Batman post-Robin IV

[DarkAngel]

I recently checked out "Batman: War Drums" from the library and found some descriptions on the web of what occurred after those issues and was wondering what Batman's temperament/mindset has been since the death of Robin IV. Within the "War Drums" collection itself, we see that Jason's death still weighs on Bruce, as he comments to Cassandra that if he had only stopped Jason's career as Robin, perhaps he'd still be alive. I can't imagine what he'd be experiencing following Stephanie's death. He tried to end her career, and she still ended up dead. He has to blame himself. First Jason's death. Now this. So how exactly his Batman/Bruce being portrayed now? I can't believe he'd ever be the same after going through this again or that things could ever return to "normal" for him. How has that been dealt with in the comics (and how long has it been since those events)?

[sdp]

He didn't really change much, he's still th ebitter Batman he's been for a while. If anything the mindwipe has made him angrier than stephanie. And it's been almost a year since it happened.

[elfwithagun]

I think Bruce/Bats will eventually snap in a huge storyline. After the death of two Robins I think he will snap and go crazy, perhaps trying to kill the most heinous villains in Gotham or beating some of them to near death. Then it will take most of his allies (Nightwing, Oracle, Batgirl, Huntress, Tim Drake etc) to bring him back to sanity.

[AdamYJ]

Y'know, I never really considered Steph to be a real Robin. She was just Spoiler in a Robin suit to me.

Anyway, if anything, this type of thing actually sheds more light on the whole sidekick thing. People always talk about how guys like Batman go around recruiting kids to work for him and putting them in danger. I think the real case is that these kids, like Steph, would have done it anyway. Heroes can tell the kids to go away and all, but if they want them to have any decent training at all, then they had better take them under their wing. If heroes of the DCU didn't take in sidekicks and train them, there'd be a lot more dead teenagers. Though, as Jason and Steph have proven, it's not 100% foolproof.