Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot. That's the kernel of an idea that leads Bruce Wayne, celebrity orphan/hermit, to begin down the path that will ultimately lead him to dressing up as a flying rodent and skipping around rooftops, trying to rid the city of those very superstitious cowards. Batman has built up a reputation within Gotham as he has in the real world, but what would happen to him if that reputation was torn down? Well, then you're Grant Morrison and you've written Batman R.I.P. But what about Batman's standing in the real world? The character has been around for over seventy years, and he's gone through some considerable changes in that time, from the pulpy crime fighter to campy TV character to dark and brooding superhero. His history is stuffed full of ridiculous, shameful and just plain bad depictions. There's a lot of skeletons in Batman's closet. Besides the ones Alfred uses to decorate the Cave on Halloween. With every retcon of their universe, DC try to sweep more dark - or just plain silly - past mistakes that befell the Dark Knight under the rug. That doesn't mean they disappear forever, though, so why don't we take a little peek?