Womack ,'The Message'
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I would be marginally okay if they avowedly decided that Gotham is not New York at all
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't this already been done? Does Gotham have a Statue of Liberty, or a Rockefeller Plaza, or an Empire State Building? Has it been being drawn like NYC this whole time and I'm so metropolis(har) impaired it's gone over my head?
Gotham is just Gotham. IIRC, the DC universe acknowledges NYC, as well as its own made-up locales.
Hasn't "Gotham" been used as a nickname for NYC since long before Batman? Making Gotham really resemble some other real place seems confusing.
I don't know if the nickname predates Batman, but yeah, if you mention Gotham and you're not talking comics, you're talking about NYC. I get my glasses from Gotham Eyewear. I used to work around the corner from the Gotham Comedy Club. I read Gothamist for my local gossipy news tidbits. Superpages.com has 150 listings for businesses named Gotham Such-and-such in Manhattan alone. It just...is.
Hasn't "Gotham" been used as a nickname for NYC since long before Batman?
Yes. But it was used as a fake name before NYC was a twinkle in the Pilgrim's eyes.
Making Gotham really resemble some other real place seems confusing.
Too late. DC already been there and done that.
DC already been there and done that.
What real-world city does it currently resemble in the comics?
What real-world city does it currently resemble in the comics?
None, as far as I can tell. And if it did, under one writer/artist, it'd change with the next team. It's just Gotham. A place that doesn't actually exist for us.
It's just Gotham. A place that doesn't actually exist for us.
That's very different than explicitly making it Chicago.
That's very different than explicitly making it Chicago.
I never argued the point that explicitly making it Chicago was good. Or bad.
I only argued the point that people shouldn't be caught up in the non-NYCness, because it's not NYC. In fact, if you scroll back, you'll see I do mention that it's possible to be distractingly like another city.
In fact, if you scroll back, you'll see I do mention that it's possible to be distractingly like another city.
Okay, but you were responding to:
Making Gotham really resemble some other real place seems confusing.
So I took your "done that" as meaning that DC had already made Gotham resemble some other real place.
I only argued the point that people shouldn't be caught up in the non-NYCness, because it's not NYC.
I said very early on that it wasn't so much the non-NYC-ness as it was the Chicago-ness. Totally imaginary Gotham = fine. Real-city-that-isn't-NYC-Gotham = confusing and wrong.