Sometimes
when I visit the library I will break away from my normal Non-Fiction
selections and browse through the Graphic Novels section. I have stumbled
across many a jewel in those time, and I always enjoy reading them. Yes, it is
shocking that Blockhead would choose in this blog to not talk about Charlie
Brown and the Peanuts but about a more familiar DC Comics hero: The Dark
Knight, Batman.
The
example I am using is not from any DC movie, but from a collector’s mini-series
entitled The Untold Legend of the Batman.
When I was a kid, I had Part 1 and it was certainly one of my favorite cassette
tapes of all time. Granted, the theme song is vintage 80’s and a little corny,
but it did not occur to me that this story included three parts until much
later in life. YouTube can definitely plug the gaps from your childhood if you
let it!
The conclusion to Part 3 is a powerful one for me, so
allow me to summarize it for you as best as I can…
Bruce Wayne cancels all his appointments for the day as he
ponders who is behind the attacks throughout the story. As he stares out the window
of his estate, he sees his “mysterious quarry” in the window’s reflection. As Batman returns to Wayne Manor, the
memories of his childhood encompass him. As he proceeds further inside, the
walls of the Bat-cave begin to close in on him as he finally confronts his
adversary: Bruce Wayne himself! As
Bruce proceeds to threatens to keep his promise of destroying the Batman, a
caped figure dashes to the rescue: Bruce(Batman)’s
father in the original bat costume. He explains to the Batman that the
warehouse explosion he had recently been in has affected his mind. His father
begs Bruce(Batman) to save himself while
he holds the walls. Batman dives to save him instead, and both men go sprawling
onto the floor safely. The reader discovers that it was Robin in disguise all
along. Batman tells him that he needs to be alone, and the last page of the
comic reveals Batman on a rooftop overlooking Gotham City with the words below:
“The streets of Gotham City are cold at night, sprayed
with shapes and shadows and unexpected sounds—but those who walk these mean
streets by twilight do so unafraid, for they can sense the protective presence
that watches over them and they know that they are not alone. Every night, without
cease, without slumbering, the Batman prowls the streets of the city he loves,
the dark avenger, the eternal champion – for the Batman is a legend…and legends
can never die.”
--
On
July 2nd of this month, the pastor at my church delivered a
beautiful service, and in the climax of his sermon, he states the following: “Freedom
is not found in what makes you happy, but in submission to God.” Prior to this
statement, he had mentioned how before Thomas Jefferson’s penmanship in the Declaration of Independence appeared to
Americans that another pamphlet had been introduced by Thomas Paine, which I
knew he was referring to Common Sense.
Most of us at my church are in Education, so most of us already are very
familiar with this famous writing. What is even more fascinating to me about
this pamphlet are three things even my pastor may not be aware of:
· - Common Sense was published January 10th, 1776
(Continental Congress approved the Declaration
of Independence in July that same year)
· - It was originally
published anonymously
· - It was criticized for
ungrammatical language and abrasive imagery
Now
for Blockhead’s main points to elaborate on:
-How astonishingly
writing can change the course of history!
It would only be six months before America would declare
war on Britain after the publication of Common
Sense! It went through 25 editions within that year alone, spoke directly
to a mass audience and converted thousands of citizens to the cause of American
independence.
-Is
the person writing the message or the message itself more persuasive to the
masses?
In his book The American
Revolution: A History, Professor Gordon S. Wood communicates to the reader
that Paine’s pamphlet “was the most incendiary and popular of the entire
Revolutionary era…Paine rejected the traditional and stylized forms of
persuasion designed for educated gentlemen and reached out for new readers
among the artisan – and tavern-centered worlds of the cities…he showed the
common people, who in the past had not been involved in politics, that fancy
words and Latin quotations no longer mattered as much as honesty and sincerity
and natural revelation of feelings.”
-Can
Biblical principles and patriotism join forces to really make America great?
Wood goes on to write, “Unlike more genteel
writers, Paine did not decorate his pamphlet with Latin quotations and learned
references to the literature of Western culture, but instead relied on his
readers knowing only the Bible and the Book
of Common Prayer.”
In the first chapter of The Untold Legend of the Batman, Bruce says at his parents grave
that law enforcement is ‘too often hamstrung by the very laws they’re sworn to
uphold.’ Thus, he had to find another way to avenge their deaths: by becoming a
symbol, a disguise that strikes terror into the hearts of criminals.
--
Consequently, another antidote to passive and
apathetic ‘Merica!
1) Submission to God brings
true happiness.
2) Reading of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense embodies a true democratic
spirit for America.
3) Legends like the vigilante
of Gotham never die, but are never promised the spotlight…and those who wear
the symbol of the Patriot and wait in the dark are in need. American citizens today
so desperately need “the protective presence that watches over them” …so that they
know that they are not alone.
-Blockhead
7/15/17
Comments
Post a Comment