Month: October 2014

Working in the System: Truth, Justice, and Cooperation Fundamentally, the project of tracking and trapping these criminals is too great for Batman to complete alone. Despite his reputation and demeanor as a loner, Batman’s effort as detective is a communal one. Truth and justice need a social grounding. In addition, Batman sometimes makes mistakes and…

Villainous Games: Profiling & Confronting Criminal Distortions Since Holmes opposed Moriarty, several famous detectives have faced off against recurring villains, who view the committing of crimes as an elaborate game of wits with their opponent. Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, and a myriad of others have offered crimes as challenges to the Dark Knight. Early in his…

Uncovering the Truth: Infiltration, Interrogation, & Intimidation  Detectives trade in information, and there are various ways they collect this information. Detectives cross-examine suspects, often in coercive and even violent ways. Detectives pick locks and discover further ways to break into spaces that others would want to keep hidden. And finally, at least since Sherlock Holmes,…

The Obsessive Detective: The Quest for Justice Is a Quest for Truth Why did Batman become a detective? Many of us know the dark origins of his story. Batman was a victim of one of the most severe crimes; the murder of his parents fueled his ambition to become one who opposed such evil. Writers…