Thursday, July 19, 2007

Internet 'sometimes inaccurate' shock

In my quest to understand what 'the kids' are into, I've set up a Facebook account. So far it's been fun in a rather laboured way. The opportunity to 'poke' people is somewhat unsettling. Looking at one of my new friend's pages, I saw the results of one of those 'What Kind of X Am I' quizzes, with a link to the originating site. There I found a quiz titled 'How Well Do You Know Batman', which I thought might result in a 'hey look, I do have a personality' bit of decoration for my sparse Facebook page. This seemed OK apart from a tendency for all the questions to have 'Michael Caine' as an obviously wrong answer... until Question 8:

8. Who is not a Batman ally.

Catwoman
Batgirl
Ace
Alfred
Robin

OK. I'm sure most people are aware of Robin, Batman's plucky young ward (now on version 3; one grew up, one died but has recently been resurrected, #3 will be adopted as Bruce Wayne's son as the 'ward' arrangement is frowned on these days.) And Alfred the butler is obviously an ally, ditto Batgirl (both the original Barbara Gordon version, now a wheelchair-bound Oracle, and the scary teen martial artist in the current continuity.) Catwoman has admittedly been a villain but has spent more time as a fellow crimefighter and even lover of the 'Dark Knight'; one couldn't say she's not an 'ally'. Ace I assume refers to Ace the Bathound, Batman's mask-wearing dog* - (Bat)man's best friend so definitely an ally. I assumed the witless oafs meant Catwoman... but still only scored 9/10.

So that's it, no more internet for me....

* Probably not the cornerstone of a debate about how comics have evolved into real literature. I presume he was written out of the continuity in the 80s when DC Comics 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' wiped out countless absurd characters, incongruous plotlines and complicated multiple realities. However he seems to be back in the animated series. Hilariously, when he first appeared in the printed comic, the mask was placed on him to conceal his identity...

2 comments:

Rob said...

The quest you mention will, I predict, prove bootless, and indeed fruitless. Accept it - you're old. I'll pass on the Saga brochures...

Mister Roy said...

I figured as I used to be 'an old man inside a young man' (back when I was a young man) I'd be due some time on the opposite side of the fence by now.