Batman

I was never much of a comic book nerd...oops did I just say that out loud? I mean, I was never really into comic books. While other kids were either playing with toys, dolls or reading comic books, I was the little girl with sneakers on sitting in a tree writing songs.

But the concept that makes up the fodder for most comic books of good and evil forces colliding was not entirely absent from my life. Some of my early songwriting was similar to that of the drama from a Batman comic book. Girl meets boy. Boy treats girl nice for a week, then becomes a jerk. Girl calls friend who lives in a cave who has really neat black car that spits fire out the back to come beat up mean boy. Boy with nice car and girl go off into the sunset.

As I got older I met more people, experienced life a little  more and my life became a little more complexed. My song lyrics then started reflecting the new complexity of my life and relationships. However this time,  it was more reality not fantasy. I was writing about real relationships that went bad.  And now there  was no Batman to call on the Bat Phone to come rescue me.

In the funny pages, in addition to the usual suspects (Catwoman, Riddler, The Joker and Penguin) Batman always had a bevy of new characters to deal with that made the story lines become darker and darker. Over time with all of the muckery in my life, I have noticed that my songwriting has also become darker than what it once was.  I look at this as a good thing. It means I am writing what is true to me and that I am growing as a person.

I still love writing about love, don't get me wrong.  And Batman is still a bit of a romancer when he is his alter ego Bruce Wayne. He really knows how to charm the pantaloons off of the ladies. Of all of the actors who have played Batman over the years, Christian Bale is my absolute favorite. I love him as Batman. Just thought you would want to know.

One last parallel between Batman and The Greek Blonde girl is I live in New York City and Batman's residence was Gotham City. "Gotham" has been a nickname for New York City originating way back to 1807. Writers of Batman switched it from New York to the fictional city of Gotham in 1940 in episode 4 of the DC comic book. They did not want anyone to identify with it and say, hey I live in New York and that was me they were making fun of. The names of towns are frequently fictionalized in movies and TV shows for that reason.

So there you have it. Who needs Kevin Bacon? I was able to connect myself to Batman with only 2 degrees of separation.

Blessings,

Ava

xox