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Uncategorized Friday, July 30th 2010 at 2:00 pm

Did Batman Wet His Pants?

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Blame Kevin Smith: The sixth issue of Batman: The Widening Gyre, a twelve-part, official DC miniseries written by the Clerks director and illustrated by Walt Flanagan, features this charmer of a panel, which etches Batman’s avowed bladder spasm in the annals of comics history. What’s worse, this is actually a flashback to Frank Miller‘s path-setting Batman: Year One — to Batman’s pivotal first speech to the corrupt gangsters who control Gotham, which TVTropes identifies as the comic’s “Crowning Moment of Awesome.” Not anymore.

Context:

Aside: Batman’s secret love child with Superman on the moon is not yet canonical.

Comics fans being what they are, the pants-wetting throwaway line has inspired a fair amount of controversy:  It’s unclear whether this is official series canon or merely fanon, an imagined filling-in of past events by a fan writer (Smith) which isn’t yet officially a part of the series universe. After fans started complaining to Smith in the wake of ComicsAlliance‘s takedown of Batman: The Widening Gyre #6 that exposed the alleged bladder malfunction, he struck back by saying it was just a joke:

But that doesn’t seal the deal: Does Kevin Smith’s tweet rechange whatever changes in the Batman universe might or might not have been wrought by this aside, since the tweet itself didn’t occur within the pages of a DC comic? Is Batman’s joke about bladder spasms canonical, even if said pants-peeing event is not? Some Topless Robot readers have actually cottoned up to the idea of Batman joking about peeing his pants or even to his actually doing so, on the grounds that it humanizes him and takes him down a peg or two from the overserious, self-importantly badass figure his naysayers say he cuts now. But daring, funny, or neither, Smith’s foray into the holiest holies of Batman lore has definitely left some fans … pissed off.

(ComicsAlliance via Topless Robot)

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  • eddiespaghetti

    and to think I used to like kevin smith, what a douche

  • guest101

    yea kevin smith is a douche.

    clerks/clerks 2, basically all the ‘view askew’ movies (jay/silent bob etc.) are hilarious great movies. but that doesn’t mean smith isn’t a giant fat narcissistic douche.

  • JackFrost502

    Wow really, Get lives. Freakin George Clooney has nipples as Batman and pulls out a Batcard. All the crap that Adam West has done under the batman banner AS Batman and you upset about Batman joking about wetting him self. Have you seen a Kevin Smith Movie, Dude rambles about Kryptonite condoms and this is unexpected and pisses you off. This is freakin SAD. Batman probably has a Sense of humor like the rest of us sometimes….he is the God Damn Batman.

  • JackFrost502

    Wow really, Get lives. Freakin George Clooney has nipples as Batman and pulls out a Batcard. All the crap that Adam West has done under the batman banner AS Batman and you upset about Batman joking about wetting him self. Have you seen a Kevin Smith Movie, Dude rambles about Kryptonite condoms and this is unexpected and pisses you off. This is freakin SAD. Batman probably has a Sense of humor like the rest of us sometimes….he is the God Damn Batman.

  • Batman/KevSmith fan

    it’s a comic book and
    it’s a funny story. Also, a “bladder spasm” is something you can’t
    control, it’s not the same as pissing yourself. Get some perspective people, like fuck.

  • a man with perspective

    he’s a douche because he put a funny story in a comic? grow the fuck up.

  • guest

    not nearly as bad as K Smith letting Batman reveal his secret identity to a vigilante that turns out to be a villain and then letting his girlfriend die simply because his back is turned. I think those actions are the most out of character for Batman.