100 Days of Batman, Day 100

Well this is it, the end of the road, the final day of 100 Days of Batman. To bring the 100 days to a close I read the final part of Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and art by Eduardo Risso. As with the first two parts I will in fact be SPOILING this book so if you are planing on reading it for yourself then stop reading now and come back after you have done so.

Paul is ready to throw in the towel and move on to different writing adventures. Feeling abandoned and ashamed he rarely leaves his home out of fear of being mugged again and also the fear that people are silently judging him for not defending himself. That is until one day when he and a friend are out looking through a record store. He happened to be wearing his Warner Bros. coat while there which caught the eye of one of the store clerks. The clerk asked him if he worked at Warner Bros. to which paul replied yes. The man began talking about how great Tiny Toons was which he watched with is wife. Paul had worked on Tiny Toons before moving on to the Batman: The Animated Series. Come to find out this clerk's wife was battling cancer and one of the things that helped her get through it was funny cartoons such as Tiny Toons.

This helped put life in perspective for Paul and the next day he was back at his office working on Batman. He realized that even though a hero may or may not be true or actually exist in the physical world it didn't mean that they were not helping people get through something. Paul would always carry the scars of his mugging both physical and emotional but now understood that just maybe the stories he wrote and would write may be helping someone who just needs to escape from life for a few precious moments.

I love this book it is a MUST READ and was a great way to end the 100 Days of Batman. Reading about one of the creators of a cartoon that would be the foundation for the love I have of Batman was great and surprisingly enjoyable. His personal story has helped to motivate me in my own hobbies and goals in life. He has also taught me that it is ok to escape from the world every once in a while.

This was perhaps one of the most ambitious challenges I have done as far as writing is concerned. Somehow I have written about comics for one hundred days in a row. Not every post was a slam dunk and most of them were only a few paragraphs long, but the important thing is that I did what I set out to do. I am not sure what to do next. I will be taking a few days to figure out where to go from here. I would love to do another 100 days of a comics yet I do have a baby on the way that should be arriving towards the beginning of February and I am not sure I would be able to fully commit to it without missing a day. If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear them in the comments.  Perhaps I will do a smaller day count. Anyways it was fun and I will be posting again in the next few days with what I plan to do next. Thanks to all of you have been reading. I really appreciate it.

N. S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 99

Time for part two of Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and art by Eduardo Risso. Again I will be SPOILING this book but I highly recommend it so if you have not read it you should before continuing on.

Waking up from a very restless night Paul decides to go to the doctor who upon a examination discovers that Paul was hit in the head so hard that portions of his skull were turned to dust.  Paul was in bad shape both emotionally and physically. He is broken, broken to the point where he no longer believes he should nor is able to write about a hero who is not real and was not there when he needed him most. Paul is recovering and decided to take some time off from work but keeps calling out because he just does not feel confident in who he is any longer. Paul will certainly have to face this new demon that has latched on to him since his mugging.

I really can only say that this book is absolutely a MUST READ.  Just read it and enjoy it. It gives a great look into the mind of writer and also the mind of someone who has experienced a tragic event.

N.S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 98

For the final three days of the 100 Days of Batman I wanted to read something special, maybe something a little different. So when I discovered the graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and art by Eduardo Risso I knew I had to pick it up. It is a fairly long book so it is perfect to split up over the final three days. I will be SPOILING the book but I think everyone should give it a read for themselves so if you have not read it stop reading this blog and go find a copy to read.

Dark Night: A True Batman Story is not a Batman story in the traditional sense but rather the story of one man's journey through the world of storytelling and the tragic mugging he would fall victim to. Paul Dini was one of those kids that just wants to be invisible and is happiest when he is spending times in the worlds that are contained in the pages of books. He would eventually discover Batman which would lead to his love of creating new and exciting characters and of corse telling his on stories through the gift of writing. Paul would eventually get a job working for Warner Brothers as a writer on the much beloved Batman: The Animated Series. This is when you start to see the cracks in Paul's life. His family has always supported him but he never spends times with them outside of holidays, his dating life on the surface appears to be amazing but in reality it is nothing more than a joke. During everyone of these panels Paul's inner monologue is portrayed as Batman and company.

One night after walking the girl he thought he was dating to her car Paul's life would change forever. He was mugged beaten and robbed for no reason other than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Having been left for dead Paul manages to make it home and contact the police who do little to nothing to help him and instead make jokes about how he could have used Batman. Feeling broken and alone Paul goes home where he drinks away what happened to him all the while bleeding and feeling like his head was smashed.

I honestly can not do the book justice and really think it is best if you simply read it for yourself. Personally I am loving it. It is interesting to see into the lives of someone who helped shaped my love for Batman. Batman: The Animated Series is where my love for Batman began and is still one of my absolute favorites. This book so far has been a great way to finish of my 100 Days of Batman. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book so far it is a MUST READ.

N.S.