Let's step back and look at Batman.

[General Grind]

Is.... Is this a real thing? Please tell me this wasn't just made up, and where I can find this

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say this is some sort of anime. I will be genuinely shocked if it isn't anime.

It's a series of epic fantasy books called the Malazan Book of the Fallen, although many liken it to anime because it has these crazy things happening and characters that are unlike anything. The main series is 10 books long, each book at about the length of Lord of the Rings. The author is also writing two follow-up trilogies as well. There are also 5 books set in the same universe with some of the same characters and intertwining storylines written by a co-creator of the world.

It's a huge investment to get into as the author gives little to no exposition and you are just tossed into this world and the middle of a long war at page 1. It follows then that the first book is very difficult to get into. But if you stick with it, you might end up loving it. I've read everything up until now, and I started re-reading the whole series and it is almost better the second time around since you now know more about the world. I know a lot of fans who have re-read the whole series two or three times.

My profile picture is also of the black elfish dude with the crazy sword. His name is Anomander Rake, or Anomandaris Pugnarake if you want to get technical and his sword is named Dragnipur. I forgot to mention he is a "Soletaken" and he can turn himself into a dragon and he can use magic forged from the Night basically. As you can probably piece together, I am a huge fan of this stuff but it is also incredibly weird and massively nerdy. Other friends I have given the books to have devoured them as well and we've had discussions over them constantly ever since. Rant over.

OT: I stand by that anything can be approached any way. Batman and Robin was not horrible because Silly Batman is inherently bad but because the movie was utter rubbish. Anything can be made good.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yes I know that is why I also mentioned Phoenix Jones in my post, and does anybody regard him as sane?

In a country that fellates Ayn Rand, what is, sane, anyway?

I mean, yeah, this is a little glib, but I sometimes wonder if maybe the whole country's crazy (overall, not individuals). I'm not even sure Jones breaks any sort of critical threshold at this point.

 

[O maestre]

Yes I know that is why I also mentioned Phoenix Jones in my post, and does anybody regard him as sane?

In a country that fellates Ayn Rand, what is, sane, anyway?

I mean, yeah, this is a little glib, but I sometimes wonder if maybe the whole country's crazy (overall, not individuals). I'm not even sure Jones breaks any sort of critical threshold at this point.

I guess, in a nation populated by mental patients at least Phoenix Jones is clearly labelled as such. Mind you that was just an exaggeration for humours sake, I don't actually believe that the entire US is insane.

I wonder how Ayn Rand would feel about Batman, I think she would be rather pleased with him, a rich old money wasp physically beating up the villainous lower class.

 

[Something Amyss]

I guess, in a nation populated by mental patients at least Phoenix Jones is clearly labelled as such. Mind you that was just an exaggeration for humours sake, I don't actually believe that the entire US is insane.

I wonder how Ayn Rand would feel about Batman, I think she would be rather pleased with him, a rich old money wasp physically beating up the villainous lower class.

I think Ayn Rand's works weren't exactly in line with her own philosophy. She was a commie leech suckling at the government's teat, you know. But modern Batman seems to be fairly Randian in terms of the fiction.

I think that's why Batman is so popular in America. He's a rich sociopath who makes his own rules in a world where authority is pegged as corrupt and/or incompetent. Bruce Wayne keeps the city running, while Batman wrecks easily-identified bad guys for the greater good.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Probably because Batman's original stories were fairly dark. He started in a magazine called "Detective Comics" for crying out loud. And since he's (by superhero standards) just a man, so are his most well-known villains. Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, The Joker, Penguin and lots more are either just mental patients or conniving criminals, not interstellar annihilators like Thanos, Doomsday or Parallax. His scale is basically limited to one city instead of trying to save entire solar systems, and therefore it needs to be a bit more fleshed out and believable so it may still feel like a place that might actually exist.

 

[Matthew Jabour]

Yes I know that is why I also mentioned Phoenix Jones in my post, and does anybody regard him as sane?

In a country that fellates Ayn Rand, what is, sane, anyway?

I mean, yeah, this is a little glib, but I sometimes wonder if maybe the whole country's crazy (overall, not individuals). I'm not even sure Jones breaks any sort of critical threshold at this point.

I guess, in a nation populated by mental patients at least Phoenix Jones is clearly labelled as such. Mind you that was just an exaggeration for humours sake, I don't actually believe that the entire US is insane.

I wonder how Ayn Rand would feel about Batman, I think she would be rather pleased with him, a rich old money wasp physically beating up the villainous lower class.

I think she'd prefer Ra's Al Ghul - he became immortal by his own doing, and now plots to kill all others. She'd hate Bane, on the other hand.