Interestingly, he had a lot of friends, but they were never ‘family’ like Robin is to Batman, or Mary to Billy.

What about Supergirl? I know they had a weird relationship, but she was family.

That orphan train continues, in modified form: Peter Parker, Matt Murdoch, not to mention those whose parents are killed after they put on the costume, like Tim Drake and Kyle Rayner.

There’s a difference between those who being an orphan is an integral part of the character, and those who are orphans because a writer injected ‘reality’ into their stories.

I didn’t really mention Superman because a) he never really clicked for me outside of Morrison’s work and b) I kind of feel like all his family-building was after DC killed the Big Red Cheese and poached Binder, who then went on to duplicate a lot of his family ideas.

Unlike the other two, although Superman was an orphan, he did have an adopted family to raise him in a stable home, up until he was a grown up.
Interestingly, he had a lot of friends, but they were never ‘family’ like Robin is to Batman, or Mary to Billy.

(I was really trying to find a word other than “mythos” to end that sentence, since I realised I don’t really know what it means. Oh well).

Side note: Batman is my favourite comic character, and I have very little interest in anything involving his “family” beyond Commisioner Gordon and Alfred. Carrie Kelly and Damian are my two favourite Robins. I usually find that Dick Jason and Tim add very little to the stories I like.

Orphans were never more popular as protagonists as they were in the 1930′s, (Little orphan Annie, anyone). In the Depression, many families were uprooted and even scatted to the four winds. Thousands of children whose parents couldn’t feed them were put on the “orphan trains” and sent to the farm fields, mostly to be “adopted” as workers.

That orphan train continues, in modified form: Peter Parker, Matt Murdoch, not to mention those whose parents are killed after they put on the costume, like Tim Drake and Kyle Rayner.

Batmanj eventually arrived at some of this, but it took decades for Alfred to shift from comic relief to noble valet and finally, sometime in the 1980s, to surrogate father. And even as that was happening, Bruce was written away from his original fatherly role for the Robins, so it arguably took Grant Morrison and Paul Dini writing the comics to really get where the Marvel Family were at their formation.

Thankfully, we don’t run the risk of some shitty writer screwing it all up after we build it all.

I’d be pretty pissed if some writer tried to inject ‘reality’ into my life.