[ SECRET POST #2962 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2962 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Final Fantasy IX]


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03.
[Gaia Online]


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04.
(Guardians of the Galaxy)


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05.
[Batman: Arkham City]


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06.
(Ming Na Wen)


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07.
[Terry Pratchett]


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08.
[The Fall]


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09.
[Markiplier's Youtube Let's Plays]


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10.
(Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy)













Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 014 secrets from Secret Submission Post #422.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

He just never WORKS to get over it. He steeps and dwells in it and it's used as an excuse for being an asshole to people (one of the reasons I didn't like him in the Justice League cartoons). In Nolan's trilogy he only magically got over it at the very end, but the whole "becoming a recluse" thing was freaking annoying.

[(Anonymous)]

I would argue that has more to do with the nature of comic book characters than with the fact that he's a man? For two reasons, really. First, any change in comic books can only be temporary, because the next guy is only going to change it to something else. Second, characters have certain distinctive characteristics that people associate with them that they're going to keep returning to. And I think one of Batman's characteristics is that he's angsty. So, like, there are probably times he's worked to get over it (I don't have the encyclopedic knowledge of Batman continuity that EG Dethtoll has) but it's just going to go back to it because that's who Batman is.

And, hey, that's a reasonable reason to dislike a character, because he's too angsty.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I don't mean manpain in the sense that he's a man. And I completely agree that it's due to the nature of the comic books a whole lot.

What I mean by manpain (women can also suffer from manpain) is a form of dark, brooding angst that a character not only doesn't get over but never takes any steps towards TRYING to get over it -- no therapy, isolates themselves, etc. And, most importantly, this "pain" is used as an excuse for why they're an asshole.

Batman frustrates me because he's not only one of the most Mary Sueish characters I've ever seen, but because his story plays up his trauma as an excuse to do unkind (or even horrible) things all the while he never even TRIES to move past it.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, that's fair, and it seems like a correct observation about Batman.

I still think manpain is a stupid name for that thing, though.

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's described as 'manpain' as it's meant to do the stereotype of the "stoic, brooding, dwelling man" but taken to the extreme such as with batman.

[(Anonymous)]

This is so accurate, IA.

I wish they'd stop writing the character this way, because honestly - I LOVE the setting of Gotham city, I love all the villians, but Batman is getting to be tiring. Surely there's more than one way to write a character that isn't harking back to the 90s era of grim and gritty angst and brooding.

IDK, am I just being stupid to expect superheroes to be a bit more heroic and mature at times?

[(Anonymous)]

Seriously? Check your decade. 90s-era Batman was Joel Schumacher's candy coated neon Gotham (now with Batnips). Farthest from dark and gritty you can get short of the Adam West series.

(OK there was also BTAS which made its mark but didnt erase those movies.)

[dethtoll]

You're both right. Sort of. In the comis, 90s-era Batman was a grim-and-gritty sort that devolved into self-parody at various times (Knightfall, anyone?) due to Frank Miller's influence but also saw some of his biggest character development, as well as the beginning of Grant Morrison's nigh-omniscient Batgod take before it got tiresome.

In the movies, Batman was Neon Nipples.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you! Yes, I was referring to the comics. God, Knightfall, why.

The movies are a whole other kettle of fish...

[othellia]

Technically, BTAS came out before the Joel Schemacher films though, so "erase" probably isn't the best word. And of course first five years of the 90s were still dominated by the Burton films which BTAS was based on... Of course, despite their aesthetic, they weren't very manpain-y either, so... yeah.

[dethtoll]

Scott Snyder's run on Batman has been the best since Alan Grant IMO.

[dethtoll]

Actually in the comics Bruce can and does change and grow as a character. It's a process that takes years, both realtime and in comic time, but by the time the New 52 hit he's come a long way from the gruff loner of the post-Frank Miller era to a man who is capable of accepting help and truly cares about his extended "family." While New 52 walked that back some, he's still got an extended cadre of people he cares about aiding him in his war on crime, though he can and does make mistakes.

Part of the problem is a lot of writers simply don't seem to care about any of that and revert him back to Frank Miller's take.

[chrys]

I'm a big newbie to Batman comics, but even so, I think what's discussed in this thread is more accurate of him in other media than in comics. He angsts, sure, but he's also caring, trying to look forward and sometimes funny.

[dethtoll]

BTAS Batman is my favourite non-comics take on the character by far. It's why Dick Grayson taking up the cowl after Final Crisis was IMO a brilliant move; personality-wise he was very much like BTAS Batman -- a badass, but warm and more casual in how he talks.

[chrys]

I really need to rewatch BTAS. I only watched it all out of order as a kid so I don't remember it well. And I can't wait to read Dick as Batman - it sounds so great. If only I didn't have so much work so I could read more comics...

[intrigueing]

This. The slow evolution of the 'Batfamily' is one of the best parts of Batman's character development.

[lb_lee]

What really bothers me about Batman is, not only does he never try, HE CAN'T. And I don't mean that on a character level either, I mean the framework of the comics he's in pretty much means he's NEVER going to be able to deal with it. Because then he'd actually get a life and calm the fuck down and become a lot less interesting for readers, and DC can't risk one of its big cash cows on a big personal change like that.

It's honestly why I can't really enjoy a LOT of the big stars of the Big Two. Because I know any development they make is limited. At least the D-listers, nobody cares enough about to stick them in the same place forever. (See: Guy Gardner, who's gone from sweater-wearing nice guy, to brain-damaged jingoistic asshole, to brain-healed asshole, to dark horse recovering asshole.)

--Rogan

[(Anonymous)]

Well... sometimes.

At his best, the trauma of his childhood is portrayed as a time of helplessness, powerlessness and loss that actually makes him more empathetic toward people. As the woman at my local comic shop once said, Superman saves strangers because he's a good man and it's the right thing to do. Batman does it because he doesn't want other people to suffer what he did.

'Course, then there's versions of him like in that game...