You just said it! "There are other interpretations." Daredevil is a character who for much of his modern existence has led a life of endless tragedy and misery. Dark, depressing stuff that wears on the soul, weighs the man down until he finally drowns. Before that though, the guy used to have some pretty outlandish adventures, not unlike a certain caped crusader. And then, after all that dark and depressing stuff that culminated in a corrupted Daredevil trying to take over New York with an army of ninjas, along comes Mark Waid who, while still acknowledging and at times reinforcing that Matt has had a sh*tty hand dealt to him, gives us a Daredevil who manages to find the joy in being himself, makes light of tense situations, and connects to his cast and to the readers through tragedy AND triumph. Is Matt overcompensating? Yes, he absolutely is; "fake it 'til you make it" is his mantra when he's feeling pressured. Is the happy-go-lucky all an act? No, I don't believe that; Matt's a guy who is smart enough to realize that he's got some great things going on in his life despite of all the tragedy, and the alternative to being happy is somewhere he doesn't want to be anymore. Look, I'm starting to ramble on but honestly Waid's Daredevil is a fun, exciting, and fresh breath for the character compared to the pits of despair that came before, and it is just as great as those runs that steeped themselves in pain and misery, if not better in some ways. Is it going to last, or is the next writer to step up going to fall back on the dark and brooding depiction? Who can say? All I know is I'm having a helluva time enjoying this rendition, and I'll be sad when the ride is over. Waid's interpretation of Daredevil is no less valid that what came before it, simply because it's taken a lighter approach.
Batman? He's breathing the same stale air that Miller forced into his lungs thirty years ago, and when someone steps up with something different along come his "fans" to cry out for their dark, brooding, humorless ghoul of the night. Morrison acknowledged this at the end of his Batman run; the grand experiment failed to change anything. Brave and the Bold got absolutely blasted by the "fans" when it hit the airwaves, for being too different, too Silver Age, too camp. Schumacher's films are openly mocked for swinging too far into camp, and away from the formula of Burton and Nolan and Snyder. The formula of Frank Miller. The formula of Alan Moore. Anything else is out of character.
Pine for a different take on Batman, for something other than formula? Mock the serious, overly dour tone of the Nolan films, of the DCCU? Get derided, chastised; get told you don't truly appreciate the depths of his dark and tortured soul. You don't know Batman.
The Frank Miller formula: the only one that matters.
