"All in the Family?"

“What’s wrong with you? We’re a family!”

“Say. My. Name.”

– Walter White/Heisenberg, Breaking Bad

Family. It’s the most natural, binding social glue in the world of the living, human or animal. Literature the world over emphasizes the dilemmas these binds can cause. One can redefine what “family” means, but never eradicate that one social constant, that glue that can then bind others into ever-expanding circles of greater “families.” Barring extreme circumstances, there is nothing we would not do for our family, no sacrifice too great or gesture too small.

Many have compared Batman and his assorted assistants to a kind of “Bat-family.” There is much truth to this; indeed, one might even say that it replaced the family Bruce lost in Crime Alley. Yet Bruce Wayne’s is not a normal family, one established out of love and devotion. It is more like a tight-knit military or police unit commanded by an all-knowing general-commander. Bonds of friendship and even love form might within it, much like ‘bands of brothers’ out in the trenches, but that is not its primary purpose. That purpose is the ‘mission’ – eradicating crime.

The ‘Bat-Men’ story is all about the fallout in the Bat-family, how the contrast between the ‘mission’ of the Bat-family and the human bonds of its members exploded. Like all good Batman stories, this fallout is mirrored in that of Kurt Langstrom AKA the ‘Man-Bat’, an equally brilliant family man who still believed he could ‘fix’ everything by being a scientist when what was really called for was simply being human and empathetic.

There are strong parallels between Bruce and Kurt in other ways. Both ‘took in’ lost youth to rebuild what they’d lost. Both gave them a purpose – either as part of the ‘Bat-unit’ or the ‘Cult of the Bat’. Both are entirely dominant and dominating of the group, and both are painfully aware just how much they’ve hurt the people they cared for in the name of reasons which can only be called selfish and manipulative.

Nowhere is this clearer than with the relationship between the former and present Batman. We still don’t know exactly why Terry broke off contact with Bruce, but we now know that it was not because of any mere spat. When Langstrom threatens the city with a sonic explosion, Terry suggests allying with the villain Shriek – and when Bruce is suggested instead, the look on Terry’s face makes it seem he really would rather work with a psychotic killer than with the former Dark Knight. Terry might speak of giving people second chances in the story, but while Dick and even Melanie Walker get this from him – Bruce Wayne has apparently completely burned his bridges.

We also know that the break had something to do with the other members of the Bat-family, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon. They seem united in their desire to help McGinnis leave the all-powerful Bruce’s shadow, even to the point of burying their differences over their failed romantic past. These scenes between them, besides being very emotional, feel like two veterans deciding to work together to help the greenhorn. The best part is seeing Dick Grayson go from dark and brooding to the enjoyable, empathetic and just all-around good guy we know and love.

My Name is Ozymandias

Which brings us back to the ‘hero’ of the story – Bruce Wayne. Hate to say it, but there are clear parallels between Old Man Wayne and one of the most compelling antiheroes ever seen on television – Walter White AKA Heisenberg (yes, with Terry in the role of Jesse). Anyone who’s watched the show knows what I’m talking about: The unshakable belief that he and only he can get the job done. The passive-aggressive relationship with Terry – taunting and insulting him one minute and thanking him the next (obviously when he’s out of earshot). The extremely shaky moral code which is constantly eroded as he goes deeper and deeper into the abyss. The belief that he’s doing everything for ‘family’ or ‘mission’ and not realizing until the very end that in truth – he did much of it for himself, as he is the ‘mission’, after all.

Except he isn’t exactly Heisenberg. Despite it all, that desire for self-sacrifice and helping others is still very much present in Bruce throughout the story. He shows willingness to die if it means no-one else has to and openly admits to Kurt that he failed all members of his unit/family. It is that conscience, that strong sense of justice and morality, however sorely tested, that makes Batman such a fascinating, aggravating and compelling character.

With the Beyond Bat-family so well rounded out, we are still left with the wild card – McGinnis himself. How does he fit in to all this? What decisions will he make, good or bad? As befits the Batman Beyond universe, the answers all lie in the future and not in the past. I for one look forward to many more stories of this caliber.

"Batman Beyond: Bat-Men" is now available through digital outlets and comic shops.