Just finished reading up Frank Miller’s take on the Dark Knight when he is an old fogey. And I must say that I was impressed. It had a really gritty story that involved the further decay of Gotham as Bruce Wayne is pushing fifty and has long since retired Batman. The story featured classic villains like Harvey Dent (Two Face) and The Joker. Moreover, the story introduced a new Robin (a girl!), and - for the fun of it - included Selina Kyle (Catwoman) and Superman.
The story was absolutely fantastic, as it depicted the slow destruction of Gotham City, and an inevitable conflict between Batman and Superman (due to their varying methods of “upholding justice”). All in all, I was terribly impressed, and because of reading this story, I am now feeling the surge of interest that I got from comic books in the days of old.
Yes, those were better times. When I first inherited an old and musty stack of Uncanny X-Men comics from my cousins. And later, as I frequented the Book Vault to pick up issues of Spiderman so that I could collect the entirety of the Maximum Carnage series. I also bought the first issue of “The Green Goblin”, which was - unfortunately - discontinued. Now, I’m on a quest for the following:
Batman: Year One Batman: Year Two Batman: The Killing Joke Kingdom Come Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 - 7
Go Comics. I’ve seen most of these at the Book Vault, so I’m going to pick them up when I can spare the time and money. I’ll most likely start with Spider-Man, since I’ve already gotten a bit of my Batman fix for now.
After all, Batman and Spider-Man are the greatest superheroes. I find it interesting that they are among the few in their respective universes who do not regularly receive public approval. Batman is often hated by the people of Gotham, and Spider-Man is constantly hated by the people of New York. On the other hand, people like Superman and Wonder Woman are seen as symbols of patriotism and democracy, while teams like The Avengers receive government support.
Another thing I admire about Batman is the fact that he doesn’t really have powers. He fights for what’s right and he does it with the physical powers that any of us could have (although, I admit, he has a lot of gadgets that regular people don’t). Spider-Man, while possessing super powers, has the misforture of working alone AND he is constantly enslaved by his conscience.
Drat. Supper. End Post.