[AfterDeathComics] Batbills
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He's running both the hospital and the insurance company. And it's apparently good quality insurance, so they aren't skimping on his treatment. There's no way both the hospital and the insurance company can be profiting from this guy getting all the bones in his body broken. Not at the same time.
Step 1. Sell insurance to criminal.
Step 2. Beat up criminal.
Step 3. Advertise loudly that criminal is lucky they have bat insurance or they'd be fucked.
Step 4. And this is the important one: don't beat up every single other person that then buys bat insurance, instead beat up those who might want to beat them up. -
Just remove the "and health insurance" and this works.
I love it when people play with the "Bruce Wayne is an evil oligarch" trope. Just look at Gotham, it's massively run down, and yet there are billionaires like Wayne at society events. Sure, he spends nights fighting crime (or at least criminals) as Batman, but does he pay his taxes? Does he employ lobbyists who lobby for tax breaks on billionaires, justifying it by thinking that without those tax breaks he couldn't afford to have Wayne Enterprises come up with such cool toys for Batman, and he wouldn't be as effective at fighting
crimecriminals? Surely, one of the best ways to reduce crime in Gotham wouldn't be to punch bad guys at night, but to ensure that there's a robust social safety net, and that there isn't such a vast wealth disparity between the haves and the have-nots. But, we don't see either Batman or Bruce Wayne arguing for more taxes on the rich, more social programs for the poor, etc. It's more about having adventures and going to gala events.As for this comic, the only way health insurance companies benefit if someone requires life-long medical care is if they're not the ones footing the medical bill, and are just a proxy for government money. So, instead of "It's a good thing you have health insurance", "It's a good thing you're on Gothamcare Advantage by Wayne Enterprises". Similar to the scam that is Medicare Advantage.
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I think it's just people assuming Wayne Enterprises is one of those evil all-encompassing mega-conglomerates common in fiction, like Buy n' Large, Wayland-Yutani, or Amazon.
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Just remove the "and health insurance" and this works.
I love it when people play with the "Bruce Wayne is an evil oligarch" trope. Just look at Gotham, it's massively run down, and yet there are billionaires like Wayne at society events. Sure, he spends nights fighting crime (or at least criminals) as Batman, but does he pay his taxes? Does he employ lobbyists who lobby for tax breaks on billionaires, justifying it by thinking that without those tax breaks he couldn't afford to have Wayne Enterprises come up with such cool toys for Batman, and he wouldn't be as effective at fighting
crimecriminals? Surely, one of the best ways to reduce crime in Gotham wouldn't be to punch bad guys at night, but to ensure that there's a robust social safety net, and that there isn't such a vast wealth disparity between the haves and the have-nots. But, we don't see either Batman or Bruce Wayne arguing for more taxes on the rich, more social programs for the poor, etc. It's more about having adventures and going to gala events.As for this comic, the only way health insurance companies benefit if someone requires life-long medical care is if they're not the ones footing the medical bill, and are just a proxy for government money. So, instead of "It's a good thing you have health insurance", "It's a good thing you're on Gothamcare Advantage by Wayne Enterprises". Similar to the scam that is Medicare Advantage.
fighting crime (or at least criminals)
I like that you made that distinction.
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Just remove the "and health insurance" and this works.
I love it when people play with the "Bruce Wayne is an evil oligarch" trope. Just look at Gotham, it's massively run down, and yet there are billionaires like Wayne at society events. Sure, he spends nights fighting crime (or at least criminals) as Batman, but does he pay his taxes? Does he employ lobbyists who lobby for tax breaks on billionaires, justifying it by thinking that without those tax breaks he couldn't afford to have Wayne Enterprises come up with such cool toys for Batman, and he wouldn't be as effective at fighting
crimecriminals? Surely, one of the best ways to reduce crime in Gotham wouldn't be to punch bad guys at night, but to ensure that there's a robust social safety net, and that there isn't such a vast wealth disparity between the haves and the have-nots. But, we don't see either Batman or Bruce Wayne arguing for more taxes on the rich, more social programs for the poor, etc. It's more about having adventures and going to gala events.As for this comic, the only way health insurance companies benefit if someone requires life-long medical care is if they're not the ones footing the medical bill, and are just a proxy for government money. So, instead of "It's a good thing you have health insurance", "It's a good thing you're on Gothamcare Advantage by Wayne Enterprises". Similar to the scam that is Medicare Advantage.
Bruce does plenty of good with his money, it just isn't really ever shown in anything other than comics.
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fighting crime (or at least criminals)
I like that you made that distinction.
It's true. If Bruce Wayne / Batman cared about fighting crime, he'd go after the root causes: desperation, corruption, inequality, etc. Instead he focuses on fighting criminals.
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Bruce does plenty of good with his money, it just isn't really ever shown in anything other than comics.
Did he hire you to do PR for him?
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Just remove the "and health insurance" and this works.
I love it when people play with the "Bruce Wayne is an evil oligarch" trope. Just look at Gotham, it's massively run down, and yet there are billionaires like Wayne at society events. Sure, he spends nights fighting crime (or at least criminals) as Batman, but does he pay his taxes? Does he employ lobbyists who lobby for tax breaks on billionaires, justifying it by thinking that without those tax breaks he couldn't afford to have Wayne Enterprises come up with such cool toys for Batman, and he wouldn't be as effective at fighting
crimecriminals? Surely, one of the best ways to reduce crime in Gotham wouldn't be to punch bad guys at night, but to ensure that there's a robust social safety net, and that there isn't such a vast wealth disparity between the haves and the have-nots. But, we don't see either Batman or Bruce Wayne arguing for more taxes on the rich, more social programs for the poor, etc. It's more about having adventures and going to gala events.As for this comic, the only way health insurance companies benefit if someone requires life-long medical care is if they're not the ones footing the medical bill, and are just a proxy for government money. So, instead of "It's a good thing you have health insurance", "It's a good thing you're on Gothamcare Advantage by Wayne Enterprises". Similar to the scam that is Medicare Advantage.
The thing about Batman that you need to remember is that he's been around since the 1930s. Many facets of the character have been explored, including this one. Bruce Wayne has, on multiple occasions, argued for and created more social programs for the poor. That is something he has done in many comics.
That said, he hasn't argued for higher taxation on the rich. There's a few reasons for this, the chief among them being the unquestioned omnipresent capitalist dogma that informs a lot of media. Though I'd add that the idea of wealth redistribution is kind of incompatible with the idea of Batman. He's a deeply psychologically motivated character. His war on crime is largely personal. As his vigilantism is enabled by his wealth, it makes sense that he would favour philanthropy. He wants to be the agent of change in 'his' city. Broadly speaking, that might make him ineffective but I don't think it makes him bad. I think it's part of what makes him an interesting character.
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It's true. If Bruce Wayne / Batman cared about fighting crime, he'd go after the root causes: desperation, corruption, inequality, etc. Instead he focuses on fighting criminals.
I'm pretty sure there was at least one comic where he openly admits he knows beating up people in alleys doesn't change the system, but he's a fundamentally broken person who needs to keep doing it.
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The thing about Batman that you need to remember is that he's been around since the 1930s. Many facets of the character have been explored, including this one. Bruce Wayne has, on multiple occasions, argued for and created more social programs for the poor. That is something he has done in many comics.
That said, he hasn't argued for higher taxation on the rich. There's a few reasons for this, the chief among them being the unquestioned omnipresent capitalist dogma that informs a lot of media. Though I'd add that the idea of wealth redistribution is kind of incompatible with the idea of Batman. He's a deeply psychologically motivated character. His war on crime is largely personal. As his vigilantism is enabled by his wealth, it makes sense that he would favour philanthropy. He wants to be the agent of change in 'his' city. Broadly speaking, that might make him ineffective but I don't think it makes him bad. I think it's part of what makes him an interesting character.
argued for and created social programs for the poor
Has he argued for big government programs, or is it Wayne Enterprises or Bruce Wayne charities?
Though I'd add that the idea of wealth redistribution is kind of incompatible with the idea of Batman
It is, that's kinda the point. He's a rich guy with no superpowers who fights crime. He's able to fight supervillains through technology and he can afford that tech because he's rich. You take away his wealth and you take away his tech. Without tech he's just a man, and he can't stand up to supervillains.
But, I think it would be really interesting for a writer to explore a Batman who actually identified unregulated capitalism as a problem, and how Wayne Enterprises is at the heart of that. Superheroes losing their powers is a common trope in comics. I haven't read much Batman, but I would bet that there have been dozens of stories where he's cut off from the Wayne Enterprises wealth and has to go it alone for a while. It would be different if he saw Wayne Enterprises as an evil he had to conquer though.
Maybe have a Batman story where he gives away his wealth and dismantles Wayne enterprises, and tries to take down all the various other oligarchs. We had the Iron Man story where he was in a cave and had to build an Iron Man suit from random scrap in the cave. What if Batman moved to the slums of Gotham and teamed up with ultra poor but really clever hackers, building weapons and vehicles out of scavenged junk. Instead of Batman in a billion-dollar armored vehicle taking down Bane and his goons, have Batman in bat suit built from scavenged parts, taking down the armed guards of a high-society oligarch who used to be his pal.
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Step 1. Sell insurance to criminal.
Step 2. Beat up criminal.
Step 3. Advertise loudly that criminal is lucky they have bat insurance or they'd be fucked.
Step 4. And this is the important one: don't beat up every single other person that then buys bat insurance, instead beat up those who might want to beat them up.Disproportionately beat up those who don’t have bat insurance, and suppress the “conspiracy theory” that there is such a correlation.
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Just remove the "and health insurance" and this works.
I love it when people play with the "Bruce Wayne is an evil oligarch" trope. Just look at Gotham, it's massively run down, and yet there are billionaires like Wayne at society events. Sure, he spends nights fighting crime (or at least criminals) as Batman, but does he pay his taxes? Does he employ lobbyists who lobby for tax breaks on billionaires, justifying it by thinking that without those tax breaks he couldn't afford to have Wayne Enterprises come up with such cool toys for Batman, and he wouldn't be as effective at fighting
crimecriminals? Surely, one of the best ways to reduce crime in Gotham wouldn't be to punch bad guys at night, but to ensure that there's a robust social safety net, and that there isn't such a vast wealth disparity between the haves and the have-nots. But, we don't see either Batman or Bruce Wayne arguing for more taxes on the rich, more social programs for the poor, etc. It's more about having adventures and going to gala events.As for this comic, the only way health insurance companies benefit if someone requires life-long medical care is if they're not the ones footing the medical bill, and are just a proxy for government money. So, instead of "It's a good thing you have health insurance", "It's a good thing you're on Gothamcare Advantage by Wayne Enterprises". Similar to the scam that is Medicare Advantage.
While the cause of many woes in our real society might be capitalism, in comic book Gotham its
- The Illuminati made up of rich folks in the city using zombie dudes to do their bidding (Court of Owls)
- The multiple Lazarus pits (2? 3? Not 100% there.) likely leaking into the water supply makin folks cray cray
- The portal to hell under the Sanitarium leaking evil all over
- The evil bat god trapped under the city also leaking evil all over
- The evil warlock who was trapped under the city leaking evil all over
- The evil swamp that spawned Solomon Grundy not too far outta town which probably is doing something
Like don't get me wrong... I'm sure socialized housing and the like would help but grand scheme of things? Cities kinda fucked in a way that is far beyond conventional solutions, without a real way to unfuck it.
Also, for your amusement- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarky
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While the cause of many woes in our real society might be capitalism, in comic book Gotham its
- The Illuminati made up of rich folks in the city using zombie dudes to do their bidding (Court of Owls)
- The multiple Lazarus pits (2? 3? Not 100% there.) likely leaking into the water supply makin folks cray cray
- The portal to hell under the Sanitarium leaking evil all over
- The evil bat god trapped under the city also leaking evil all over
- The evil warlock who was trapped under the city leaking evil all over
- The evil swamp that spawned Solomon Grundy not too far outta town which probably is doing something
Like don't get me wrong... I'm sure socialized housing and the like would help but grand scheme of things? Cities kinda fucked in a way that is far beyond conventional solutions, without a real way to unfuck it.
Also, for your amusement- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarky
Just today, I came across a post on Mastodon, talking about the Batbible. They have the entire thing from 1985 online. Some of this stuff might be out of date, which is why you might be seeing more supernatural things these days. The 1985 version said:
"Batman should never visit Mars or Middle Earth. But this does not exclude the supernatural. Ghosts and even such nasties vampires and poltergeists are fair game, provided they are used infrequently, judiciously and placed in stories that incorporate other Batman elements."
So, at least in the 1985 version, Gotham is mostly supposed to be plagued by normal human-type problems, not sci-fi, not fantasy, not supernatural. The bible also makes it clear that a major problem in Gotham is that the rich aren't paying enough to fund a functioning city. You have Bruce Wayne living on a massive estate, going to high society events, meanwhile the police department is barely scraping by:
"The rest of the GOTHAM CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT is not admirable. Poorly paid, virtually untrained--there is nothing in the budget for what are considered "nonessentials" ... Their equipment is mostly obsolete ... The crime laboratory, for example, is bench, a microscope and a fingerprinting kit stuck in the back of an evidence storage room"
So, really, what would make Gotham safer, $50M on yet another Bat-vehicle, or $50M to properly fund the Police Department?
As for Anarky, he was so powerful he had to be muzzled: " Fabian Nicieza, author of the issue and storyline in which Anarky appeared [decades after his first introduction], depicted the character as being held hostage by Armstrong, "paralyzed and catatonic",[11] encased in an iron lung, and connected to computers through his brain. This final feature allowed the character to connect to the internet and communicate with others via a speech synthesizer.[35] Nicieza's decision to give Machin's mantle as Anarky to another character was due to his desire to establish him as a nemesis for Tim Drake, while respecting the original characterization of Anarky, who Nicieza recognized as neither immature, nor a villain."
I guess the next Batman villain should be Socialismo!
