Mothers are a lot like superheroes.
They protect us nine months before anyone else even sees us. They make sure we have everything we need — and if they can, everything we want — and as we get get older, we realize they even have secret identities.
They're people.
And while Mother's Day 2010 may be just behind us, in true "the card's in the mail, Mom" fashion, I present:
THE TOP 10 COMIC BOOK MOTHERS
10. TALIA AL GHUL
No one made Talia Al Ghul hop into the Bat-sack with Bruce Wayne, so why she was surprised that her son would don a cape himself is anybody's guess.
She may never win Mother of the Year, but Talia Al Ghul loves her son. Not for what he is — the current Robin (because in her words, she's too much of a perfectionist), but for what he could have become: the world's deadliest assassin.
And yes, she's cloned him to try and raise him sans-superheroics. And yes, she replaced his fractured spine with technology that allowed her to physically control him in an attempt to murder Batman.
But she just wants the best for her baby boy, right? What mother doesn't?
This article appears in May 5-11, 2010.