His Story of The Batman
This is going to be a series of sporadic blog posts about my relationship with the Dark Knight. (I promise I won’t leave you hanging each time, like the last 4 posts, this will be an ongoing series.)
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved superheroes and comic books. I am a geek through and through. I liked comic books back in the day when it wasn’t cool, I didn’t care what anyone thought.
I read all sorts of comics, Marvel, DC, Harvey comics, anything that I could get my hands on. They were my escape; they took me into a world that wasn’t my own. I would get lost in them. I loved them all, but there was one that always stood out from the rest.
The Batman.
I grew up watching reruns of The Batman tv show with Adam West, I loved it! I had no idea it was so campy, with its POW’s, BOOM’s, & ZAP’s! I took that stuff so seriously. In 1989 when Batman the movie came out, my world flipped upside down. I loved that movie so much! But to be honest, when I first heard that Michael Keaton was playing Batman, I was like, “Mr. Mom”, seriously?!? Then I watched it! I knew that they were taking Batman to a whole new level. My 13-year-old brain thought that this was gritty, this was serious, this was what Batman was really about. I… WAS… HOOKED!
I bought everything! If I could touch it, I bought it. I had the trading cards, the models, the action figures, I collected it all! Fast forward 3 years and 2 major things happened that changed the trajectory of my life forever. First, the sequel, When Batman Returns came out & Second Batman The Animated Series came to television. I was so serious about seeing When Batman Returns, I asked my dad to drop me off at the movie theater at 6:00 am, for the 11:30 am first screening. I wasn’t even first in line, I was third, but it was AWESOME! The animated series was well… serious. It is, in my opinion, THE definitive Batman. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman, was the first one to play Batman and Bruce Wayne completely different. Batman is who he is, Bruce Wayne is the mask. To me, Kevin Conroy IS Batman. When I read comic books, his voice is the one I hear in my head, Batman got me through so much. Batman was who I wanted to be, he was my hero, my idol. Here’s the reason Batman resonates with me.
Batman is a regular guy, okay he’s a billionaire (now trillionaire) sure, but he’s just a man. A man that took the worst moment of his life and decided to use that as fuel. He decided at 8 years old to dedicate his life to making sure that no one would have to go through what he had to go through. He spent over a decade honing his skills, training his mind and body, to reach their absolute limits, then push them even further. He stood for those who couldn’t stand for themselves.
I so desperately wanted to be, Batman. Batman was strong, Batman was smart, Batman didn’t let bullies pick on little kids. He has an unbreakable moral code, he does not bend from what he believes in, he’s a force of nature all his own. He took the tragedy of his childhood and transformed it into power, he became something more. In my world of chaos, I wanted… no, I needed, that kind of structure. Batman was who I aspired to be!
Because of Batman, I try to hold myself to a higher standard, not because I think that I’m better than others, but because that was what my hero would do. I tried to always do the right thing. I tried to be the best at whatever I did. I tried so desperately to be… good. Was I always successful? Of course not! But I always got back up and kept trying to be better than I was the day before. Batman had contingency plans for his contingency plans. He was 13 steps ahead of everyone else, while everyone else was playing checkers, he was playing chess. I always try to find as many of the possible outcomes to any given situation that I can. I don’t want to be surprised; I really dislike surprises! I have tried so hard to be just like Batman. Now I know what you’re going to say, “Well do you roam the streets at night looking for criminals to pummel with your bare hands?” No, of course not, but I AM waging a war on bullies, but that’s a story for another time.
Who’s your hero, who makes you want to be better than you are?
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