This is Love In Vain, a new feature where I spotlight "near miss" romances. You know what I mean, cases where two characters seem poised to become a couple but never quite get together. A few dates don't count! I mean a serious relationship.

I'll kick things off with Batman's near-miss romance with Julia Remarque, later known as Julia Pennyworth! Yep, it's the daughter of Batman's butler, Alfred!

It all kicked off in Detective Comics #532 (by Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Bob Smith) when Alfred officially reconnected with his long-lost daughter, Julia (her mother was Mademoiselle Marie, who I just wrote about here) after this whole long deal where she thought that he murdered her mother (since her mother was saying Alfred's name as she died)...

Alfred bring her to Wayne Manor in Batman #370 (by (by Doug Moench, Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala), where Bruce Wayne invites Julia to stay at the Manor as his guest, longterm.

There are some funny bits where Alfred has to cover for stuff going on in the Batcave in Detective Comics #538 (by Moench, Colan and Smith)...

but the kicker is that Bruce never told his girlfriend, Vicki Vale, that Julia was staying with them...

So Julia moved out. However, Vicki wasn't a jerk about it and she found Julia a job at her newspaper, but Julia wanted to do more than just work as a clerk and Vicki was okay with it, but she reiterated that Julia had better not make a move on Bruce. Julia explains in Batman #375 (by Moench, Newton and Alcala) that she is actually into Batman...

When Batman rescues the two women at the end of the issue from Mister Freeze (they actually help out a lot with their own rescue), Julia makes her move...

However, a few issues later, in Batman #382 (by Moench, Rick Hoberg and Rudy Nebres) she realizes that Batman is into the Catwoman...

So instead, once Bruce and Vicki break up, Julia goes on some dates with Bruce in Detective Comics #553 (by Moench and Klaus Janson)...

But then Batman falls for the mysterious Nocturna (who also adopts Jason Todd), as you can see in Batman #390 (by Moench and Tom Mandrake)...

and so Julia doesn't need a cue card to see that she has "lost" Bruce, as well...

Crisis on Infinite Earths happened soon after this and Julia was erased from continuity. She was brought back during the New 52, but she seemed more of a love interest for BatWOMAN this time around.

Okay, folks, I'm sure you all have a lot of examples for this new feature, so feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com with your suggestions!