Who is Batman? Bruce Wayne. But which one? Earth-1 or Earth-2, New 52 or Rebirth? Dick Grayson in Batman R.I.P. or James Gordon in the Rookie suit? Or Adam West or Batfleck or Pattinson's Emo-Batman? Or the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh? Or Absolute Batman? Every version of Batman is equally Batman. Jim Thompson (Eisner Awards judge), attorney Adam Adler (Super Babies v. DC Comics), and Peter Coogan (Comics Arts Conference) examine how repetition, imitation, and variation of the core brand encode the mythic nature of the superhero genre, are uniquely expressed in the iterations of Batman (including trademark and merch), and are tied to the core conventions of the genre—mission, powers, and identity. When Batman says, "Because I'm Batman," he is, no matter which Batman says it.
