Shortpacked! by David Willis

Discussion (19) ¬

1. 
   MrGBH

   July 8, 2010 at 3:17 pm | # | Reply

   I can’t tell if this comic’s being sarcastic or not. Batman Begins was a terrible film.

   • 
     JayStrang

     August 31, 2010 at 2:42 am | # | Reply

     I think you’re pretty much alone on that one.

     • 
       No0ne

       September 23, 2010 at 2:43 am | # | Reply

       Nope, I much perfer the Mask of the Phantom orgin for Batman over Batman Begins. Mostly becuse this one lacks the Batman going EVERYWHERE to learn EVERYTHING fromt he person who was the BEST at what he was learning.
   • 
     Zachary

     March 23, 2011 at 1:04 am | # | Reply

     I can’t support you on that one. Awesome flick.
   • 
     Zacula

     April 22, 2011 at 5:34 pm | # | Reply

     Not really, no. It actually gets better every time I watch it. Dark Knight was good too.

     That said, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is one of my favorite movies. Ever. Like Begins and Dark Knight, it made cartoon Batman into a relatively realistic Batman. He does amazing crap, but to evade an army of police officers he has to lose most of his equipment, get the crap beaten out of him, and still has to be saved by an accomplice. He’s a very human character in the movie, yet still very much the badass Batman.

     Wow, sorry about the nerd rant. It happens sometimes.
   • 
     Jetstream

     December 11, 2011 at 5:51 pm | # | Reply

     Seppuku. Now.
2. 
   Rachel

   September 9, 2010 at 10:51 pm | # | Reply

   I personally didn’t like Batman Begins, but that’s simply because I prefer a mysterious Batman. It takes away half the fun when you know exactly how he does every little thing. But I can see why other people really like it. And also…dear God, could Christian Bale have come up with any voice worse for Batman? He’s a good actor, but…no, just no.

   • 
     Lis

     May 12, 2013 at 2:56 am | # | Reply

     I have a friend who has said this many times and I have to agree Christian Bale makes a far better Bruce Wayne than Batman but this is solely due to his practice in American Psycho
3. 
   Tetsukalian

   October 3, 2010 at 3:43 am | # | Reply

   I liked Batman Begins and the Dark Knight exactly because it made Batman more human. He is SUPPOSED to be a flawed character, kick-ass crimefighter or no. It makes him more 3 dimensional when you can see him more in a human light. I don’t think it takes a thing away from him. He still has an air of mystery, but if you make a character impossible to connect with, then what is the point of the character? I love the mysterious, perfect comics Batman as much as the next guy, but for a movie, if you want it to be a good movie and not fall into farce like Batman and Robin or Batman Forever, then he needs to have humanity and needs to be accessible as a human being, as well as the mysterious Dark Knight.
4. 
   Shade

   January 7, 2011 at 8:37 pm | # | Reply

   You guys are kidding right? No one wants a perfect character in a movie, they want someone with flaws and is actually entertaining to watch. Comics and movies are very different media.

   Personally I like Batman not because he’s perfect, but because he kicks butt and it’s all him, he has no powers he’s just a human and he is still awesome. Knowing and understanding how he does stuff only makes it even better, because then you realise that Batman figured this all out faster then you could ever hope to.

   My least favourite superhero conversly is Superman, I just find him dull.

   • 
     Lesharo

     February 3, 2011 at 2:16 pm | # | Reply

     My friend and I have this same argument/discussion all the time, as I’m sure a lot of people (pronounced “Geeks”) do. Superman is the super-powered golden boy, perfect, annoyingly so. Batman is a normal person with a tragic past who grew up and decided to do something about the world. His only “super power” is his mind, the same kind of ingenuity most people have, just applied. He makes for the much more inspiring character. All of this is, of course, just my opinion.
   • 
     Zacula

     April 22, 2011 at 5:40 pm | # | Reply

     Batman is more interesting psychologically, whilst Superman SHOULD be used for philosophical questions. Mostly centering on the concept of the Uber-Menschen. Truth be told, most modern incarnations of Superman are pretty bland and uninteresting. The character has no depth and completely fails to hold my attention. That said, Golden-Age Superman (can do everything humans can do, except much better) still counts as interesting to me. As well as his clone/son/possible successor Superboy, whose past is almost as filled with random tragedy and horror as those of Batman’s sidekicks. His reporter girlfriend? Died. Horribly. His parentage? Superman and Lex Luthor, the latter of which briefly made him turn on the hero community and still torments him for no particular reason.

     Damn, I did a nerd rant again. Sorry.
   • 
     TPKill

     January 4, 2013 at 10:46 pm | # | Reply

     The thing about Superman is that it is from the wrong point of view. Superman is a super-powerful alien who frequently causes huge amounts of property damage. He does good without much motivation and therefore without much of a reason to continue doing good instead of, say, destroying the human race. In any other story it would be Lex Luthor who would be the good guy.
     Lex is much like batman, someone with no powers whatsoever using just his brains to fight people who would otherwise be able to kill him by blinking. In fact I think Lex is almost as admirable as Batman. While Batman has fought Superman a couple of times Lex fights him on a regular basis and he’s still alive. It’s like an ant standing up to a god and being able to walk home afterwards.
5. 
   The Sound Defense

   January 21, 2011 at 4:55 pm | # | Reply

   Different Batmen for different media. Sometimes I feel like supremely awesome, comic-book super-detective Batman (for example, when I’m playing Arkham Asylum) and sometimes I feel like conflicted, human Batman. For the former, there’s no need to see a backstory, but it certainly didn’t hurt the latter.

   That’s one thing I loved about Dark Knight Joker, though. He comes out of nowhere and it’s impossible to figure out where he came from, what created him, what possessed him. It adds to his mystique and makes him frightening to behold.
6. 
   Plasma Mongoose

   June 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm | # | Reply

   Deconstructing a character can lead to many unfortunate conclusions.
7. 
   Jan arrah

   September 15, 2011 at 1:30 am | # | Reply

   Hated Batman Begins not because Batman was “human” but because he was just a rich guy in a suit. He wasn’t Batman. I want my Batman to be the world’s greatest detective, not some shmuck in a Bat suit that just so happens to have enough money to buy brilliant people who can do his thinking for him. Also hated that Ras Al Ghul created Batman, Bruce had no ideas during the whole movie that were his own and the stupid girlfriend? Useless subplot
8. 
   Dave who hates bad pet owners

   December 5, 2011 at 9:18 pm | # | Reply

   College humor did a couple of great cartoons about the new movie Batman in the shared DC universe. Of course every comic in this thread has been made moot by the release of Miller’s “Batman Year One” on DVD.

   • 
     Dave who hates bad pet owners

     December 5, 2011 at 9:19 pm | # | Reply

     Comment, not comic…Freudian slip.
9. 
   dragoonchris

   December 28, 2011 at 3:41 pm | # | Reply

   You can make fun of his voice like everyone else.

   I don’t get why people are complaining about his human side, most incarnations I see always talks about his parnets’ deaths that leads him becoming Batman. Episodes like Mad Hatter controlling Batman’s mind, Dr. Strange seeing into Bruce’s mind, or that alien plant landing on Batman woundn’t exist.