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Friday, May 27, 2011

Gotham is the most city in Comics.

    DC here,
    I wanted to talk about something very important to me, Gotham and the DC universe. Specifically, WHY Gotham is so important to the success to of the DC universe. This could easily turn into a pissing contest between DC and Marvel nerds, but I will attempt to stay away from the Marvel side of the tracks in order to keep fanboy tears to a minimum(that's a later, less important, blog).
The most stubborn hero in comics, given a weapon powered by will power. Marvel loses.
    DC is drastically more complicated than Gotham, but it's influence can't be overstated.  As a life-long Batman fan, I've never really taken the time to explore the rest of the DC universe.  Until 2005, I'd never even read another title (I flipped through an X-Men when I was younger, but never really read it).  It was reading the other DC titles that I found another world, a fantasy world of which I'd been blissfully unaware.
    Gotham's success can be attributed to a simple formula: Slightly Exaggerated Realism + Realistic Characters = Awesome.
DC fans understand the true tragedy of this scene... and the birth of Oracle.

    Now, I'm not saying that everything is realistic nor plausible, but the characters are REAL. They are 3-dimensional. They are deep. They love. They hate. They remember. They grow closer over even a single story-arc. Their lives fall apart around them as they maintain the petty grievances that motivate them. The villains' psychiatric short-comings are easily identified and follow real-world cycles/triggers.  The world is realistic, populated by real people.  That is Gotham.
DC fans know that real people are brutally murdered by the villains.
    Who doesn't sympathize with the unfortunate Psychiatric Intern who fell in love with her patient? The young businessman seeking revenge for his fallen parents? The timid latchkey child who grew into a criminal mastermind living behind his ventriloquist dummy?  Even the chaos-driven, homicidal killer clown? We love the Gotham populace in a way we can't relate to with the denizens of Seattle, Metropolis, or Denver.  Who has ever worshiped Lex Luthor even remotely close to the way we idolize The Joker? Who among us cared about Sinestro and his personal life like we did Harley Quinn and hers?  Who among us doesn't understand that Bruce Wayne is the facade to Batman?  Bob Kane and Bill Finger created another world, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster wrote a story.
DC fans know how tragic this love story is.

    No disrespect intended to Superman and the world of Metropolis, but the Batman Family and the Rogues Gallery are on a higher level.  For future insights on individual Gotham characters, be sure to follow the blog (click 'follow' on the right), or follow us on Twitter!

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