We’ve spent the last few days perusing Partners Of Peril, the old Shadow story that Bill Finger *ahem* “adapted” for Batman’s first adventure way back in Detective Comics #27.

Although it’s fun to count the numerous similarities between the two tales, your humble host was even more startled to discover parallels between another Shadow reprint, Lingo, and a more recent event in the Dark Knight’s history - the deservedly reviled War Games.

The Keeper isn’t suggesting that DC (once again) lifted a Shadow story for their own profit. In fact, the central conceit of both stories - crime lords jockeying for control while heroes attempt to stop chaos from spreading - has been recycled many times in many different mediums.

The point of interest for us - and hopefully you, dear reader - is how much more effective The Shadow was portrayed in coping with the situation than The Batman.

It’s not as if the Knight Of Darkness was any more accommodating toward his allies than his modern day counterpart. In fact, there really wasn’t a moment where Lamont Cranston’s agents had a single clue about their leader’s agenda.

However, where Batman’s hidden plans blew up in the Caped Crusader’s face, the Shadow was able to parlay his secret agenda to victory.

Sure, Mr. Cranston laughed maniacally and fatally shot his quota of mobsters - like comic books, nothing shifted pulp magazine units like good old American violence - but the crime-fighter mostly relied upon stealth, deductive reasoning and a heaping helping of careful planning.

Back in The Shadow’s heyday, writers took pains to portray heroes as intellectually - as well as physically - able. Since pulp creators couldn’t rely upon visuals to make figures like The Shadow and Doc Savage larger than life, writers imparted such characteristics by putting the characters in fantastic situations that required super-human skill and intelligence.

As America was also embroiled in a time of economic and political uncertainty, there was also a need for heroes who could triumph over adversity. The pulps were one of many avenues that provided such characters.

Fast-forward 70 or so years to an era where a character like Batman - who is cut straight from The Shadow’s mold - is shown relying upon violence and intimidation because “bad-ass” attitudes are valued in popular culture more than intellect.

Also, despite the political and economic uncertainties of this era, the public has less an appetite for heroes than a compelling need to drag larger-than-life figures into the gutter. Aspiring for a better world apparently takes too much effort these days, so instead we strip characters of their dignity and say they’re “just like us.”

The epitome of this particular attitude was revealed a few months back on the Newsarama boards, where one poster said that Superman Prime behaves like any normal person would if they possessed god-like powers. Nice.

So instead of a hero who outmaneuvers his enemies, we see Batman fooled by the easiest ruses, shamed before the public at large and alienated from his former allies.

Are readers truly better off? We don’t think so.

Since that particular lowlight, Paul Dini and Grant Morrison have tried to restore Batman’s luster. Although the results have been mixed at best, the Keeper does believe DC is moving in the correct direction.

And if future writers feel the need to make Batman more of a “relatable” figure, let’s point them to those old Shadow stories. The Knight of Darkness still has a thing or two to teach the Dark Knight …