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That's the whole Bat-Truth, though, isn't it, Tom?
The very key to the character's longevity is his adaptability. There's this arch-rockist mindset that Miller-Bat is "Batman done right", but that's a complete load of bullshit. If Batman hadn't fought giant orange koalas from the Ninth Dimension in the 50s, and veered towards true romance under Carmine Infantino in the 60s, he would have gone the way of...um, nearly every other superhero who was around in 1951.
And even Miller's Batman, for all his snarling masculinity, has moments of High Camp. Especially in The Dark Knight Returns--Year One was basically Taxi Driver in tights--and, fuck, what was The Dark Knight Strikes Again if not a stunning failure to reconcile Adam West with, um, moody-Bats?
Christopher Nolan is crime thriller director, so he's made THAT kind of Batman movie. There's no reason why someone couldn't make a wonderful Bat-Farce.
― Huk-L, Tuesday, 7 June 2005 13:49 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm fine with BroodyBats as a character who other, more rounded characters react to (as in Gotham Central) but as the focus of a story he gets on my nerves.
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 14:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Yeah, there's nowhere to go characterwise, with that, unless you actually allow Batman to deal with some of his issues, and if he could deal with his issues, he wouldn't be Batman, so it's a no-win situation if you wanna do character work with Batman.
― Huk-L, Tuesday, 7 June 2005 14:06 (nineteen years ago) link
Christian Bale backs me up here (not really):
Actor Christian Bale showed off his comics prowess at Sci Fi Wire, saying ""I liked the artwork of Alex Ross, but my favorites were the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale stories. I've read a damn lot of them, all that DC sent me. I don't feel like Batman's ever really been defined in any portrayal, so I felt like this was an opportunity to finally do that, in regards to way that Bob Kane originally intended it when he wrote it in 1939. He intended it as being a dark and terrifying and intimidating character. It's kind of ended up being spoofed more. And then there's great material in the newer graphic novels of Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. So the source material is right there, and I just don't think it was ever taken advantage of until now. With 'Superman,' you can really look at Christopher Reeve and the way that he played it, and he's become the defining Superman. Whoever's playing him in the next one has got a really tough job to come up against him. I don't feel like that ever happened with 'Batman' before, so I felt like I had an opportunity to expand and bring something new to it."
― Huk-L, Tuesday, 7 June 2005 14:20 (nineteen years ago) link