Those are all some pretty despicable things for a major entertainment property to be getting up to (even if they are the more extreme examples) but, well, that's just how things were back then. Eventually the Comics Code and changing tastes turned the murderous Dark Knight into the campy sixties Caped Crusader before settling on the violent but not technically bloodthirsty Batman we all know and love today. Long before he got to that point, however, he was shooting people at point blank range in the face. Which is two strikes against the moral code. Not only does Batman not kill, but he never ever uses guns. Except for all the times he does. That's almost as important as the no-killing rule, and is also tied into the killing of his parents. He even makes a big point of not using firearms in The Dark Knight Returns, pointing out that's the sort of thing the enemy does, and they need to be better than them. Except in the story of the Mad Monk from the very early days of Detective Comics involves the magical villain threatening to turn Batman's girlfriend into a werewolf and brainwashing him into all sorts of weird stuff, to the point that the Dark Knight's only recourse is to shoot the Monk whilst he sleeps.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
