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Post by abishai100 on Jul 22, 2016 15:05:59 GMT -5
This is a very special thread for me, since it goes to some of my deep interests in Batman (DC Comics). I love the comics, the art, the toys, the stories, the cartoons, and oh yes, the movies. I've been a fan of Batman since enjoying Batman: The Animated Series (Fox TV) when I was growing up. I would watch the show after school and became fascinated by the intricacies of criminal insanity in America and the intriguing storytelling it generates, and I still prefer Batman's approach to criminal insanity than the approaches presented in American films such as Primal Fear and American TV shows such as Law & Order. Batman not only treats criminal insanity as a feature of jurisprudence that requires great brooding, but he himself is very conscious about he his vulnerable to the complications of criminal insanity prosecution. How does one perfectly prosecute criminal insanity, since in a way, all human beings are insane to a small degree? Comic books speak to pedestrianism concerns about criminality 'normalization,' and Batman is the ultimate criminal-insanity crusader. His nemeses, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Penguin, Two-Face, etc., etc., are all paragons of mania and pity-gone-sour. Since America is the land of multi-cultural hysteria, 'insanity' has become a household word --- e.g., "Illegal immigration is making Mr. Trump nuts!" Batman is weird and relentless, and his strange but diabolical nemeses (e.g., Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow) are nothing short of ominous. Watching/reading Batman stories makes me ultra-conscious about the sensitivity associated with criminal insanity in America. Imagine this summer, during the Rio Olympics (in Brazil), a band of calculating but deranged bandits decide to dress up as the Red Hood Gang (another 'set' of Batman's nemeses) and rob the Swiss bank as a statement of anti-globalization. Such an act would not be inconceivable in our world of transit hysteria (e.g., 9/11, NATO, etc.). If such an event were to occur, we could imagine things such as, "Well, if there's a 'real' Red Hood Gang now, maybe there's a 'real' Batman out there...somewhere!" This is both the magic and curse of the art world of Batman (DC Comics), a 'face' of this superhero perhaps nicely presented in the Hollywood (USA) film The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan), in which Batman tackles multiple criminally insane super-villains (Scarecrow, Joker, Two-Face) rising to power while confronting his own demons about human frailty. So this thread is meant to pose the question, "Are we ALL Batman in a way, since we ALL think about criminal insanity in a way?" Does Batman save us, or does our interest in criminal insanity save Batman? Batman may be the most 'humanist' superhero!
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Post by abishai100 on Aug 22, 2016 7:57:35 GMT -5
The Walking WishIt's fun thinking about what kinds of 'normal' human beings can actually don the mantle of the Dark Knight. We know Superman is too strong for an average human to assume his identity, but Batman is a 'normal' wealthy prince who focuses his mental skills and trains himself physically to tackle strange and brutish psychos/villains. Hypothetically, anyone with the *motivation* to consider vigilantism as a serious life-activity could *potentially* be the Dark Knight. So let's suppose this Halloween Eve, a psychopath decides to commit copycat crimes modelled after the violence-glorifying American horror film the Texas Chainsaw Massacre by dressing up as the main antagonist/killer Leatherface and wields a chainsaw against innocent people. If a 'normal' American citizen decides to don a cape and mask and carry handy-dandy mini-weapons (e.g., rope-gun, tear-gas, etc.) in his 'tool-belt,' then he could effectively be a Dark Knight contending with this Leatherface-wannabe. Nevertheless, Batman (DC Comics) is engaging, since he is effective and shrewd, so anyone trying to 'copycat' him would have to exhibit like degrees of excellence in vigilantism. This may be the magic of the Dark Knight --- how it is literally 'sane' to imagine that any old regular walking citizen could simply *become* him (with enough savvy).
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Post by abishai100 on Sept 20, 2016 19:48:41 GMT -5
The DenImagine that an eco-pollution monstrosity (a genetically-deformed waste-radioactive humanoid 'surfing shark' with webbed-hands and an evil mind) named SHARK-MAN is preying on beach-goers in southern California in the summer of 2017 and has people talking about the 'apocalypse.' There seems to be a tangible link between fantastic/apocalypto storytelling and modern-day TV-friendly 'armchair warrior' audiences who remember the simple magic and charm of Adam West's Batman from the 1960s. Can we argue that Batman is pseudo-Christian? The recent television series Lucifer (Fox TV) reveals a new-age interest in connecting vigilantism with general 'species metaphysics.' ========= The Dark Knight realized that a new menace was terrorizing Gotham City's harbors --- Shark-Man (an industrial waste toxicized ocean-shark mutated into a humanoid hellraiser with webbed-hands) --- and Bruce Wayne decided to hire Lucius Fox and his team of military vehicle engineers (through Wayne Enterprises) to design him a special under-water vehicle he could ride in to tackle the unsightly Shark-Man on his own turf. Other teams and navy-men tried to engage the beast by helicopter and boat, but Shark-Man got the better of them very quickly (with his internal rapid-fire acidic-blood shooters) by corroding their vehicles. Batman needed a specially-designed vehicle to do the job, and he was excited to begin but he had no idea that things were as complicated as they turned out to be. Shark-Man was a Grendel-like aberration, and he wanted to rule the Pacific Ocean by the beaches/shores of Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach and Tourmaline Beach and La Jolla, mostly as an eco-omen killjoy. Shark-Man turned the summer of 2017, which was otherwise going to be the 'New Summer of Love,' into a living nightmare with Freddy Krueger himself. The people of southern California were in a frenzy. Bankers packed up shop; businesses closed down; people gathered in camps; survival-euphoria was the 'new religion.' Shark-Man realized he was the new Prince of Poison in the Pond. All he had to do was subvert the growing popularity of Batman who was gaining positive media attention for his role in tackling various inhuman Gotham City 'ghouls' (e.g., the cruel Two-Face and the hypnotic Poison Ivy) as a vigilante. Batman needed a way to calm the people of southern California down and then tackle the beastly Shark-Man, prowling its waters on abandoned surfboards and grinning at his newfound dominion (which certainly gave him plenty of intellectual space to play around without feeling investigated unwarrantedly or even warrantedly). Lucius Fox presented Batman with a dark-blue sonar-invisible liquid-nitrogen-gun equipped submarine named The Bat-Boat. Batman loved it and knew it was the perfect vehicle for tackling the Satanic Shark-Man. Batman headed out to Pacific Beach, where his latest sighting was reported, and confronted the demon and immediately shot its liquid-nitrogen guns at Shark-Man's webbed-hands before they could shoot corrosive acidic-blood. Shark-Man was frozen and hauled off to the Research Institute for the Bio-Transformed. Batman remained a 'celebrity.' =========
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Post by abishai100 on Sept 23, 2016 1:46:28 GMT -5
The Batman/Daredevil GreedHere's a story about vigilantism daydreams as they relate to social justice and social paranoia related traffic problems (e.g., bordertown crime). The point of the story is reveal an 'arrow of creative-writing' in the world of 'civics-themed' comic book storylines. Who exactly is the 'armchair warrior'? Such a question can be investigated with an examination of 'dystopian deformity.' What makes us 'yearn' for superheroes? ==== Batman and Daredevil were in Tijuana, Mexico (North America's most symbolic bordertown), which was plagued by confluence and traffic-related criminality and crime syndicate glories dangerous to the pedestrian securities of travellers and citizens. Batman preferred to tackle crime with a feeling of brooding optimism, while Daredevil preferred to tackle crime with a shrewd sense of Machiavellian derring-do. Batman believed immigration in Tijuana was creating cynicism, and Daredevil believed the narcotics flow through Tijuana was making North America the butt of every illegal and legal immigration joke around the world. Batman and Daredevil successfully unfurled many labyrinths of political and social corruption in Tijuana, and within two years, the news reporters changed their focus from criminality paranoia to traffic bureaucracy idealism. Vigilantism was given a new and positive face by these two super-heroes, and everything was going well in social circles and political rooms until a new and merciless narcotics crimelord named Baron rose to power. Baron was from Columbia and was the illegitimate son of a deposed Tijuana crimelord. Baron came to Tijuana to do one thing only --- destroy Batman and Daredevil. Batman and Daredevil knew Baron was planning something awful (something like terrorism) on Halloween Eve 2016 in Tijuana. The two super-heroes decided to dress up as policemen and carried megaphones and walked through crowds in Tijuana saying through their megaphones, "We will not rest trick-or-treaters until Baron is brought to justice, and Tijuana is once again the gem of bordertown commerce!" Baron read the news reports the next day of two mysterious policemen walking around on Halloween instilling hope about the danger Baron's crime syndicate had created. Baron was sure the two policemen were actually Batman and Daredevil and decided to flee Mexico. Batman and Daredevil tracked Baron to the Himalayas in Nepal where they found his secret mountain-cave fortress. Baron was designing special biochemical weapons (with the Islamic terrorist group ISIS) to use for an invasion into Washington, D.C. on New Year's Eve 2017. Batman and Daredevil sped back to D.C. and started sending in anonymous editorials to the Washington Post with messages such as, "Baron, a narcotics crimelord, has allied himself to ISIS and is planning an invasion of D.C. on New Year's Eve," "Baron will stop at nothing to destroy D.C., and he plans to employ ISIS as his ally in his terrible crusade." The editorials effectively prepared the American government, and Baron's threat subsided, but Batman and Daredevil knew that vigilance would still be required. ====
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Post by abishai100 on Oct 10, 2016 1:15:28 GMT -5
The Love NoteBatman (DC Comics) storyboards focus on the complications involved with prosecuting criminal insanity. Batman has even fall in love with some of his female nemeses --- i.e., Catwoman and Talia al Ghul. So here's a fan-fic about Batman falling in love with his street-punk nemesis Harley Quinn (a psychiatrist-turned-bandit) while tackling his demonic enemies Two-Face (an extremist coin-flipping executioner) and Leatherface (a chainsaw-wielding brute). The point of the story is to highlight why making Batman feel more 'human' complements the over-arching tones in Batman storyboards catering to a civics empathy towards the complicated and frustrating prosecution of criminal insanity. ==== Batman was about to interview his two incarcerated enemies Two-Face and Leatherface at Arkham Asylum. He started thinking about what his nemesis Harley Quinn (still at-large) said to him the night before in a Gotham alley: "You can chase us maniacs, Batman, but remember, you just might start thinking we're 'ordinary'!" Batman looked over his notes and made his way towards Arkham. He was not yet convinced Harley was correct about her insight that criminal insanity breeds confounding kinds of human empathy. TWO-FACE: Why bother with maniacs, Batman? LEATHERFACE: Screech!!! BATMANT: Arkham is a haven. TWO-FACE: You see our faces, and you see the Devil. LEATHERFACE: Hellmouth!!! BATMAN: I also see humanity in pain. TWO-FACE: What you need is a companion! LEATHERFACE: Uh-uh!!! BATMAN: Maybe Leatherface is right. Batman was on the rooftops of Gotham on Halloween Eve after he received an anonymous tip that Harley Quinn was going to be on some rooftop that night with a bazooka to create real 'festival eeriness.' Batman had his night-vision goggles on and revolved his head around in search of the female anarchist when suddenly, Harley Quinn appeared right before him, with a bazooka! He asked her to put the weapon down or he would tranquilize her with his sleeping-darts, and she replied, "OK, Batman! Take me into Arkham (I hear they have great meatloaf), but don't forget to handle me with great care." Harley Quinn was waiting in her cell for Batman. When the brooding Dark Knight arrived, he demanded to know what compelled her to turn from a life of respected psychology research to a life of urban hellraising. Harley Quinn started crying and replied, "I just don't have a caring man to take care of me!" Batman realized she was being eerily sarcastic and wondered if she actually ever did love anyone. Batman asked Harley what it was like serving the demons of urban crime, and she replied, "No one cares about my perspective on pity, Batman!" Batman felt so sorry for her that he promised he would take her somewhere inspiring someday, and she ironically wondered if he wasn't being his usual Rasputin nerdy self. ====
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Post by abishai100 on Feb 21, 2020 6:06:30 GMT -5
The Ugly TruthSince comics have become much more graphic in recent years, there seems to be a new aesthetic appeal catering to an artistic interest in very realistic crime storytelling! What will this mean for Gotham traffic...and tragedy?====Harley Quinn had escaped from Arkham Asylum, which had truly unnerved Batman, who honestly began to believe she was earnestly trying to evaluate her own psychological demons and remember a past when she was a much more sentimental woman of medicine! However, Harley Quinn's new turn in life was now even more disarming. She and her usual dark-hubby the Joker had gone on a mad Valentine's Day axe-killing spree that culminated in the terrible murder of over 10 policemen of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD).
Batman found the two evil lovebirds standing over a cop-car with a decapitated cop sitting inside the car like a bloody rag doll. Batman now knew that any attempt to entreat Harley Quinn's female side of humanity or sensitivity would only reveal the Gotham villainness' total commitment to the dark side of the psyche. In other words, she belonged to the twisted Joker, and Batman laid to rest any inner desire to entreat notions of chivalry or gallant behavior towards his most eccentric and perhaps tragic female nemesis.
BATMAN: I guess I'll never be your Valentine! HARLEY: No, I belong to the Devil...I mean, the Joker. BATMAN: What happened to the idea of brooding on romance? HARLEY: It ended with our Cupid-Axe adventure, B-Man! BATMAN: You and your Joker nearly destroyed Gotham night. HARLEY: We're in it for the masquerade! BATMAN: I actually hoped you'd become a penitent woman. HARLEY: Nah, I'm an iconic Arkham nutshell. BATMAN: I think in the next life, we'll be strangers.
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Post by abishai100 on Mar 7, 2020 23:50:07 GMT -5
Mad as a Hatter!What makes the Gotham villain Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) so darn unusual and yet so completely entertaining is his penchant for urban social sarcasm. It's no wonder Jervis is inspired by a logic trickster from a Lewis Carroll novel. We get the feeling that Batman's everyday job is to choreograph psychiatry with morality vitamins. Does that make Batman a Sherlock Holmes or a George Michael?
You decide...
==== Batman, the dark knight of Gotham City tracked down the insidious Jervis Tetch (aka, 'Mad Hatter') to a warehouse lair where the maniacal ghoul was sitting on a large throne-chair and playing with a tea-set with tiny print-portraits of his 'darling' gal Alice. Jervis had obtained his 'Mad Hatter' criminal alias from the iconic Lewis Carroll insane-logic jester character who loved throwing tea parties while confusing his guests! Jervis recruited a good-looking young woman named Alice and treated her like she was the very-same 'Alice' from the Lewis Carroll story, a precocious young woman whose curiosity might lead her either towards delight or towards confusion. Alice had become not only Jervis Tetch's twisted playmate and girlfriend but also the object of his criminal pride, taking her along on his trips to hell. Batman arrested Jervis (Mad Hatter) and Alice and hauled them off to Arkham Asylum where he could interrogate Jervis! BATMAN: You belong in Arkham, Tetch. HATTER: To each his own, Batman! BATMAN: You simply corrupted that poor girl, Alice. HATTER: She's mine... BATMAN: What were you thinking? HATTER: Why should I tell you, Batman? BATMAN: I can advise the Arkham doctors to treat you like a patient. HATTER: I have no patience for this. BATMAN: You have no choice but to try and comply! HATTER: You're worried about my style of crime. BATMAN: You and Alice killed cops and kept souvenirs! HATTER: Alice is quiet; I kept trophies of our adventure. BATMAN: Murder isn't an adventure, Mad Hatter! HATTER: Why then do we laud war-chiefs who have authority to kill millions? BATMAN: Are you referring to military use of nuclear weapons? HATTER: Are my hatchets and axes any more inhumane? BATMAN: Death is reality, but anarchy is immature. HATTER: Then you find me and Alice juvenile. BATMAN: You're a by-product of social chaos, Tetch. HATTER: If the doctors in Arkham are good, they'll treat my alienation. BATMAN: Treatment for you will be a Gotham City ballad! ==== {Mad Hatter, Batman, Alice}
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Post by abishai100 on Mar 18, 2020 17:48:30 GMT -5
Arkham Asylum: Faces of PityThe atmosphere of Arkham Asylum, where the nemeses of Batman go to be incarcerated and perhaps find some peace within the contours of severe contemplation of the darkness of their hideous crimes, is one of isolation and temperature control. The various rogues who've been incarcerated there, including Scarecrow, Penguin, and Talia al Ghul (who eventually weds Batman and has a son with him who grows to become a new Robin!), represent something odd but colored about Gotham City --- the perceptibility of complete moral hygiene! That's what makes Arkham Asylum a symbol of DC Comics' commitment to human imagination. We might therefore wonder if Batman is a figure of complete psychological yearning, and if so, we might ask if Batman toys, marketed to our kids today, illuminate something special about human redemption!==== SCARECROW: We pity people if they can help us profit. PENGUIN: Pity is the urban veil of sweet regret, but it makes us soft. BANE: I only pity men when it's too complex to fear them. CATWOMAN: Pity is a chamber of horror in Gotham City. After Batman recorded these testimonials from Arkham, he decided to ask Wayne Industries to market a line of youth-friendly Batman action-figures for Christmas, so kids could appreciate why modern crime-fighting has become a thing of wondrous meditation...and ingenuity! After all, the rogues of Gotham and nemeses of Batman (men and women) would consider why fighting the 'dark knight' required a certain daring regarding the willingness to use imagination to make darkness seem 'playful' and accessible, which is why the 'accessible Batman' would be a superhero of youthful proportions. It required innocence to fight madness! The inmates of Arkham may seem other-worldly but in fact are actually and simply 'faces' of poisoned passion. So, Wayne Industries (and Bruce Wayne!) agreed to help market Batman action-figures to kids in Gotham City for Christmas and perhaps make the 'dark knight' a figure of psychological pity. Would this create deeper forms of empathy within the halls of Arkham Asylum? Maybe the trick to living in Gotham was the ability to translate horror into distress! ====
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Post by abishai100 on Apr 1, 2020 22:43:25 GMT -5
Harley and Bane: CitylineA good fan of Batman comics must appreciate the dark knight's interest in tackling the two super-villains Harley Quinn and Bane who represent modern urban psyche, for it's the fascination with social order that sets apart the 'everyday Batman' as a civil servant of American dementia. We're all eager to see a future Batman movie featuring Harley and Bane, right?==== "Batman, the dark knight of Gotham City, peered out into the rain under dim moonlight and thought about the two nemeses in the city who were most symbolic of urban madness. No, it wasn't the eerie Scarecrow or the scheming Penguin or the eco-terrorist Poison Ivy or the bandit tribe known as the Red Hood Gang. No, all these Gotham super-villains were merely 'Roman agents' in a modern arena of unsightly criminality. No, Batman, the dark knight of Gotham City, thought about the two super-villains Harley Quinn and Bane. Harley Quinn, the slinky clown-costumed hammer-wielding super-psycho, was often tied to Batman's maniacal nemesis the Joker. Harley Quinn lured people into the alleys of hell in Gotham so they'd get a fresh taste of the scale of urban nihilism. She was the tragic but perfect emissary of sensory insanity and drove Batman nearly crazy by insisting he meditate on the perceptible lust attached shockingly to the gross anatomy of criminal violence! Then there was Bane, a chemically pumped brute who could tackle and destroy an entire station of policemen just with his bare bear hands and his relentless willingness to use his body as an entire beast. Batman really had to buckle down to handle Bane, employing years of fight and street combat training. When Batman wasn't squaring off against the imagination of Harley Quinn, trying to placate her dark sensual violence by subduing her mischievous curiosity to link affection with pride, he was getting heated and energized to quell the very beast-like rage of the brutish Bane. It was Harley Quinn and Bane who compelled the dark knight of Gotham, Batman, to unravel the inner-gears of urban monstrosity to find the deep center of intuitive reason! It was Harley and Bane that compelled Batman to find the mystical value of urban institutions such as City Hall and Gotham Library so that American citizens felt they'd endure any brand of mob riot. Batman had to be the ideal 'servant' of industry." ==== HARLEY & BANE
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