Hello. Recently @Inkarnate has opened a thread to extrapolate on various musical constructs amongst Guildmates. Though I don't know if there are many fans of actual comic books on this forum relatively speaking, I do know that there are in absolute terms.

As for what this thread is meant to discuss: Comic books of course. By that I mean that I hope we can have stimulating examinations of a various works creative process, production, reception, legacy and adaptations, to a certain extent. Superhero fans who have not read comic books are welcome to participate in the discussions so long as they bear in mind that enjoying derivative works are not the same thing as reading a comic book.

I also welcome examinations of various characters, fan theories, speculation for the future and personal appraisals of a given concepts or pieces merit, along with giving attention to less mainstream publishers/works. I would prefer that we avoid short, stream of thought posts that are too brief to communicate effectively. Try not to be redundant. And have fun. Rants are welcome, bigotry and feeble-mindedness are not.

So, here's the thing about my relationship with comic books, the first comic series I really read was Ultimate Spider-Man, which I started on with Volume 15 because I stumbled upon it at my library. Before that, I had spent my elementary school days on Wikipedia reading about Batman and Spider-Man. My first individual comic that I personally owned was a Looney Tunes comic, but the first one I picked up was Snyder/Tynion's Batman Annual 1. Afterward, I took all thirty of my dollars, being a thirteen year old, and paid for a year long subscription to Batman directly on DC's website. None of my issues ever arrived.

So I didn't really keep up reading Batman. I just read news articles and Wikipedia, trying to keep everything straight. But about a month ago, I set out to binge read Scott Snyder's entire 56 issue Batman run using my local library and the Internet.

It. Was. Epic.

Snyder dedicated his run to telling us what Gotham is. It's the very first topic that he addresses with the dark knight's opening soliloquy before Batman confuses the better part of his rogues gallery by beating them to a pulp with the assistance the clown prince of crime. There were several threads introduced in the debut issue that I wish had been returned to, like Dick Grayson's disguise or whatever had caused all of the city's supervillains to team up like The Justice League of Arkham.

Nonetheless, every single issue felt fresh and exciting. The creative team never missed a beat. Snyder's Batman packed as many surprises as Morrison's, but Snyder's Batman manager to cheat death again and again without every making me feel like he was a walking Deus Ex Machina magnet. Batman lost a fair amount of fights, even on his home turf. He was a man who could fight the Justice League and win, but he was also a man who made mistakes, both as a man and as a bat-god.

The post-crisis Batman had a quote that communicated having had five back up plans for any given operation, and five contingencies for each of those. The New 52's Batman is not so infallible. He's caught off guard on the regular, hanging on to dear life by the skin of his teeth. The Court of Owls mops the floor with The Batman. So does the Joker. The Riddler totally outsmarts him. Dr. Death nearly kills him. And Mr. Bloom...

Ironically, the series does not climax at Endgame, where the Joker's gloves come off and he finally kills the Batman. The series climaxes with Suoerheavy--Snyder's answer to the death of Superman. Batman dies before healing up physically and mentally (losing his formative trauma). Jim Gordon is legally christened as the new law-abiding Batman. Mr. Bloom turns Gotham into a cannibalistic warzone. And Bruce Wayne traumatizes himself again so that he can save the day.

It made my cry. When I read him surrendering the life that he wanted so that he can carry the suffering for everyone else, I was touched and remembered exactly what I love about Batman. Giving up your peace of mind so that you can act as a human shield. I wanted to scream it with him: "I won't give up again!"

As for characters he made

• Duke Thomas - The whole "Robin doesn't need a Batman" shtick got really old really fast. No me gusta.
• Harper Row - I love this girl and wish they found something they could use her for.
• Lincoln March - He could plausibily be Thomas Wayne junior, regardless of how adamant Bruce is that he isn't. Bruce's arrogance is a major theme in this run. I like the character as a villain.

So what is Gotham? Gotham is the piece of Batman that let's itself get ripped apart over and over so that others need not suffer. I like what Gordon said about Batman in Suoerheavy's conclusion. Batman isn't real. Batman fights our nightmares so that we can deal with our real problems by the light of day.

@Nightrunner That was a pretty neat read, man. I've only read snippets of Snyder's Batman, so this might encourage me to try and catch his entire run. I have a few titles and characters I'd be keen to talk about here, but I'm a bit undecided on who or what to run with first, lol. I'll definitely be back here, though. You can never have enough places to nerd out in.

When I talk about superheroes who really mean something to me, I always come back to Batman, Daredevil, and Green Lantern. Batman and Daredevil may seem redundant at first glance but I assure you that they are not. These aren't necessarily my favorite superheroes, but they're ones who've inspired me to carry on through hard times.

I'm not taking about Alan Scott. I don't care about Alan Scott at all. He'd a neat character, but he's never once mattered to me.

A lot of people tend to latch onto the versions of characters that are published while they grow up. Hal Jordan has been the main Green Lantern in recent years, but my problem with Hal is that he has no personality whatsoever. Scratch that--his personality is actually that of an impatient, closed-minded, uncreative doofus. For some strange reason, everybody seems to agree that Hal Jordan is the greatest Green Lantern. I do not agree at all.

I personally think that Kyle Rayner is the greatest human Green Lantern, the actual objective greatest being Thaal Sinestro. I like Kyle because he's an artist, someone whose passion for pop culture actually matches that of the readership. As a teenaged artist who gobbled down comic books and sci-fi myself, I projected a lot of myself into him. I'd felt like, if GLs existed IRL, I would be one of them. Like my anger and righteous indignation at the world would let me make things easier on other people.

There's something else about that era of Green Lantern that stands out, too. He was the only Green Lantern for the whole universe. It's a heavy burden, and a lonely office to occupy. I felt like a shoe-in. There were never a lot of people around me, growing up, who I felt I could relate to. I felt like digging in my heels as a nerd was a great way to rebel against my peers. I was always scheming at how to take my revenge on the world, to let everyone else see the injustices that I see. I wanted to be a Green Lantern, more than I ever wanted to be a Robin. The creative passion that can be channeled into a Green Lantern's fighting style is so personal. How could an artist and aspiring superhero not want to be a Green Lantern?