The Last Son of Krypton VS The Dark Knight of Gotham

The Last Son of Krypton VS The Dark Knight of Gotham

Ask anyone about superhero, what's the answer you will get? Most likely Superman. Superman being the first superhero that has create a whole new genre in comic book industry as well as in electronic media.

Ask anyone to name a few superheros, other than Superman, you may get Spiderman, Batman and Hulk etc. Among this few superheros, which is the oddball? It's the Bat. Reason, nothing super about him. Here I define super as anything that none of the human being in this world can or possible to achieve. Supe have super human strength and can fly on earth. He can even BBQ you chicken wing with his eyes. Spidey can climb on wall and have spider-sense, and a bad boss. Hulk is like a modern Jekyll and Hyde, and green with super flexible trousers. All these none of the people here can do. But there is a possibility for a real life Batman.

What is super about Batman? Super intelligent, super rich and super resourceful. Any billionaire with several years of training on almost all discipline ever exist can be a Batman. Difference is few has the trauma Bruce Wayne ever has.

A lot of people like Superman, I like him as well, but I love Batman. He to me is more real, more humane. The Big Blue is but a too perfect boy scout. He is the kind of person that when he recite a moral code he is practicing and expect the people of Earth to follow suit, he actually mean it and we actually feel OK he speak of it that sincerely. If a fellow earthling talking about uphold the justice and serve the humankind, we all get goosebumps cause we know it is fake and we really feel like lynching that guy.

Superman, really super, out of the world. We do enjoy reading or watching him save the day and battling not so interesting villains (except for Lex Luthor and Brainiac), there's really not much to look into. Therefore, even I know there is a whole arc of story about the death and resurrection of Superman in the late 80s, and the complication comic book priced rather cheap, I don't bother myself to buy and read them (for the time being). My rational is, if I want to read some nice fighting comic, there is always Dragonball. No one can make fighting comic as cost efficient, as engaging and cinematic as Japanese mangaka.

Batman is different. He has a background we can identify or at least has the empathy. We know or read a lot about people lost their parents in accident, in crime, in disaster, but how often we heard about people being the last of its kind from his exploded planet?

We understand the motivation of Bruce Wayne. In fact what he do is exactly what we imagine we will do if we are as rich. How many time have we swear that "If I am filthy rich, I will so and so and so..." when we stumble upon obstacle or tragedy?

Batman is dark, and somehow people interested in dark character. People like Hannibal Lecter more than Forrest Gump, Darth Vader has more fans than whinnier Luke Skywalker. In Batman we can see all possibility that may fall on us, doubt, fallen, restless, guilt, fear, loneliness etc. Negative emotion has more obvious effect and memorable, thus when we read about the dark mind of the Dark Knight, it reminds us that we are only human.

Sometime I think Batman comic is a bit Zen like. We know the obvious solution for Bruce Wayne's personal problem is to let go. But he can never do that, because he is too much attached to the world around him. Just like most of us, we can never let go most of the time. Reason being, we afraid to lose what e already have to venture into a realm that has too many variables. Despite how bad situation is we stay, because it is better to have a bad one, than to have none.

Just read online that Bruce Wayne no longer Batman, and Batman is dead in the 6th issue of Final Crisis. I do not know if this is another of DC's stunt / scam like the 80's Superman's death and Batman back bone being broken. But if you ask me, I will rather have Superman dies for good, but still, what can be more human than being finite? Maybe someday Bruce Wayne should really die.