Random Quasi-Related Thoughts GO!

My Top Five Favorite Batman Artists:
5. Jim Aparo
4. Neal Adams
3. Bruce Timm
2. Dick Sprang
1. David Mazzuchelli

In other news, we had open house at school last night. Two sets of parents told me that their kids were saying good things about Creative Reading class, which is good to know. They generally don't risk saying anything positive in front of their peers.

They are now writing essays about Batman Year One, specifically about Jim Gordon. I was going to let them choose a character to focus on, but I realized that Gordon is really the only one with a character arc. He's miserable at the beginning, he screws up a lot in the middle, and he's better off at the end. The assignment is to write a six paragraph essay that tracks how Gordon grows and changes through the four chapters. Some of them are doing a great job, and have already made good progress; some of them are not taking the assignment seriously, and have done very little, and apparently don't realize how close the end of the quarter is. Hopefully they'll figure that out tomorrow.

There was a period of time when I grew sick of Batman and couldn't stand the character, until those five fellows I listed at the top, and Christopher Nolan, reignited my interest. I still like the character, and I have a great deal of love for Year One, but I'm kind of Batmanned out at this point. I'm looking forward to moving on to Persepolis.

"If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?"

The students have been doing a lot of handouts lately so I wanted to mix it up and show them a movie. The animated movie of Batman Year One is coming out October 18th. It is not, however, out today, so we started watching Batman Begins. You know, this one:

The students are watching it and taking notes on how it is similar to and different from Batman Year One. Batman Begins is not an adaptation of Year One, but it does steal various concepts, characters, and themes from the book. Corrupt cop Flass and mob boss Falcone are in the movie, for instance, and so is the SWAT-team-coming-after-Batman scene. The James Gordon in the movie is similar to the one in the book, though the movie version has been in Gotham for years, instead of just transferring in from Chicago the same day Bruce Wayne returns. And while the book starts off with Bruce returning from his travels abroad and never gives even a flashback to show where he's been, the movie spends a great deal of time on his training.

But you don't have to do this assignment, so I'll stop giving you the answers. Batman Begins is a fun movie and I think they'll enjoy it. Also important, playing a movie is something easy for the sub to do. That's right, I will be going out of town tomorrow, so my class will be in the hands of a stranger. I hope everything goes well.

Someday I Will Write a Blog Post That Is Not about Batman

Now that we've read all of Batman Year One, we're looking at the relationships in the book and how they develop over time. Tracking, for instance, how James and Barbara Gordon's marriage changes, and how Batman and Gordon's respect evolves, and so on.

This is going to be a short blog post, due to child care reasons.

I would like to add, though, that I liked the change the filmmakers made in Batman Begins, where Joe Chill, the guy who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, is caught and tried and, most importantly, murdered right in front of Bruce. Unable to get revenge on his parents' killer, Bruce Wayne has to come up with a new goal, so he travels the world training to become the ultimate crimefighter.

I just heard that DC is planning on changing the Official Batman Backstory (which changes every week or so) back to its Frank Miller setting, wherein Bruce never knew the name of the guy who killed his parents, and the guy was never caught. That seems like a step backwards to me.

But I don't have time to develop that thought . . .child care duty calls. Have a great day!

"I tried to avoid all this but I can't."

One side-effect of teaching Batman Year One every day this week is that I've pretty much constantly had this song stuck in my head:



Back in 1989 we said things like, "The campy old Adam West Batman is lame! This new Tim Burton Batman movie is dark and serious!" And we watched this Prince video, and apparently did not notice how completely ridiculous it is. But maybe all the music videos in 1989 were like that; I haven't really watched any of them recently.

More importantly, in 1989 Batman was popular enough that Batman Year One was offered through my mother's book club, and she ordered me a copy. That copy is now in a pile in my classroom, contributing to the education of America's youth.

No new assignments today; I gave the students time to finish up their Batman comparison, and any of the Year One handouts they may not have finished.

Next week: Chapter 3! The one where Batman has to fight the SWAT team and escape from the condemned building. Remember? They stole that scene in a couple of the movies.

"Said the Rolls is in the river. Even told me which pier."

Last week I mentioned that maybe it had been a bad idea to assign the kids to read the surreal wordless story "Frank and the Truth About Plenitude." In retrospect I'm glad I did, because I think struggling through that has made them appreciate Batman Year One more. As a class we're still on chapter 2, but a number of students are reading ahead, which is always nice. A few of them have said, "I actually like this," with shock in their voice.

One of my fellow teachers buys all the Batman comics that come out each month (which is a lot of comics) but doesn't keep them. He donated a pile of 3-4 months worth of Batman to my class. Today I had each student choose a modern Batman comic (options included Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, Batman Incorporated, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batgirl, and so on), look it over, and write a comparison between that comic and Batman Year One. In particular I wanted them to compare and contrast the art and writing styles. Some of the students were intrigued by the modern comics, though I think the general consensus was that Year One is better.   

(Which is correct.)

I Have Regrets

Yesterday I was out of town for a family commitment and so, unfortunately, I missed the Cincinnati Comic Expo. It would have been nice to see the fine folks of Arcadian Comics and Games as well as celebrated comic book power couple Chris and Xan Sprouse. Chris Sprouse is a talented artist with a clean-lined art style and a heckuva nice guy.

Here's a picture of him with his shirt off:

Sorry, actually that's Batman with his shirt off, drawn by Chris Sprouse. I am pretty sure Chris also has a utility belt, however.

In other bad news, I feel constantly tired no matter how much sleep I get, which implies that I am coming down with something, which is extra frustrating because I was sick two weeks ago and was gradually getting better. I don't really remember what it is to feel energetic, though my daughter certainly does.

I should probably focus on the positive. It was good to see my family yesterday. By not going to the comics expo this weekend, I saved money. And in a few hours I will be going to bed.

My Secret Origin

When I was in first grade I got my first comic book, an Archie Christian comic, which I enjoyed at the time even though it was completely terrible. This tells me that I was predisposed to like comics no matter what. Soon after I got my first super-hero comic, Batman #340. There’s nothing special about this comic, but, you know, it’s Batman. What impressionable child doesn’t love Batman?

Later that year my family went to Philadelphia so my father could attend a library convention. Every night we would go to the 7-11, and my parents would buy me one comic book (they were only 60 cents each). I can remember which ones I got--an Archie, an issue of The Defenders, and an issue of Marvel Team-Up that featured Spider-Man and the Human Torch fighting Speed Demon. Those comics are vivid in my memory, much clearer to me than any other part of my first grade year.

I tagged along with my parents or my grandmother on every trip to Food Fair, or Begley's Drugs, or the gas station, then begged whoever I was with to buy me a comic book. I built up quite a collection, for someone with no disposable income. My great aunt thought the comic books were silly, a waste of time. Fortunately for me, my mother did not share this opinion. She believed that comics promoted literacy. And they do. Comic books teach you that reading is fun. They feed your imagination. They even provide SAT prep, by teaching you vocabulary words like "omnipotent" and "inexorable." 

In retrospect, I am amazed by how much my parents encouraged me to read whatever I wanted. I mentioned earlier that in Philadelphia I got an issue of The Defenders. That issue focused on a character called Hellcat, who had learned that she was the daughter of Satan. The story consisted of her traveling through Hell, talking to her father.  I remember lying on the hotel floor, trying to puzzle this out—I was only six, remember. I asked, "What does S-A-T-A-N spell?" Without pausing my mother said, "Satan." Growing up in the Bible Belt, I would come to know plenty of kids whose parents forbade them to read certain books, or play certain games, or watch certain movies, because of imagined demonic overtones. This was the 80’s, when televangelists could find pagan symbolism in My Little Pony cartoons. But I, at age six, could read a story that actually featured Satan as a character, and my parents didn't freak out. I will always be grateful for that.