holy smokes batman... why?

the life and times in gotham city

Batman is my favorite superhero of all times. Right from the time I saw the adam west series with him faking a climb up a wall too evidently horisontal with the lady sticking her head out of the window too far to be real waving at him and the bang! pow! kapow! with the show tune, the colorful robin and the slightly bulging belly in a slightly too purple costume. Loved batman thru the animated series, thru the dark Tim Burton movies with the unconvincing Michael Keaton (who I only remember for multiplicity), the suggestive Joel Schumacher movies of the supposedly PG Batman with a very unsuitable Batman and an even weirder set of neon lit villians. I admired the dark knight thru the days of hush, Batman begins right up to now... with the miller/lee/williams masterpiece of Batman&Robin all stars... You want to know why? Because he is one of us. A man. An average joe super rich kid. But he deals with his life. happy or not, he soldiers on. Doesn't try to alter the balance of the universe thru time travel or setting up a dark dimension like superman or crib about how tough the life of a super hero is like Spiderman. He is not an alcoholic like Ironman. He doesn't have anger issues like wolverine. He helps when he's Batman he helps when he's Bruce Wayne. In my books, hes the only super hero there is. Him the robins and Barbara Gordons angels. The only non powered supers there ever were . Fighting with all they have to give, holding nothing back. If you are powered you are privileged. Its an unfair fight if you got heat vision and your nemesis is armed with no hair.

So what bothers me so much about him? This. Gotham city was Gotham city before Batman. Gotham city is Gotham city after Batman. nothing changed. They had the mafia, they have the mafia, they had the joker they will continue to have the joker (heath ledger, god bless his soul) two face was a good guy gone bad. bane in one series (battle for the cowl) plays a bad guy gone good and so on. gotham city with bats waxes and wanes from shit soup to shit storm all the time.... so my problem is why does he do it then? if he barely manages to make a difference to a city hell bent on not doing anything for itself, why is he really my hero?

like the gita says; "Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani" (which roughly translates into "your duty is towards action,but you are not entitled to the results they bare. Never consider yourself the cause of the results,and never be tempted to not doing your duty.") this is Batman's credo. he works towards a goal not for it. He's not an idealist like Superman. he calculates. the closest result to the path of minimum destruction is the one he takes. not dealing in absolutes but in reality can be quiet tasking to the gods. But he is relentless. when the city is unwilling, the world hates him, his best friend (superman for the most part) has difficulty understanding his ways. His childhood friend is hell bent on killing him, he still decides to go on unmoved and unshaken from his goal. he is a righteous energizer bunny. a man hell bent on making hell a better place. he fails, he falls but he rises up again. he is a man but he can move gods. he survived a battle with the Darkseid and won. only because the master of chaos knew that the worlds greatest detective has the steel in him to do what it takes to get the job done. he knows nothings perfect, not him not his ways, but he does what he can. trust no one, but give everyone a chance. there are no absolutes with him. all rules have exceptions. improvise. adapt. but never back down. he works on better tech for the world, he works on poisons, antidotes and medicines with equal sincerity. he wont lose sleep if there ever is no need for batman anymore. always preventing, always progressing. my god. my guardian. my hero.

(i wrote this as a piece for an online magazine run by a friend. its mediocre and childish i know but then so am i :) anyways, i figure this counts as post of the day. more to come. karthik out!)