as many of you esteemed readers know, the staff at RamanCoke.com subscribes to a whole slew of emails from many different political factions.
the latest installment from the GOP (which is curiously missing the signature of one Michael Steele) was quite interesting.
we're not saying there were NO left-leaning provisions in the recent DISCLOSE Act - Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (strained acronym alert!) - which would force disclosure of election-related disbursements by corporations, labor unions and nonprofit groups (based on the recent alarming Supreme Court ruling that said corporations could basically pump as much $ into campaigns as they wanted)...
...BUT for the GOP to say/send this?
amazing, eh? send this kind of email to its constituents is just plain silly. but i've come to expect that sortof thing from them. though let's not leave the political commentary to the echo-chamber that is often the halls of RamanCoke, let's bring in an esteemed, outside expert.
from the Halls of Asgard (now somewhere over the great state of Oklahoma), let's ask THOR, the Norse God of Thunder what he thinks:
hmmm. i sort of get your point Wing-Head. this sort of crap makes me want to go curl up in a ball at home too (but i mostly just wanted to jam in a cool graphic at the end so this post wasn't a complete waste of pixels)
sure, there are far more interesting things i COULD be writing about, but as the lady-friend and i finally started watching the namesake of this amusingly appropriate SNL skit (in the summer hiatus), it felt appropriate to share in good humor:
if you actually watched the show, you might ask yourself "who knew Bruce Campbell had a steady job?" or say something like "i didn't know there was a modern-day Macgyver-ish secret-agent show out there!"
it's no THE WIRE, BSG, or LOST, but it sure goes down like candy. and then Don Draper had to come back and ruin all my fun!
no, this is not a post where i fanboy pontificate on who would win in a battle royale between 2 of my favorite superheroes (let's be clear, Green Lantern, the Flash, the Fantastic Four, Invincible, and Scott Pilgrim all make the cut into such a complex round robin/bracketing system akin to the World Cup). rather, view this post as a complex character study, where we make some elegant compare/contrasts.
but first let's get the basics info out of the way (for sheer entertainment value, as it really provides no useful context for the more interesting discussion below). assuming you live under a rock, let's first answer, who are they?
BATMAN (a.k.a. "the Bat," "the Caped Crusader," "the Dark Knight," "the world's greatest detective")
first appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May 1939)
secret identity: Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy/philanthropist
main squeeze: Robin (j/k, as Bruce he's a pimp and can't be held down by any one lady, though he fancies Catwoman and/or Talia, daughter of arch-nemesis Ra's Al Ghul
buddies: Robin, Alfred, Nightwing (the original Robin), Commissioner Gordon
inspiration: dead parents, bats, ninjas
powers: none. he's just a slightly obsessive guy in peak physical/mental condition, who's trained to be the best at everything - fighting, ninja-stuff, detectiving. also has a ton of gadgets, cars, planes, etc with a bat-prefix ("where does he get those wonderful toys?")
notable media: 60s TV show (holy Adam West!), 60s movie based on TV-show, some Tim Burton movies, 2 crap-tastic Joel Schumacher movies (shudder), a few awesome cartoons ("the Animated Series," and "Batman Beyond"), 2 more recent awesome Chris Nolan movies, and even a musical
first appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
secret identity: Peter Parker, freelance photographer, closet scientist, sometimes schoolteacher
main squeeze: Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacey (deceased),
buddies: Harry Osborn, Johnny Storm, Luke Cage, Wolverine
inspiration: dead uncle (Ben), pro-wrestlers
powers: does whatever a spider can (sticks to walls, a "spider sense");spins a web, any size (web-shooters), catches thieves just like flies;Is he strong? Listen bud; He's got radioactive blood (and thus the proportionate strength of a spider)
so what's the deal with these 2 (a.k.a. why am i bothering to write this post) pinnacles of super-awesomeness? it's about
...who are they really?
Bats is just a [war-on-crime obsessed] guy (with LOTS of money). his fanaticism stems from the childhood trauma of having his parents gunned down in front of him by a common criminal. but still just a guy (who dresses up at night and runs around in tights and a cape). to strike fear into the heart of criminals ("a cowardly, superstitious lot"), he has BECOME a symbol of fear and terror - or more specifically, a bat. but it doesn't end by simply putting on the pointy ears. Bruce Wayne IS Batman. and Bruce Wayne is just a mask that he wears to blend in around the rest of us.
Spidey is the everyman. as Peter Parker, he has hopes, dreams, lame low-paying jobs (with jackass boss), limited success with the ladies (though he DID wind up marrying a super-model, so maybe there's an aspirational element to it), and an uncomfortable amount of guilt. he just happend to ALSO be randomly bitten by a radioactive spider (it could have happened to any of us), got powers, and decided to make some cash with it. by shirking his responsibilities to use those powers for good, his father-figure uncle was gunned down by a petty thief Peter could have stopped (and thus the lesson that "with great power comes great responsibility"). and to this day PETER carries that guilt around with him. so everything Spider-Man says and does is really Peter (even those cracks he makes wise with the bad-guys, which is really what he WANTS to say to everyone else mean from his "real" life)
so there you have it: Bruce Wayne is really Batman. Spider Man is really Peter Parker.
words cannot describe how excited* i am about this movie:
*(but am futily trying to keeping expectations low and bracing myself for heartbreak and/or disappointment) - august 15!
if you don't already know (WTF - you been living under a BRIDGE and/or not reading my bloog?!?) it's based on an india comic i'mcrazyaboot. the final volume of which comes out in but a fortnight:
finally, i leave you, dear reader, with one more thing to rock your mind. IF you were paying close enough attention to the (international) trailer above, you'll have noticed co-starring roles by actors Brandon Routh and Chris Evans. what does that mean? this is a movie where the protagonist (Scott Pilgrim) fights (actors who have or will soon have portrayed) Superman AND Captain America.
