The Dark Knight Returns

Poker has actually been quite eventful since my last blog.  After hunting for some backing I got a deal from the guys over at sharkstaking.com.  It wasn't huge but considering that they have neither met me nor actually seen me play a hand of poker it at least cheered me up that my stats actually have some merit.  I will come back to this properly in a blog next week.  All I will say for now is that I of course started with a pretty awful downswing as per the 2012 norm.  However just when things were looking glum, down nearly $2,000 in a couple of weeks, I went and final tabled a $20,000 guaranteed tournament and the big weekly Ongame $200,000 guaranteed ChampionChip event on the Sunday just gone.  I rode my luck for a change in a couple of big hands early on but then charged on towards the final tables of both.  I came 8th in the smaller one for $700 and then 5th in the ChampionChip for about $9,300.  Obviously I need to clear off the deficit and then split any profits 50/50 but at least it feels nice to be making some money again.  If it wasn't for a pair of cracked aces 5 handed it could have been a really awesome evening as first prize was $34,000 .  I will return to this tournament in another blog next week.

When I started this blog I did promise that it wouldn't always be about poker.  So for today the good poker topics can wait a while as what I really want to write about is Batman.  Today sees the release of 'The Dark Knight Rises' and I have been psyched beyond belief all year for this film.

I got into comics pretty late. It was only when I got a permanent contract in an Ottakars branch during 2004 that I read my first graphic novel.  I had inherited the graphic novels section amongst a load of others and I found myself curious about this art form that I had never really paid any attention to before.  The first thing i read on my breaks was 'Superman: Red Son'.  It was smart and sophisticated story telling.  The next thing I picked up was a new edition of 'Batman: Year One', Frank Miller's excellent and pretty definitive version of the Batman origin story.  I followed that up with Miller's seminal 'The Dark Knight Returns' and I was just blown away.  I moved on to a whole range of writers and characters but whilst most of the interesting work in comics was being done outside of the mainstream I always had a great deal of time for Batman.  I bought up a whole series of the graphic novel bind ups of classic stories and then ended up ebaying a lot of single issue runs that came highly recommended.

The world of comics has thrown up a lot of great characters, a lot of clever ways of telling parables and engaging with a primarily teenage audience.  There is something though in the story of Bruce Wayne that transcends almost everything else in the super hero genre.  For me the character is as interesting and iconic as Shakespeare's Macbeth or Hamlet.  A boy who watches his parents murdered in front of his eyes and grows up with a dedication and determination to try and stop the horrors of crime being inflicted on others like it was on him.  It is a story full of tragedy and grief. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that his path means that he can never enjoy an ordinary life.  Those closest too him are doomed to end up suffering because he cannot give up the Batman, he cannot give up the sybmbol he has created as Gotham will always need him and that means an immense amount of sacrifice in his normal life.

I must have first watched Tim Burton's 'Batman' when I was about eleven and remember really enjoying it.  After getting into the comics I revisited it and was immensely disappointed. I didn't recognise the character that had so caught my imagination.  In 2005 Christopher Nolan put all of that right with 'Batman Begins'.  It stands as a really good film whether you have an interest in Batman or not.  What really thrilled the Batman comic fans though is just how right the characterisation of Bruce Wayne finally was.  Burton and his writing team made a number of mistakes.  The first mistake is to take us into the character via the eyes of investigative journalists.  It distances us from Bruce Wayne and never allows us to get properly under his skin.  'Begins' rectifies all that by keeping Batman off the screen for a full hour.  That time gives us the chance to get to know Bruce and the tragedy of his life.  We can both empathise with him and feel pity for him.  The casting is also better.  Whilst I think Michael Keaton is a great actor he doesn't make for a very believable Batman outside the costume. He is slightly built and has little muscle.  You need to believe that this character is capable of flattening everybody in the room should he choose to do so and with Keaton this is just laughable. Christian Bale was a perfect choice.  He brings both the physicality and athleticism required but he also has the burning intensity.  With Bale the dedication and the fanaticism is rammed home constantly.



'Batman Begins' uses 'Batman: Year One' as its launch pad but the real strength of it is not in copying the origin tale but in actually managing to improve upon it.  there are so many clever ideas and touches that a fan of the Batman comics could do nothing other than love it.  The follow up 'The Dark Knight' was also a revelation.  If the first one was the film Batman fans had always wanted to see then its follow up was one they never expected to see.  If BB was dark then TDK was just one of the most oppressively bleak films to ever be disguised as a summer blockbuster.  Once again the most impressive feature to fans was just how right they got The Joker.  In the comics he has been represented in a million and one different ways over the years.  Through the writing and the performance of Heath Ledger they somehow distilled the perfect essence of the character, that he is pure chaos.  Whilst overall this version of Gotham was a little more closer to reality than the world of the comics it once again stood as a great film for the casual viewer and a great film for bigger fans of the character.

I really hope The Dark Knight Rises delivers an excellent third chapter to the story.  History shows us that nailing all three films in a trilogy is an exceptionally hard thing to do.  I had huge confidence in the build up to its release.  I even felt good about it when the first reviews started appearing as all seemed to say it was as good, or almost as good, as TDK.  Then the reviews from the hardcore comic fans started appearing and now I am a little bit worried.  I have avoided anything spoilery but the suggestion seems to be that for the first time the characterisation is off and this is my biggest fear.  I want this film to be awesome because they have got so much so right so far.  Please, please please don't let this Batman geek down.