My affair with the Dark Knight began at the very early age of seven. At least, I think I was seven when I started watching the ancient Batman and Robin series on television. You know the one where The Batty One wears bluish tights and had scrawny legs. The Boy Wonder didn't look so hot either, with the garish red and yellow costume. I was entranced by the constant illustrated "KAPOWS!!" and "BAMS!" that appeared on the screen every time Batman beats up his fearsome foes. The a-go-go sounding theme still echoes in my head at absurd moments [ ne ne ne nene NE NE NE NE NE !!BATMAN!!].

The show was at 2 or 3 in the evening on Thursdays, I think. I missed a lot of school on Thursdays due to Batty.

I remember being captivated by the second Batman feature film, Batman Returns. I was enthralled by Catwoman. Remember the scene where she whips heads off of mannequins? Man, she is the coolest. Meoowwrr.

And then there was Batman: The Animated Series. I believe I was in my early teens when it debuted on local television. Since I was away at boarding school, I made my sister record it on VHS. The lengths one goes to for a fictitious man who prowls the night in tights and a cape...

Ha~.

My interest in the Batman comics (published by DC Comics) kicked-off almost immediately after that. Originally, I was a fan of the Hong Kong comics; some of you may remember the ever popular Dewata Raya and Pedang Setiawan, among others. I received my weekly dose of kungfu tahap langit berganda (??) at a specialty shop at Seremban's Terminal One (I can't remember the name of the store. And no, it was not Kodai Sopan). The small outlet carried comics from the United States, too, and I swiftly became a loyal follower of American publications like Superman, Vampirella and of course, Batman.

And so it began, this curious attraction to The Dark Vigilante a.k.a Bruce Wayne. It's easily explainable; he's human, and is imperfect, unlike many other comic book heroes. Wayne is attractive, strong, protective, very, very rich, and has a whole bundle of unresolved emotional issues that makes him oh-so-alluring.

At the moment, my current favorite of the many story-lines in the Batman collective mythology is No Man's Land. Gotham City is struck by a massive earthquake rated 7.6 on the Richter scale, levelling the Old World-ish metropolis into a brutal No Man's Land. The United States Congress decides that it's too expensive to salvage the broken city, and declares Gotham no longer part of the United States. So poor Batboy & friends are left to their own devices to save their now forsaken hometown.

The seeds of the NML storyline was first sowed in the late 90's, and continued to grow into a full-fledged chronicle until its conclusion in the year 2000. Now, NML is a permanent fixture in popular Batman mythology.

I now have the compiled edition of the whole of the NML: Cataclysm chronicles, which for some batty (pardon the pun ;) reason I decided to make a gift to my youngest brother. Why oh why...

The image you see on the top left is a page from BATMAN: Cataclysm - The Naked City. I especially like this extract because it communicates the raw emotion of our dark hero. See the first panel in the second row? Tears are dripping out of ole Batty's mask. His beloved Gotham is reduced to rubble, and he is helpless in the midst of this absolute destruction.

Sigh.

Well, I'm off to find myself a dark knight in light-absorbing spandex.
Ciao.

Disclaimer: Batman and all characters mentioned, their distinctive likenesses and related indicia are trademarks of DC Comics.I don't own any of it and am not claiming I own them. Please don't sue me, Mr. Bob Kane.

UPDATE: Hours ago a neighbour's house went up in flames...two very young children lost their lives in the fire. I'm not very good at sounding sympathetic, but I am genuinely sorry for the whole family. I feel a little bit like Batty :~( Al-Fatihah.

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