Where did Batman go?

They keep making endless jokes about Batman disappearing when peoples' backs are turned, and have the characters making snide comments about it, or turning it back on Batman himself, or something equally clever. 

It's just a little amazing that anybody actually thinks there is anything new to wring out of this cliché, because I always thought the matter was settled decades ago, with this little gem of a sequence:

That's from 1999's Legends of the Dark Knight #125, in a story written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Rick Burchett. It's followed by a slightly cringe moment where Bats cries about how it's because he finds it hard to say goodbye, but it was refreshing just to see him confronted for how goddamn rude he's been. Look at how Gordon slowly towers over the superhero, with his moral righteousness giving him the extra height.

 

And it's all you have to say about the subject. Batman wants loyal friends and allies, and you don't get them by being fucking rude. Bruce Wayne is meant to be the smartest person in the world, he should be able to figure that out. (I really liked how the Brainiac 5 from the recent Bendis Legion wasn't a jerk, because he had figured out you got better results with a kind word and a compliment, which cost nothing and gained him so much.)

Even though his adventures are currently being published by a bunch of craven cowards, I love Batman comics, because even the worst of them have moments of style or beauty or truth. And this came out during a particularly dire period for the Dark Knight Detective, and says something about the character that still resonates, even if it's been roundly ignored by every writer who wanted to do their own version of this bullshit all over again.