Anyone play Arkham Asulym who reads Batman?

[Squallie Greenthumb]

I am an avid reader of Batman comics. I've bought almost every issue,trade and graphic novel at my local shop and am constantly looking for out of print ones on Amazon. Today the Arkham City Catwoman trailer was released and the videos are flooded with comments saying "Wait, Catwoman's a good guy?"

Now I'm used to people at work or at bars or anywhere else I might be discussing Batman with people being confused when I say that Dick Grayson is Batman and that Robin is now Bruce Wayne's biological son etc etc etc... and that's perfectly okay because these are people who don't involve themselves with superheroes beyond what Hollywood tells them. But these are gamers! Am I wrong to think that gaming and comics go hand in hand? I know it's a brave new world and now any house with an internet connection probably has a 360 or PS3 but it's a video game about a comic book character!!

So who here also reads Batman comics? Or comics period (reading all the Scott Pilgrims after the movie came out doesn't count)? Tell me what you read, what your favorite stories are or maybe a story similar to mine where you're dealing with people who think they know about your favorite heroes because they saw the movies.

 

[Gxas]

Am I wrong to think that gaming and comics go hand in hand?

Absolutely, yes.

Comics and video games have always been two separate mediums with two separate audiences (with a slight overlap). That being said, however, I am still shocked at how much I know about the DC and Marvel uni[multi]verses even though I've never picked up a comic from either.

 

[Mister Benoit]

I think you're wrong to think gaming and comics go hand in hand.

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

I only started reading comics in January and it started out of nowhere. Can't wait for trade 14 of The Walking Dead coming out in late june. About to finish both Y:The Last Man & Sandman. Had a friend pass me 2 Superman comics which were alright, one was called Red Sun.

 

[kypsilon]

I used to read comics quite frequently, though these days I've found I'm just not interested in the way they're being done these days. They're expensive, and depending on the artist/writer, simply not worth it. Continuity is an issue as well, since this story has nothing to do with that one or this was a crossover that only had something to do with the main continuity that no one can really pin down for certain, etc.

I'm currently reading Claremont's run on the X-Men (1975 to 1991) considered by some to be the best writing in Marvel's history. I used to read Spider-Man though I stopped shortly after the Clone Saga (really should have stopped before that) and I read a number of different titles, but usually the self-contained one-offs. Batman is better in one-offs I think. I'm a big Batman fan, but he tends to be mistreated on the conceptual level because quite frankly, no one pays any attention to who the character is supposed to be anymore. That's the same problem with most comic characters these days. Rather than make new guys to push these new ideas, they take the old guys and try to update them and generally lose something in the process, typically what made them cool in the first place.

...and I'm getting into the ranting there so I'll stop. As for connecting comics and gamers, that's typical. Comics to cartoons to video games. Lots of people just play games though without having any interest in the back story of one. A friend of mine loved Arkham Asylum, didn't care to know anything about Batman in the comics. To him "Batman" could have been replaced with "Generic Hero X" and it still would have been a great game to him.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Wait Batman has a comic series? (joking)

Meh, I read a few graphic novels of Batman, watched some of the cartoons he is in, but following for hundreds (or thousands) of comics the ones he is in just doesn't appeal to me. I read things like Watchmen but reading one a long continuing comic book series like Batman has no appeal to me even though I find the character awesome from Batman: the animated series.

Also comic books are fucking expensive in the long run. So much cheaper forms of entertainment for the hours , such as renting video games, buying a long or replayable video game, watching anime online, reading books from the library (yes I have borrowed comics/graphic novels from the library) or getting them really cheap, etc are available.

 

[Squallie Greenthumb]

ok maybe i got a little off topic there when I went into rant mode. my original point that I was trying to make was that people were making an assumption about Catwoman based off of Batman Returns and the old Fox cartoon. But even in both of those Batman and Catwoman had eventually reached a mutual understanding because they fell in love and to assume that you know all about these characters because of that little knowledge. Like with this:

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

it would be like somebody thought that they knew everything about that band based on the song in the movie? You see what I'm saying?

 

[thenamelessloser]

ok maybe i got a little off topic there when I went into rant mode. my original point that I was trying to make was that people were making an assumption about Catwoman based off of Batman Returns and the old Fox cartoon. But even in both of those Batman and Catwoman had eventually reached a mutual understanding because they fell in love and to assume that you know all about these characters because of that little knowledge. Like with this:

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

it would be like somebody thought that they knew everything about that band based on the song in the movie? You see what I'm saying?

That isn't the fact they aren't comic book fans, that is the fact they are modern jackasses. Modern jackass is someone who knows very little about something but then extrapolates and makes tons of bullshit up. (the term is from an NPR radio show, and I just love the term- modern jackass, lol.)

Meh, actually instead of reading comics, someone can just spend hours skimming wikipedia and tv tropes. Even if someone don't feel like buying or reading the source, one can still find out about the character and comic book just from the interweb.

 

[Pearwood]

Doesn't Catwoman switch sides every other day?

I've tried to get into comics but they're pretty impenetrable and are retconned so much looking up a plot synopsis isn't really enough. I do enjoy the odd miniseries though.

Modern jackass is someone who knows very little about something but then extrapolates and makes tons of bullshit up.

I always prefer the term "bullshitters".

 

[Mister Benoit]

ok maybe i got a little off topic there when I went into rant mode. my original point that I was trying to make was that people were making an assumption about Catwoman based off of Batman Returns and the old Fox cartoon. But even in both of those Batman and Catwoman had eventually reached a mutual understanding because they fell in love and to assume that you know all about these characters because of that little knowledge. Like with this:

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

it would be like somebody thought that they knew everything about that band based on the song in the movie? You see what I'm saying?

I like to imagine anyone who has only watched or played a Batman game doesn't imagine themselves as some sort of Batcyclopedia.

 

[Squallie Greenthumb]

ok maybe i got a little off topic there when I went into rant mode. my original point that I was trying to make was that people were making an assumption about Catwoman based off of Batman Returns and the old Fox cartoon. But even in both of those Batman and Catwoman had eventually reached a mutual understanding because they fell in love and to assume that you know all about these characters because of that little knowledge. Like with this:

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

it would be like somebody thought that they knew everything about that band based on the song in the movie? You see what I'm saying?

That isn't the fact they aren't comic book fans, that is the fact they are modern jackasses. Modern jackass is someone who knows very little about something but then extrapolates and makes tons of bullshit up. (the term is from an NPR radio show, and I just love the term- modern jackass, lol.)

Meh, actually instead of reading comics, someone can just spend hours skimming wikipedia and tv tropes. Even if someone don't feel like buying or reading the source, one can still find out about the character and comic book just from the interweb.

That's another thing. Goddamn do I hate having to tell people stuff they could just google. It would take less of their time and not waste mine.

 

[Squallie Greenthumb]

ok maybe i got a little off topic there when I went into rant mode. my original point that I was trying to make was that people were making an assumption about Catwoman based off of Batman Returns and the old Fox cartoon. But even in both of those Batman and Catwoman had eventually reached a mutual understanding because they fell in love and to assume that you know all about these characters because of that little knowledge. Like with this:

It'd be like if you enjoyed a song from a movie but don't know all the back history of said artist/band.

it would be like somebody thought that they knew everything about that band based on the song in the movie? You see what I'm saying?

I like to imagine anyone who has only watched or played a Batman game doesn't imagine themselves as some sort of Batcyclopedia.

that must be a great and magical world you live in.

 

[Pearwood]

Transmetropolitan
Fables
Y the last man

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

 

[Artina89]

I used to read Batman, but I stopped when I was about 13 or 14. My brother however, has a lot of the graphic novels and doesn't really like it, with the change in Batman and everything. However, I don't think that gaming and comic books go hand in hand. The Batman: Arkham asylum was very accessible,introducing newcomers to the Batman universe and leaving enough to satisfy the hardcore Batman fans (at least from the people I have spoken to). Even I, who (at the time when Batman:AA came out) hadn't read the comics for a good 6 or 7 years, found it wonderful and is one of my favourite games in this generation. I eargerly await for the release of Batman: Arkham city to see what tricks it has up it's sleeve. It promises to be a good game.

 

[Total LOLige]

never read a batman comic, but I read the first 5 pages of the arkham asylum comic, too scary