, it could be more benevolent. 

Personally, I like this idea, but based on my knowledge of dissociative identity disorder proper, entertaining  that scenario is playing with fire. I think Grant Morrison in his Doom Patrol run got it exactly right when he created Crazy Jane/Kay Challis- DID/multiple personality disorder is the product of extreme childhood trauma. Some of Kay's alters are heavy duty characters.  How could  Batman ever think that he could control his own brutal alter? Hubris? Intellectual pride? 

And for those who question the scenario above, personally, I think Neil Gaiman got it right when he came up with the Zur-En-Arrh alternate personality scenario. Having an alternate personality for Bruce in case of a particular contingency is in character with Bruce's intellectual capabilities- he would have contemplated such a possibility and prepared accordingly.  And having a violent, psychotic iteration of Batman isn't new, either- although it's never been core continuity's Batman before this. I'd have to say I prefer this concept  to the badly characterized,  OTT and morally ambivalent All-Star Batman Frank Miller bowdlerisation of the character: screenrant.com/batmans-darkest-self-zur-en-arrh-multiverse-theory/

[starskyhutch76]

What year did the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh appear? That would determine if Tlano is in the Earth-1 or Earth-2 continuity in our continuity here. (I can't recall if he's already been used or not)

I'm a big fan of what Morrison did with Crazy Jane, too, and I've thought of adding her to my version of Doom Patrol, but it might be too much to have a person with DID (Crazy Jane)on the same team as a schizophrenic (the Odd Man). Crazy Jane and Marvel's Legion have basically the same disorder/Powers but I think Morrison used his character more creatively.

[DocQuantum]

It was definitely Earth-1. 1958.

[redsycorax]

I decided to create an Infinite Earths AU Doom Patrol called Freak Show, which consisted of Earth-15's Doom Patrol members Crazy Jane and Rebus escaping from the destruction that alternate world to Earth-49 (which is now Earth-149 after the restoration of the infinite multiverse) to join other unusual characters, which I decided to derive from Sigmund Freud's casebooks. There, Daniel-Paul Schreber has two benign sorcerous alternate personalities, Tiresias and Ave Maria (female); Anna O is Hysterike, a superpowered nineteenth century female 'hysteric' and Russian Sergei really is a Wolf-Man. Sadly for this version of Kay, Earth-15's Cliff Steele didn't survive the destruction of their home alternate. Crazy Jane could be a useful character if used properly, given her alter's multiple individual superpowers- she might potentially be one of the strongest characters in the DC multiverse.

[redsycorax]

The story in question was "Batman- Superman of Planet X" Batman 113 (February 1958): dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_113
Tlano only ever made this one appearance in pre-Crisis continuity and all we know about him is that he's a scientist. And that on Zur-En-Arrh, Terran humanoids gain superpowers akin to Kryptonians on Earth. Why this should be the case was never adequately rationalised. Tlano's next appearance was in the post-Crisis Grant Morrison's "Batman RIP", where his current provenance was explained as a viciously uninhibited alternate personality to Bruce Wayne. 

[DocQuantum]

Oh, Grant Morrison, you crazy hallucinogenic-using Scot! What insane Postmodern takes you have on the Silver Age tales of yore!

Seriously, though, I once thought that a "Wold Newton" type of Batman who exists in the real world could have still experienced all of those crazy adventures from the late '50s and early '60s as the result of experimenting with LSD (just as the CIA did in reality, following up on Nazi experiments performed in the '30s and '40s) before the deleterious effects were truly known. Thus, Bat-Mite and most of the crazy alien stories, time travel, and interplanetary adventures would have been as a result of tapping into psychedelic-induced visions.

But I never expected that idea to basically become Canon in the Post-Crisis era, thanks to Grant Morrison!

[lawrenceliberty]

While I liked that story, I prefer the idea that Zur was a real, separate individual. After all, if Batman can work well with Superman and Hawkman or the Phantom Stranger and Deadman, there's nothing that far -fetched about him meeting other aliens or magical beings.

[redsycorax]

Yes, within his collaborative adventures within the Justice League or Brave and the Bold team-ups. However, the preferred milieu for Batman these days is urban realist and grimy and gritty. That's why the character has become so popular and why alternative versions have been relegated to the sidelines. Personally, I think most of the more outre adventures of the fifties probably occurred on Earth-12- it would explain a lot about why they seem to have little or no connection to current continuity, apart from ingenious retcons like the aforementioned Grant Morrison Zur-En-Arrh one.

[johnreiter902]

Personally, I prefer the wild, sci-fi Batman of the 50s and 60s. That was always my Batman

[jonclark]

Sept 23, 2023 0:28:36 GMT johnreiter902 said:

Personally, I prefer the wild, sci-fi Batman of the 50s and 60s. That was always my Batman

That also is the history of the Batman on this site.  The dark down-to-Earth approach is all post-Crisis.

[redsycorax]

I think that's debatable, jon. As you can see from the covers and stories highlighted in the third piece here, Batman was certainly starting to darken in tone during the sixties, perhaps ironically due to the Camp Crusader era of the sixties television series and the prior sci-fi overload of the fifties comics: www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/07/how-the-dark-knight-became-dark-again-259923/

www.dc.com/blog/2019/03/21/batman-a-history-of-heroics-1960s-1970s

www.superworldcomics.com/blogs/batman-in-the-60s

[lawrenceliberty]

I also prefer the "smiling Batman" to the version who never wanted other heroes operating in his city.

[dans]

Sept 25, 2023 19:05:06 GMT lawrenceliberty said:

I also prefer the "smiling Batman" to the version who never wanted other heroes operating in his city.

Yes, totally agree!

[jonclark]

It's not just a preference for me. It's also the slow erosion of the Pre-Crisis. It's approaching 40 years of Dark Knight Batman and Byrne Clark Kent. And the number of us who actually remember a day when Superman and Batman were friends rather than grudgibg aliies is diminishing.

Both readers and writers now take the idea that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (Diana) all debuted at the same time as Barry Allen, all of whom were decades after the JSA to be normal. And I can find fan fics a plenty about that set up.

I'm just leary of the beauty of Pre-Crisis being lost by an influx of Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison reworkings of those concepts.