Thursday, June 26, 2008

Seven Year Switch

Batman doesn't slap Robin around like he does in All-Star Batman and Robin. They're friends, after all.

It doesn't matter if Robin is Dick Grayson.

Green Lantern is one black man. (It's starting to really freak me out much I'm starting to look like this guy.)

The Flash has no kids and he's the funny guy in The Justice League.

These are the truths my seven-year old nephew knows about his superheroes.

I envy him this clarity.

To him, there are no Final Crisises.

It doesn't matter to him that Hal Jordan is The Green Lantern that most people in comics know. All he knows is that there is a Green Lantern.

It doesn't matter to him that for the majority of his short life, in the cartoon media, Robin was independent of Batman and the leader of The Teen Titans.

When they finally did put them together in The Batman cartoon, he was happily surprised someone put two of his favorite characters together in one place.

I've decided to read my comics as a seven year old would. With eyes wide open, not caring about continuity and what it all means. The rocket from Krypton will always arrive in Kansas. There is a Batman and a Robin and when they are together it's always a happy surprise.

1 comment:

ChrisM said...

BRAVO Devon!
I've been trying to get people to see this kind of perspective for years. Comics is about storytelling. and while continuity has its place..it gets in the way of things.

The JLU had some of the purest versions of those characters. A lot of good stories "done in one" with no hangups about continuity...
ah..we can dream..