DARK NIGHT: A TRUE BATMAN STORY - REVIEW/REFLECTION

Sometimes I feel like I don't utilize the "Comic" in the Comic Junkie in my name enough. Sure I can discuss movies and TV shows and once in a blue moon the video games all day long, but what about the comics? The source material, man! Let's talk about that too! . . . Or at least, that's what I say to myself . . . Anyway!

I don't really do comic book reviews anymore because they are time consuming and frankly it wasn't that much fun. I'd rather throw my opinions out there and see what sparks people's interests. Plus, I like keeping the site positive and exciting. Often when reviewing comics, you'll find that many that you buy aren't that great. I'd rather focus on the positive stuff since there is so much negativity out there these days. I like feeling like I'm doing my part to brighten someone's day.

But today, we're going to do things just a little different. I am going to give a review (of sorts) of a recent graphic novel I read, but I'm also gonna share my side of things. And yes, this is me shamelessly ripping off the great Paul Dini, but I'd like to think that he'll read this one day and be happy that his story inspired someone.

Dark Night: A True Batman Story is not exactly a Batman story. It's actually an autobiographical story about Dini himself and a traumatic event that he experienced and how he rose above it, but more importantly, how that event still haunts him to this day - and that's ok. For those of you that don't know, Dini was a story editor/writer for Batman: The Animated Series.

You might have heard of it 

Paul gives us a backstory on his childhood and then working for Warner Bros Animation. He then opens up about the night he was mugged and beaten nearly to death. He spent the next several months recuperating both physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's a really touching story where the Bat-Rogues are putting him down or encouraging his self-destructive behavior (drinking, self abuse, procrastination) but Batman is there telling him to get up and get back to work. Ultimately, Dini does go back to work and ends up writing several of the best episodes of the series as well as working on Superman: the Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. Dini's story, while exaggerated, is extremely relatable. I think at some point in all of our lives we have all gone through some sort of life changing event. Now for a lot of people it could be moving, falling in love, going back to school, or some sort of tragedy. Well for me . . . It was all of those . . . 

Since Mr. Dini was brave enough to tell his story, I thought I would share mine. Now granted, Dini's story is much more colorful and exciting because he had the great Eduardo Risso illustrating it and I just have this blog. So bare with me if my story is slightly more boring. Also, my apologies for shamelessly ripping off Dini's idea. But then again, Harley Quinn was based on the henchgirls that the Rogues had during the 1966 Batman TV series so who's the real hack here? HUH? . . . Me. It's still me . . . Anyway!

About four years ago, it was New Years Eve and I was all alone. I was working full time at a Neurology office in North Carolina and as a part time delivery driver at Pizza Hut. Well, needless to say most of my friends came from Pizza Hut since they were closer in age. That year, I realized New Years was coming up and not only did I not have a date but I didn't have any plans. I wanted to fix that! I asked a few of the guys what they were doing and got very non-committal responses. Same with the girls. "Oh I dunno. I might go to this party. I might go downtown. I'm not sure yet." I could tell they were lying to me. Worse still, I KNEW they were lying when I heard a few of them saying they were definitely going to their friend's house downtown. I called them out immediately, "I thought you said you didn't know what you were doing?" I got a blank stare as she tried to come up with an answer, "Well I don't. I mean I'm supposed to go to my friend's house but I don't know for sure."

"Uh huh," I replied. I went out on a delivery and burst into tears. All I could think was, "Why didn't I get invited? What's wrong with me?" I had felt that way for a very long time. I felt like no one cared about me, at least not in North Carolina. When I got back to the store, that same girl looked at me and said, "Were you just crying?" I said, "No." She didn't believe me and hugged me. Truthfully, it was little comfort. I didn't tell her why I was upset. I didn't say much of anything. I finished my side work for the night and went home. I bought some beer on my way home and drank myself into the New Year. 2012. Awesome, another miserable lonely year.

I called my sister that lives in Pittsburgh and asked what it was like to live there. "I'm thinking about moving there. I hate it here. I feel like no one cares about me here." She was excited about the idea of me moving to Pittsburgh. She even offered me her basement so I could have some privacy and live rent-free while I figured out what to do. I thought it sounded great. So we made a few loose plans. Then . . . SHE happened. Yepp . . . I met someone. I had pretty much given up on dating at that point. But . . . You know how it goes. She was a waitress at Pizza Hut and at first I thought she didn't like me until she accepted an invite to a party I was hosting. She actually came! I said aloud and in my head. She seemed shocked that someone would say they were coming to a party and then not show up. Well, not long after, we went to a couple more parties together. Then she came over one night after work. And we made out . . . a lot. It was pretty awesome. Then we started dating and fell in love and yada yada yada.

My sister said to me, "I'm so happy for you. But I'm kinda mad cuz we would have had so much fun in Pittsburgh." Well, she was right. It would have been fun but I was convinced I had found the ONE. I even started putting money aside to buy a ring. We talked about getting married, she helped me go back to school, and we even went on a couple of vacations together. 

Fall 2012 - things were really serious. We even had a favorite TV show - Arrow. It was one of those, "Don't watch it without me" shows. I was forbidden to watch it unless we were together. We had a few other shows like that but Arrow was special to me because of how much I loved The Dark Knight films and I mean jeez it's a comic book show that a pretty girl wants to watch with me!!

Although I think I had the bigger crush on Stephen Amell

She and I had really hit it off. I couldn't believe how crazy I was for her and that she was crazy for me. Fast forward to April 2013, with the blessing of my family and hers, I proposed and she said yes! We decided to put the wedding off for 2 years while she finished grad school. We got our first apartment together and things seemed to be going well. Until . . . they weren't. Arrow came out on DVD and she didn't seem interested. "Uh, I've already watched it. Plus I'm not really into it anymore." That was a strange thing to say from someone who threatened to break up with me if I watched it without her (jokingly of course). The next few months seemed really strange like something was off. She spent a lot of time out with her new (guy) friends, we weren't as (ahem) intimate as we used to be, plus wedding talk died down dramatically. I figured it was the stress of grad school. Then there was the weekend she went away. And then a second weekend she went away. I sat her down and said, "What's going on?" She said that she had indeed been very stressed out, school was very hard, plus living together was harder than she thought it would be. I admitted that I was stressed out too. Between going back to school part time, quitting Pizza Hut therefore not making as much money, and worried about what the fuck she was doing all the time, it had all gotten to me. .

"I feel like you're going to break up with me," I finally blurted out. She looked me dead in the eye, held up her ring finger and said, "See this? You're stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere!" That did make me feel better. Maybe I was just being silly. We loved each other right? We were gonna be ok! 

The following week my sister invited me to New York Comic Con. I did have some put aside from my Pizza Hut days. My fiancee couldn't go but she encouraged me to go and have fun with my sister. She and her friends took me to the train station late one night and dropped me off. I remember she hugged me and said, "No I'm not gonna cry! I'm not!" as she pulled away. I thought that was strange considering I was only going to be gone a few days. While there, unlike the year before, I didn't hear that much from her. That Saturday it seemed like she was ignoring me. It was unlike her not to respond right away. When I finally did get a hold of her she claimed to have been sleeping all day. I was pretty upset by that. When she took her "getaways" I made sure the house was clean when she got home. She didn't seem to be sharing that idea, even though she originally talked about us being on a strict cleaning regimen. I was really put off. And I wasn't the only one. My sister kept saying how weird that was. "It's weird that she's not saying much to you. You're supposed to be engaged. She's acting weird." My sister was right. Even my other sister, who unfortunately couldn't join us, agreed. She was saying the exact same thing.

As I got on the train to go home, I received a text from her that said, "Can you find a ride home? I have to work late and I don't want to leave you out there all night." I was a little annoyed thinking, "Jeez, I want to see you!" But I said yes, and my stepmom agreed to come pick me up. During the train ride she texted, "I love you." My first thought was, "That's really random!" Then I laughed at that and the weird twist in my stomach and responded, "I love you too." My stepmom was waiting there for me at the train station, joking how she got there right as my train pulled up. She was excited over her luck. We laughed a bit when my fiancee called her. Again, weird I thought, calling her and not me. "Did you pick up a JJ?" she asked in an excited voice. Since it was on bluetooth I said, "Yes dear! I'm here!" I could hear her smiling, "Oh good! Listen, I have to run to my mom's real quick but I promise I'll be there when you get home!" I said, "Ok good. I'll see you there! I love you." "I love you too." 

My stepmom took me to Wendy's for a quick dinner. I tried texting her but she did not respond and her phone kept going to voicemail. I even texted her mom asking if she was with her. Nobody was answering. Still with that twist in my stomach, I chalked it up to a dead phone (she was bad about charging it) and her mom's phone being in another room. Then my stepmom drove me home. I saw a piece of paper wrapped up on the door. I figured it was a take out menu. I was wrong. It was a good bye letter from the woman I was planning on spending the rest of my life with. I only read the letter once and the only other person that ever read it was my therapist. The bullet points are this:

• We're not getting along any more and I don't think I love you anymore.
• You're drinking too much and it's bothering me.
• We're too different.
• I found paperwork that says you've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and I can't deal with that.
• I've written letters to your family explaining why I did this.
• Please don't contact me.
• Good bye forever.

I fell to my knees weeping hysterically. My stepmom was flabbergasted. She called my dad and he said the same thing. I called both of my sisters as well as my mentor/best friend, and told them what happened. They had all met and loved her. Each one of them was completely shocked by her complete 180. My father was furious. My stepmom couldn't believe it. My oldest sister, who I had just gone to Comic Con with, said she was coming to get me and take me to Pittsburgh with her. My other sister was also furious. My mentor was extremely shocked and appalled. No one could believe it. And let's break down those bullet points:

• We weren't getting along because she would either come home very late or not at all and it was bothering me. So we fought as to why I was spending my nights alone rather than with my fiancee. 
• Yeah, Ok. I was drinking a lot. But she smoked a lot. So there! 
• We were only different because it turns out she lied about liking things like comic books and  Arrow just to impress me.
• There is absolutely no paper work anywhere that says I'm bipolar. None. My encounter forms from my therapist office said I was major depressive disorder. And plus - Hi! Going to therapy! Some would say that's a step in the right direction.
• There were no letters. My family claims to never have received any letters. They all admitted that even if they had there is no way in Hell she could convince them that she was in the right anyway.
• I won't contact you. And I didn't. All I did was text her mother and tell her I wanted the ring back. I never spoke to her again.
• Good bye forever. I can't believe I ever loved you.

So you might be wondering at this point, what does this have to do with Dark Night or Arrow? Well, here it is. That year is when season 2 of Arrow started. It literally started the night I got on the train to go to New York. My sister and I had grown obsessed with it. In a year that was supposed to be filled with pre-marital bliss and wonderment, I was instead all alone in a half empty apartment. All that work we had done setting it up and still making plans for it was all for not. I didn't have much going for me except the support of my loving family and friends, some brand new friends that had never met her, Arrow, and Modern Family. 

While Arrow became much more of the awesome comic book fueled adventures that I had hoped for in Season 1, Modern Family was this weird little show that I had always heard of but had never seen. It wasn't until the USA Network picked up the reruns that I really got into it and laughed out loud at almost every episode. I had seen a couple while sitting in the apartment wondering where my fiancee was but then my sister and I watched it in the hotel room in New York at night. We became infatuated with it. It was so funny and we saw a lot of ourselves in the characters. 

So there ya go. During what should have been the toughest, saddest, most depressing year of my life I had two television series at my disposal to keep me entertained and my mind off of this terrible, life altering event. I bought every season of Modern Family and watched it almost nonstop for almost a month straight. Every Wednesday was a new episode of Arrow and there was even talk of a spin off for The Flash! 

We all know how that turned out 

I can never truly repay my family and friends for being there for me during this event in my life. My father called it a robbery and I was the victim. He isn't wrong, is he? Truth be told I've learned that man is rarely wrong but don't tell him I said that ;)  I made new friends that learned my story and told me I was better off. I don't know what it was but I always believed it. For the first time in my life, I genuinely felt like I was better off without her. A few months before that I couldn't dream of my life without her. Now I look back and wonder what the hell I ever saw in her. She was a liar, a manipulator, but worst of all, she didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye. Lucky for me I had Modern Family to make me laugh and Arrow to make me go "What the fuck! How is Oliver gonna get out of this one?!" Both shows brought me a lot of happiness in a time of my life that was truly difficult. 

While I doubt the writers of Arrow and/or Modern Family will ever read this I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I went through a truly heart wrenching event but it was much easier to go through while I was laughing my ass off with the Pritchetts and the Dunphys or while I was cheering for the Arrow to save Starling City. 

I also want to thank Paul Dini. When I was a kid I was absolutely in love with Batman: The Animated Series. When I was in high school, the DVDs started coming out and I watched them over and over again. I couldn't believe how sophisticated the storytelling was! When I was a kid it was cool to see Batman fight the Joker. Now that I was older, it was cool to see WHY they were such polar opposites. When I heard about the Dark Night story I was intrigued. It sounded kind of interesting and I've always loved Dini's work. Then I read it. I was mesmerized. I loved it so much. I felt like I could connect. I can never imagine such a brutal attack but I did have my own trauma. Dini survived his ordeal with the help of his imagination and the endless love he has for Batman and his rogues. I survived mine with the help of Oliver Queen and the hilarious hijinks that the Dunphys and Pritchetts seem to always get into. 

So that's my story! Maybe one day I'll shamelessly steal Paul's idea and turn it into a graphic novel. But for now, I felt like it was ok to share this with you. This blog is very personal to me. I love writing down my ideas and getting excited for new comics, movies, games, TV, what have you. It always makes me smile and I hope it does the same thing for you!

Till Next Time!

JJ - The Comic Junkie!