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Gothic-Cowboy writes...

Mr. Weisman, my question pertains to Talia al Ghul. Namely, that fact that, while I can ascertain that she's intended (not just in Earth-16, but generally) to be a sympathetic villain, I have never been able to muster up any sympathy for her whatsoever. I mean, I'm a fan of, and greatly respect, the work of Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil, but, where Talia's concerned, they weren't trying very hard. In her original appearances, she doesn't have much of a personality to speak of, she's just a clich-ridden knock-off of similar characters like Fah Lo Suee (i.e., the exotically beautiful daughter of the "Yellow Peril/Fu Manchu" mastermind who's loyal to her father, but feels torn by her attraction to her father's nemesis). I never got why she was in love with Batman. She'd met him once, she can't've possibly known him very well. Plus, from Batman's point of view, here's this woman he barely knows. Her clearly mentally unbalanced Father shows up, offers her to him, and she's calling him "Beloved" and trying to get him to marry her. Most men would flee from that, as if pursued by hounds. Sure she's beautiful, but this is a comic book universe. Gorgeous women are the rule, it's not even exceptional. She seemed more like a crazy stalker than a geniune suitor. Why would he have feelings for her? I actually prefer her in more recent comics, were she's been more like her Father, a villain (or, at leat, a well-intentioned extremist). At least she has a personality that way.
On Earth-16, when we first meet her, she's actively helping her Father in his efforts to murder billions of people. This kind of limits the sympathy I can feel for her. The fact that she claims to have misgivings means exactly nothing. Her misgivings aren't going to make any of the people she kills any less dead. She doesn't shoot Batman because of her attraction to him, not because she realizes that what she's doing is wrong. Then she gets into a huff because her Father and Batman's lives don't revolve around her and I'm forced to agree with Alfred: she's a crazy stalker with Daddy issues and an international terrorist. Who cares what she thinks? Then we find out about what she did to Matt Hagen. Batman sensibly tells her they can't be together while she's trying to murder billions of people, and she acts like the victim. Like her Father and his insane "compromise," she thinks he's being unreasonable. She gets a new boy toy, one whom she believes is beneath her, because he seems to fit into the immature fantasy she has about the love life she thinks she needs, then effects what she believes to be a slow,lingering death when she becomes convinced that he was just using her to get access to the Lazarus Pit in order to cure his terminal cancer. She comes across as immature and more in love with the idea of being in love than actually being in love with someone.
As I said, I've never really grasped why Talia was supposed to be sympathetic. At best, I see her as more of a tragic character (although I guess I may be splitting hairs). It's kind of like Demona, she's a tragic character, but much of that tragedy has been driven by her own actions, and it does nothing to change the fact that she must be opposed when her actions threaten lives.
In a larger sense, I've never understood why some fans get all bent out of shape whenever anyone comes up with the idea of exploring the idea that Batman could be paired up with a woman who isn't either terrorist stalker or a selfish, amoral thief. Someone with whom he could actually have a relationship with. Someone who isn't obviously wrong for him. Why are we locked down to Catwoman or Talia, when it couldn't be more obvious that it can't work out? I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but I just don't get it.
Thank you for your time.

Greg responds...

Well, we do ramble here. So you came to the right place, I suppose.

I don't necessarily disagree with you - though I believe I'd nuance my interpretation a bit more. Talia has sympathetic moments - as does Demona, I suppose - but that doesn't make either character sympathetic. And I certainly wasn't looking to make Talia sympathetic here in any overall sense. "Tragic" works too, to a degree. But even that's not the word I'd chose.

But also keep in mind, that you don't know HOW Talia and Batman met on Earth-16 or how their relationship might have developed. You only know how it ENDED. (Let alone what relationship, if any, Batman might have with Selina Kyle.) I also think it's part of who Batman is that he's ATTRACTED to darkness and the hope of redemption, but that he's too rational to allow that attraction to win him over for more than a moment. (Defining "moment" loosely.)

Response recorded on April 13, 2012