Obviously I loved The Dark Knight. I knew I would: everything I saw leading up to the release promised that it would be even better than Batman Begins. So while it's no surprise that I and just about everybody else in America loved it, I would still like to spend a little time elaborating on my specific reasons for loving it so much.

(By the way, I should mention that this blog post is going to be filled with spoilers throughout. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you go see it now. I'll still be here when you come back.)

I could go on about the improved bat-suit (I've always hated the cumbersome body armor--the new model is at least a step in the right direction), the excellent story (I started to wonder where the different threads were leading, but then the final two minutes of the film brought it all together perfectly), and of course Heath Ledger's amazing performance (what else needs to be said?).

As great as these things are, I'm not going to talk any more about them. What I really want to discuss are what I see as the major themes the film addresses. Batman has been around for nearly 70 years, and has seen many new interpretations in the comics. Comic books are like any other medium in that most of the output is crap, but there have been a few ideas about Batman in 70 years that are truly inspired. What Christopher Nolan has done in his films is take the best ideas and make them work together.

My favorite thing about Batman Begins was the emphasis on Batman/Bruce Wayne's dual nature. This is something I realized from watching The Animated Series: Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is just an act, and Batman is his true personality. It's a revelation the first time you realize this about Batman, and Nolan nailed it. The Dark Knight adds to it no fewer than three of my favorite concepts from the comics.

The film opens with the idea that Batman's very presence inspires a different class of criminal. I'm not sure where I read this first, but I know it's in some of Frank Miller's comics. It's an answer to the question of why Superman's villains go to prison but all of Batman's go to an insane asylum. I love how in The Dark Knight Batman's success in fighting conventional crime leaves the field open for the Joker to exist as a direct reaction to the newly imposed order. What follows is a brilliant interpretation of the Joker as an agent of pure anarchy which, while maybe always existed beneath the surface, has never been as overt as it is in The Dark Knight.

As the Joker becomes a force of pure anarchy, Batman becomes pure authoritarianism, which is the second revolutionary comic-book-derived theme presented in the film. The idea can be traced directly to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which, along with Watchmen, is credited as beginning the deconstruction of the superhero. Before 1986 superhero comics uniformly depicted their protagonists as superior beings who deserved to deal out their own justice by virtue of their special powers and their moral superiority. It was an unrealistically optimistic view. The Dark Knight Returns challenges this basic assumption by depicting a Batman who is very violent, sometimes cruel, and completely outside of the law. For the first time, a Batman comic book raised questions about what moral right a man has to appoint himself a crimefighter. Some of Frank Miller's written and spoken statements since then suggest that his personal opinions about the Batman are more positive than has often been assumed, The Dark Knight Returns can still be read as subverting the superhero archetype. Frank Miller revealed how authoritarian Batman really is, and the reader can judge the morality of it.

This idea is all over the new Dark Knight film, most significantly in the moment that Batman reveals a device that lets him spy on virtually every citizen in Gotham. It's also evident when he asserts that he alone, and nobody else, has the right to be going around in a costume fighting crime. This doesn't mean he's not heroic. Just as with The Dark Knight Returns comic, it's possible to cheer for Batman every step of the way and get thrills from watching him trounce the bad guys, but still recognize the basic moral contradiction behind his actions.

The third thing I was glad to see Nolan incorporate into the new film is not so much a theme as it is a story element or concept. Like I mentioned above, I was wondering for a while how the Joker and Two-Face story threads were going. I thought it was great that the struggle for Harvey Dent's soul also turned into Batman's ultimate fight against Joker's anarchy. The idea that the Joker intentionally took the most good and pure public figure in Gotham and drove him to insanity is lifted directly from The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. It's a pretty simple idea, but greatly executed in both cases. The philosophical struggle between Batman and Joker is far more intriguing than any physical battle could ever be.

So there you have it. These are the ideas that make The Dark Knight not just the best Batman movie, but probably the best superhero film ever made. And I emphasize film, because while people are talking about how this elevates the whole superhero genre, I must point out that all of the moral complexity and philosophical questions it contains were first introduced in the Batman comic books over twenty years ago. In other words, the greatest superhero film of all time has merely caught up to where comics were in 1986.

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend. We definitely did!

It started off with an unlikely movie offering - Son of Rambow at the cheap theater! I almost took a long drive and paid regular rates to see this movie. Now I'm glad I didn't, because you just can't beat having a limited release movie showing less than a mile away from work for only $1.50. I napped during the rest of the afternoon. The back needed rest. That evening, I drove over to Gron's for girls' night. Dan and Jenine were visiting from Boston, for the first time in a few years. The guys had their poker night while the girls went out on the town. We had a progressive dinner type of night. We started by walking a mile or so to Cafe Veronese, where we shared a fruit and cheese platter out in the garden. From there we went to Frati for some gelato, and we ate out on the patio, where we could hear a little bit of the music from Steamers. We kept on walking, to Stubrik's, for a little bit of nostalgia, some squaw bread, and a few drinks. We walked back to the apartment after that, and while a couple girls went home, I stuck around with Grace and Jenine. I played some piano pieces for them and we chatted. I was just about to leave when Ric told me the poker was almost over, so I waited and drove him home around 3am. It was just like the old days.

Saturday, I slept in, did a bit around the house (I'm trying to be more consistent with cleaning and chores - we'll see how long it lasts!) and then Ric and I captured the cat to take him to the vet. Pip is so funny. We never know what he's going to be like at a vet. He was good until the rectal thermometer was inserted, and then he started hissing. When the nurse went to remove it, Pip scooted forward so he could get it out as quickly as possible. Haha! We warned them that he can be testy, and they took it lightly. But when he took a good swipe at the vet, they started listening! We spent a lot of time waiting in the examination room and Pip spent most of that cowering with his head hidden under the nook of my arm. When the nurse came to take him away for a few vaccinations, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and his eyes were the widest I had ever seen. We laughed pretty hard about that. When the nurse came back, she had the vet assisting her, and they had thrown a towel over Pip's head. They were laughing a lot, so my guess is that he wasn't very friendly. We now have a goal to help him lose a little weight (he's around 15 pounds) and we also have to give him eye ointment for a small infection three times a day. During checkout from the vet (which is in a PetSmart), some crazy dude kept meowing and poking at the cat carrier. We were a step away from telling him off, but I think it was a real mental issue, so I let it go.

In the evening, we drove out to the home of Wes and Liz, in Yorba Linda. It's a beautiful home, and it was fun to see their son Christian running around. He's very talkative and mellow at the same time. Loki the dog is crazy for attention as ever. Gron and Danine rounded out the group, and we all brought our own meats to barbecue. We talked the night away on the patio. As I was telling David earlier today, I think I had forgotten what it was like when we all got together - the conversation never lulls, the variety of topics is always interesting, and my friends are freakin' smart! I love listening to them. Ric and I drove home around one in the morning.

Sunday I was the only one who had the energy for church. Ric is still a bit tired out from his accident last week, plus all the social stuff wears him out as well. I hung out with the Andersons for a bit and then went home. We weren't sure whether or not everyone was getting together again, so we stayed around the house just in case. Ric got to work on the bathroom with a second coat of paint and installation of the light (which is actually in a nickel color, but you get the idea). I watched Batman Begins and napped. Lazy me. I was in a funk yesterday. In the evening, we went to Target, got some food, played some Xbox (yay for Paperboy downloads!), and watched an episode of Sledgehammer.

Up this week: nothing planned.. yet! *Update* Movie night on Wednesday, duh! And loads of fun in grocery land tonight!

Comic-Con 2008 was pretty epic. While I didn't get to go to as many panels as I had wanted to, I had a ton of fun and I got to meet a bunch of cool folks. If you missed it, the play by play is on my Twitter feed. I'll most likely upload pics tonight but I'll leave you with some highlights:

• The Zack and Miri Make a Porno panel was even better than I thought it would be. Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks were both hilarious. The clip they showed had everyone rolling.
• Kevin's "Scream Like a Girl" panel with Pia Guerra, Lucy Lawless, Jaime King, and Gale Ann Hurd was really great too. Kevin and Lawless going back and forth was priceless, especially when he begged her to tell him who the final Cylon was.
• In what I think was a karma thing for Paul Reubens canceling, which, to be completely honest, was the person I was looking forward to meeting the most, I got to have a five minute conversation with Joss Whedon at the Hyatt on Saturday night. It was unreal.
• Frank Miller was sloshed pretty much all day Friday. His speech at the Eisners was rather amusing but also good.
• Archie from Watchmen looked just as cool up close as it does in the trailer.
• Meeting Wil Wheaton. Finally.
• Meeting and getting my books signed by David Malki, the creator of one of my favorite webcomics.
• Hanging out with Brian Lynch at the Eisners and on Saturday night. The guy is just plain awesome.
• Hanging out with the one and only Eric Wright on Saturday night.

It was a great time. I'm never not going for the full con again.