in honor of...
In honor of the first use of the character of Batman in a comic, back in March of 1939 (no I was not around then), here is a snippet I dug out of the vaults. Enjoy (or not, as you please).
title: Candles and Darkness
author: tinhutlady
universe: Batman Begins
rating: PG-ish
posted: October 2009
There was a new moon tonight, a condition that always made Gordon shiver. His mother had told him long ago that all the darkness in the world couldn't put out a single candle flame, but she'd never lived in Gotham - a city with a soul so ebon the shadows were simply patches of shade compared to the deep pitch roots grounding buildings and people within it.
Evil had always been here. That's what had attracted him in the first place. He felt a sense of duty to help, to uplift. Now his shoes were caked with the mire that eventually swallowed all the idealists living within its limits only to spit them back out as victims.
Gordon chewed on a toothpick, mulling over his bleak thoughts as he took the trash out for the night - trash carefully gleaned of all information that could be used against him and his family. He was watched, he knew, and he didn't want to give away even one scrap of paper that could be misconstrued. He still believed he could make a difference, and that small hope coupled with a recent turn of events had rekindled his drive fourfold, now that he had an ally.
And even that bright spot, his ally, was a cause for concern. There was no explaining a man who went to such lengths to bring the city back from the brink of destruction. Gordon had been given a taste of the technology this man had at his beck and call - and it made him break out in a cold sweat every time he thought of the man switching sides in the war. What if Batman's passions changed? Who could stop him? What if the man's passions didn't change, but intensified? What if they began to find death in the Batman's wake of justice?
What then?
Something made a noise above him, and Gordon quickly ducked, sidestepped, and glanced upward all in one long-practiced dance of self-defense. Nothing. Further up, the night sky loomed over the city - a dark, orange-tinged dome that shut in all the pollution and fetid thoughts, and kept the twinkling stars at bay.
Despite the hardships it placed on his family, he would stay here. He had to. There was still that dream of making a difference guiding his faltering footsteps. Maybe Batman had the same problems, the same dreams, the same pessimism tempered with hope.
Maybe Batman's mother had taught him something about candles, too.
title: Candles and Darkness
author: tinhutlady
universe: Batman Begins
rating: PG-ish
posted: October 2009
There was a new moon tonight, a condition that always made Gordon shiver. His mother had told him long ago that all the darkness in the world couldn't put out a single candle flame, but she'd never lived in Gotham - a city with a soul so ebon the shadows were simply patches of shade compared to the deep pitch roots grounding buildings and people within it.
Evil had always been here. That's what had attracted him in the first place. He felt a sense of duty to help, to uplift. Now his shoes were caked with the mire that eventually swallowed all the idealists living within its limits only to spit them back out as victims.
Gordon chewed on a toothpick, mulling over his bleak thoughts as he took the trash out for the night - trash carefully gleaned of all information that could be used against him and his family. He was watched, he knew, and he didn't want to give away even one scrap of paper that could be misconstrued. He still believed he could make a difference, and that small hope coupled with a recent turn of events had rekindled his drive fourfold, now that he had an ally.
And even that bright spot, his ally, was a cause for concern. There was no explaining a man who went to such lengths to bring the city back from the brink of destruction. Gordon had been given a taste of the technology this man had at his beck and call - and it made him break out in a cold sweat every time he thought of the man switching sides in the war. What if Batman's passions changed? Who could stop him? What if the man's passions didn't change, but intensified? What if they began to find death in the Batman's wake of justice?
What then?
Something made a noise above him, and Gordon quickly ducked, sidestepped, and glanced upward all in one long-practiced dance of self-defense. Nothing. Further up, the night sky loomed over the city - a dark, orange-tinged dome that shut in all the pollution and fetid thoughts, and kept the twinkling stars at bay.
Despite the hardships it placed on his family, he would stay here. He had to. There was still that dream of making a difference guiding his faltering footsteps. Maybe Batman had the same problems, the same dreams, the same pessimism tempered with hope.
Maybe Batman's mother had taught him something about candles, too.