Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/06/piketty-vs-gotham.html
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There was a comic in Batman Black and White called Batman Zombie that touched on this. Batman would gain strength by punching mob dudes but would appear gaunt when someone would ask him for help with their foreclosed mortgage or medical bills.
I’d love to see more stories like this.
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Plenty of Lex Luthors though.
See also: Superman, A Transitional Power Source…
I’m starting to think comic books aren’t super realistic. 
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Batman is perfection how dare you question him.
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Depends on the writer. Late Frank Miller Batman is basically a fascist.
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Yeah The Dark Knight Returns has not aged well. Still a good read but very problematic with the worldview.
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It’s still aged a lot better than The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
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I am fine with both of them within the context of that universe/storyline. He’s still perfect.
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President Lex Luthor doesn’t sound so bad. At least he wants a world to be on top of rather than burning it all down.
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It isn’t the formal definition. It isn’t even the correct definition. It’s just something they said in Alcoholic’s Anonymous, and it’s only been around for 30-odd years.
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"surely some of the prevailing equivocation of extreme wealth with virtue is due to cognitive dissonance of living in a world where we are ever-more subject to the wills and whims of the super-rich."
So, Corey, you’re saying that this “cognitive dissonance” is perhaps a cause of societal Stockholm Syndrome? We all feel so threatened by the super-wealthy above us – as well we should – that we unconsciously choose to identify with them as a way of lessening our anxiety?
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Luthor has higher ethical standards than most of them.
But then again he is a fictional character invented by non-billionaires.
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Aw, now I want a white-collar Batman - some guy who dresses up in a crazy, scary costume and goes around using his considerable detective skills (and financial knowledge from his privileged background) to detect and investigate financial crimes and brutalize their perpetrators before sending them to jail.
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The Dark Knight Strikes Again has a certain demented charm, and geting the Warner Brothers entertainment corporation (or whatever it’s called) effecively to pay for your colourist to learn computer colouring is not a bad thing.
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I dunno, I think it’s still one of the best comic stories ever. It is a bit dated with the 80 Ultra-violence vibe I like to call it. But over all still really like it.
I have that, but it left so little of an impression I can’t remember what it is about. I didn’t get DK III as what I have heard of it hasn’t made me want to break my “I don’t collect comics any more” rule.
I did buy Gary Gianni’s Hellboy - Into the Silent Sea and it was great. I guess I should over share and do a post on comic con.
I slogged through the funny book version and highly recommend Denny O’Neil’s subversive, spot on story.
Don’t want to post any spoilers – ask and I’ll leak. Suffice to say, only a couple of parodies have had a more accurate take, but the comics themselves (understandably) never.
If one’s going to leak one’s contribution, at least use a scanning app instead of just photographing the two pages. Posting the actual text would of course be better – and more appropriate to the theme of the essay.
One of the things that bother me about the character is that as a billionaire in an absurdly corrupt city, the best he can do is beat up people. I mean, I get the necessary adolescent fantasy stuff but there’s a huge stupidity at the core of the character as presently conceived.
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