Ace has to be an Earth-One character because of the issue where Bat-Mite was riding around on his back and Bat-Mite is definitely an Earth-One character.

I'm someone who can't help but cringe when post-Crisis retellings of Batman's origin have a bat crash through a pane of glass rather than simply fly though an open window.  Miller's revision beats Wayne over the head with its symbolic imagery to the point where the decision to become a bat is something Wayne is pretty much being ordered to do by the hand of destiny.  I mean, if a bat dramatically flies through a sheet of glass in slow motion, what's he supposed to think?  Finger's origin however, lets Wayne determine whether he wants to regard this event as an omen (even after chastising criminals for being a "superstitious lot") or just a coincidence he can choose to ignore. Yes, yes, Finger wasn't exactly subtle either about the timing of that bat himself, but there's a little too much "the bat chose Wayne" rather than the other way around in Miller's take.  Even the image of the pearls slowly drifting to the ground bugs me without really changing too much (Chill didn't actually get his hands on them in Detective 33 but I can understand the artistic licence and it is a fantastic looking shot, I'll admit) since it's become too much of a focus when recounting the death of the Waynes to the point where I believe Grant Morrison felt a need to explain why the pearls broke apart the way they did when beads are strung in such a way that only one or two should have broken off (his explanation?  They were imitations).

So, my point is that I'm not someone who really cares for the slightest deviation to Batman's origin even though these two alterations are relatively minor and yet, there's something I like about the biggest change ever made to Batman's origin - the idea that it was a hit and not a random shooting.  Part of it has to do with the fact that "The First Batman!" is a fantastic story and yeah, I suppose nostalgia plays a part, but there's more to it than that.

See, as great as Batman's origin is in its simplicity, there are some details which bother me about it.  Even as a kid who had no problem with super-ventriloquism, Alfred pinch hitting for Batman, and even Batman taking down The Hulk, I couldn't help but figure out that Chill only seems to become interested in killing Thomas Wayne (as opposed to simply robbing him) when Wayne rushes towards him.  I suppose Chill might have shot them regardless, but it's Wayne who makes sure of it.



I used to wonder about that awkward placement of Bruce standing next to Chill in the last panel like he's planning to live with him now, but it kind of makes me wonder if he didn't simply figure that between his father's bravado and his mother's screaming for the police, he needed to be well clear of them before eithered of them said something like "Bruce!  Get a good look at this guy so you can tell the police who he is afterwards!"  

However, if Chill is merely a hitman, then Thomas Wayne is acting courageously rather than recklessly.  He knows that this is how Moxon intends to get his revenge, knows that he's about to be assassinated, and while rushing Chill gives him only a slim chance of survival, it's also his only chance.  One origin has Wayne turning a robbery into a double homicide, whereas the other has him making  a valiant effort to turn a double homicide into a close cut.

Now, the idea that Thomas Wayne was a Batman of sorts when his son was just a boy?  Pretty silly, but even there I can't help but admit that behind the giant penny and dinosaur, Thomas Wayne's Bat costume is my favorite piece in the Bat-Cave's trophy room.  Besides, who am I to argue with Bill Finger if he wants to elaborate upon Batman's origin anyway?

That's a very good point that I've certainly thought about, and it's why I want to keep a slightly modified version of "The First Batman" in my Batman chronology.

But I like Batman's origin a lot better if Joe Chill is acting on his own, a desperate character who needs dough FAST. It becomes a tragic crime, a random act of violence that could happen to anybody, which I find a lot more relatable and poignant. 

As for Thomas Wayne being a macho dumb-ass who may have caused a double homicide by his recklessness, I think he's a little more human with a character trait like that instead of being the saintly figure he's often portrayed as. Besides, there's been so much rationalization of those few panels from Detective Comics #33 that it's easy to rationalize your way out of this one as well, if you've a mind to. 

I don't want to keep "The First Batman" THAT bad. 

1. My perspective on Killing Joke has always been that the version we read is not exactly the version that occurred in continuity. After all, Batman's using a 1940's Batmobile, and (depending upon your interpretation) he murders The Joker at the end. So I've always accepted that the events of Killing Joke basically happened, but not exactly as portrayed.

2. Batgirl first quit in 'Tec #422, believing she could accomplish more as a congresswoman. She was ready to quit again during Crisis on Infinite Earths, but then only because Wolfman wrote her as ineffective and suffering from an inferiority complex . So you can find multiple rationalizations for her to quit being Batgirl.

3. Babs becoming Oracle was first explained and chronicled in Suicide Squad #48, and the transformation was heavily tied to the events of The Killing Joke, so you pretty much have to acknowledge that work unless you're looking to create your own retcon.