Facultade de Filoloxa

Grao en Lingua e literatura inglesas

The most realistic paradox within the brightest darkness: an

analysis of Azzarello & Rissos Batman Noir and Batman:
Arkham Origins

Author
David Claudio Vila Vieites
Director
Antonio J. Gil Gonzlez
Curso acadmico 2015/2016

Facultade de Filoloxa
Grao en lingua e literatura inglesas

The most realistic paradox within the brightest darkness: an analysis

of Azzarello & Rissos Batman Noir and Batman: Arkham Origins

Curso acadmico 2015/2016

Graduando/a:

Director:

David Claudio Vila Vieites

Antonio J. Gil Gonzlez

INDEX

Introduction

1 - Origins of the Comic, Video game and Batman

1.1 Origins of Video Games

1.2 Origins of The Bat-Man

10

2 - Narrative universes in Batman

12

2.1 Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table

13

2.2 Superman: Red Son

14

2.3 Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh

15

2.4 Batman Noir

15

3 - Batman in Video games

17

4 - Duality of Batman and the conformation of a paradox in Batman Noir and

Batman: Arkham Origins

23

5 Conclusion

35

Annex

38

INTRODUCTION

There are two main objectives intended for this work and one is going to be an
essential requisite for the conception of the other; the first of them is the mere
introduction of the figure of Batman to the reader, to achieve a basic knowledge of what
this character is. Once this is achieved, the reader would be able to get to the other goal
of this work: giving an approach of Batman as a literary figure, which constitutes a
carrier of many representations of reality, including a strong presence of the paradox
present in the title. To be able to fulfil these intentions, it is going to be necessary an
introduction not only of the representation of Batman, but also of his environment and
cultural background, so the reader can have in mind the basic concepts that build the
concept and purpose of this study. A description of the history of Batman will be
labelled, how this character was created, when and what are the chief features that give
shape to his Narrative Universe.
The two narrative sectors that I am going to analyse are the video game and the
comic. Both carry the content that constitutes the element of study; thus, for this case I
will follow the same initiative description for those areas as I did in describing
Batmans history; it will be briefly depicted the origins of the comic, what do we
understand by it and also the inception of video games as a new virtual way for
entertainment in the first years of these and their eventual becoming into something
more attached to culture. Once the origins of the comic and the video game are
described, I will focus deeply on how Batman represents a figure that dwells in a
transmedia field, which is constantly feeding itself from the blending of the different
areas such as literature, cinema and video game to be able to complete its existence
as a whole. Several Narrative Universes with evident differences between them, in
which the character of Batman appears, are going to be mentioned, with the purpose of
comparing the different worlds and their own specific characteristics, but also to see
what aspects endure in these Universes. After the account of the presence of different
realisations of Batman in culture is given, it will be time to refer to the presence of
Batman in video games, giving a list of the main Batman video games ever made, a
clipped resume of those that share more similarities with the game focused for this
study and an analysis of it: Batman: Arkham Origins (2013). All of this would conform
3

a base knowledge from which impulse the development of the matter presented for
inquiry in this study.
The comparative study of new media studies, cultural studies and game studies is
going to be the essence for the methodology used in this work. This consisted of an
approach given to the reader, a comparative analysis of the comic: Batman Noir (2013)
and the video game Batman: Arkham Origins (2013) in order to clarify a few aspects
which, under my point of view, give a point of complexity to these two categories that,
quite often, is not considered to exist in both areas. This issue is going to be the inner
meanings present in them and their relation with real life vicissitudes, such as duality
present in Batmans identity with his dark and bright sides, which fulfil each other, and
the relation that this idea has with the concept that is going to have more weight in this
work, a paradox which was, is and will be generating controversies in sociological
ponderings: the use of violence to achieve peace and prosperity.
The bibliography used allowed me to reach information - about the cultural
studies previously mentioned - which would eventually allow me to fulfil my analytic
claims; I relied on information given by several authors who provided in their respective
works some knowledge related to the issues I considered. Some of these are Antonio J.
Gil with his +Narrativa(s) Intermediaciones novela, cine, cmic y videojuego en el
mbito hispano (2012) and David Kunzle and Ren Parras Pioneros del comic:
Monsieur Cryptogame & otras historias (2014), who provided information about the
origins of the comic; Sunil Manganis Image Studies Theory and Practice (2013), he
brought concepts about the meaning present in pictures that could be used when
analysing the power of the image in Batman Noir and Batman: Arkham Origins; Carlos
D. Maroto and Luis F. Alboreca gave in Batman: de Bob Kane a Joel Schumacher
(1999) a concise description of the creation of Batman; or Tamer Thabets Video Game
Narrative and Criticism: Playing the story (2015), who exposed some features in video
game narrative which helped me to develop my hypothesis when analysing Batman:
Arkham Origns.
Before getting into the point, it will be worthy to mention how the narrative areas
which hold this works theme first appeared and how these evolved along the years, in
order to have a clearer path for the complete understanding of forthcoming statements.
Both comic and video game are relatively new ways of telling stories, and there are not
4

many studies about how they work or what their features of communication are, so it is
important to dedicate a few pages to demonstrate some aspects that will help us to get
familiarized with these two cultural fields. As I mentioned on the previous paragraph,
after the introduction for the basic comprehension of comic and video game is made,
there will be also presented an abrupt but concise and necessary introduction to the
character of Batman. Describing how and when the figure of batman first appeared is
going to be paramount, how the universe in which batman dwells is and how complex
his personality is will result to be essential for the complete acknowledge of this work.
After all the intentions pretended by the author are embodied and considered,
there is going to be a brief evaluation - written in the conclusion - of the objectives in
mind, taking into account the procedures needed and made for the fulfilment of these
goals.

1
Origins of the comic, video game and Batman

The figure of Batman is well known all around the world; people know about his
existence from comics and, mainly, from films, due to the exponential increase of superhero movies made in Hollywood in the last few years, so everyone would be able to
make a close approach to what they think that Batman is. Batman is a figure born from
the comic, which is still a not very respected platform in the literary world, being many
times recognised just as a category for kids entertainment and with a lack of cultural or
didactic background. All of this is of course a mistaken thought, which comes from the
lack of perspective and an excess of pretentiousness in high intellectual spheres. But
comics are not the only media which is intellectually underrated; in the 70s a new way
of entertainment was born: the video game. It started as a new and simple tool for
enjoyment, alongside with technology its concept evolved - faster than comics did - , its
mechanics grew more complex, its playability more enjoyable and stories were
introduced in video games, both fictional and with realistic historical background.
Lets start by explaining how the concept of comic appeared in the literary
world. As Antonio J. Gil Gonzlez mentions in his book +Narrativa(s)
Intermediaciones novela, cine, cmic y videojuego en el mbito hispano (Gil Gonzlez
2012:248), most of the critics place the beginnings of the comic, by then called comic
strip, in 1896, year in which the notorious vignette Yellow Kid is published in the New
York World. However, there are other evidences that place the foundations of this field
some years before; David Kunzle and Ren Parra give in Pioneros del Cmic: Monsieur
Cryptogame & otras historias (2014) an account of the first stories reproduced by the
use of pictures to accompany the text, essential combination in this innovative narrative
path known as the comic. In this book we can find extracts and even complete works
from these comic pioneers: Rodolphe Tpffer, Charles Amde de No (Cham),
Gustave Dor and Lonce Petit, being R. Tpffer the first of them in publishing a
graphic story with his Voyages et aventures du Docteur Festus (1829) and, a year later,
what would become his masterpiece: Monsieur Cryptogame (1845), being this last one
published in the French newspaper Lillustration (Kunzle & Parra 2014:22). When
6

talking about the origins of the comic we must not think about the origins of the use of
image with text in literature, this was already present centuries ago as, for example, in
the Middle Ages as we can see in the next illustration.

Figure 1, medieval image accompanying a text

It can be seen represented in this painting how an army is fighting against some
dragons, beneath there is a text probably related with the picture. There is a relation of
coexistence between image and text, this kind of pictures from medieval publications
used to have a supportive purpose, which reinforced the information given by the text
but did not have an extra meaning to add to the story; both image and text constituted a
whole thing: It is not easy for us to see the book paintings of the Middle Ages with
medieval eyes; for the pictures and the writings were generally meant to be read
together (Thompson 1956:19). It was in the XIX century, with the development of the
previously mentioned comic strips, when authors found in the image not only means of
supporting the text but also of additional representation. This idea of an image with its
own meaning and representative identity can be understood with the description that
Sunil Manghani gives in his Image Studies Theory and Practice (2013):
Developing along similar lines, the art historian Gotfried Bohem adopts the phrase of an
iconic turn, which, like the pictorial turn1, should not be taken as some fashionable idea.
He writes: the image is not simply some new topic, but relates much more to a different
mode of thinking, one that has shown itself capable of clarifying and availing itself of the
1

The pictorial turn was previously mentioned by the author (Manghani 2013:62). This feature was also defined by W. J. T.
Mitchell as a transformation occurring in disciplines of different human sciences and in the sphere of public culture (Mitchell
1995:12).

long-neglected cognitive possibilities that lie in non-verbal representation () In both

cases, the implication is that visual experience or visual literacy might not be fully
explicable on the model of textuality. (Manghani 2013:62)

Here, Manghani relies on Bohems idea of an iconic turn to explain that some
images have the quality of defining things that cannot be clarified with just the
capacities of the text. The perception and use of this feature was step by step building a
new literary space and creating a new platform to endure in the world of literature, with
its own distinctive characteristics and independence. These publications used to appear
weekly and were part of a structured and continuous story, such as Monsieur
Cryptogame or Chams Impressions de voyage de Monsieur Boniface (1844). This was
the aspect which made a distinction between a simple image - or various accompanying a text and a set of pictures completing and adding extra information to
the text: the narrative component present in the second one allowed the stablishing of a
new literary category.

1.1 Origins of Video Games

Video games, as we know them today, are the result of a constant evolution from
the first ludic programmes, due to the constant progress made by technology, created by
the first computers made for personal use. These kinds of programmes used to be
mainly chess, basic simulators of different strategy table games and programmes with
had very simple development processes. The first influential video game had these
simple mechanics; it was the table tennis game, developed in 1958 by Willy
Higinbotham, which was displayed on an oscilloscope. Step by step this new industry
evolved, bringing more dynamic games which were not commercialised such as Steve
Russels Spacewar! (1962) (Wolf 2012:44), but established the prolegomenon for what
would be the creation of an industry with the arrival of arcade machines in the 70s and,
short time after, with home consoles such as Magnavox Odissey (1972) (Wikipedia,
History of Video games). Video game business gained a place in the artistic media and

became massively purchased by generally young consumers, who saw a new and
interactive way of living their own stories playing with many different characters.
Once video games where settled as a new way of entertainment in the artistic
sphere, it is understandable that they would eventually merge with other artistic
disciplines and create new titles from this combination. One of these disciplines which
contributed a great deal in this sharing of artistic elements was literature. Tamer Thabet
provides a description that enhances and expands the concept of narrative when it is
considered to exist in video games.
Through literary and cinematic perspectives, the application of narrative theory
shows how the player of a game story co-narrates, becomes the perceiving character, and
replaces the protagonist by means of play/performance. Gameplay is an act of narration
fulfilled by the player and the system. (Thabet 2015:25)

Thabet considers the very act of playing the game as a form of narration, which owes its
existence to the combination of player and game. We are used to perceive the idea of
narrative as a concept present on a written work which does not need the help of the
reader to complete its existence; with this assertion, Thabet revolutionizes the concept
and gives a broader interpretation of it. The presence of a story is a paramount element
for the generation of this narrative and this is often done by transmedia processes; many
written works provided their story to video games in order to create or embellish their
plots. Antonio J. Gil Gonzlez provides some examples which support this assertion:
Podra hablarse ya de una adaptacin al medio, en todas sus variantes, tanto de obras como
el entramado temtico, genrico y argumental que sostiene el relato literario: Desde el
canon histrico, como el Quijote o la Alicia de Carroll, a clsicos de gnero fantstico, ()
la fantasa heroica (Tolkien), la ciencia ficcin (Phillip K. Dick), el gnero juvenil (J. K.
Rowling, C. S. Lewis); la intriga policaca (Agatha Christie), histrica (Dan Brown, Paulo
Coelho) o de accin (Ludlum, Clancy), decenas de ttulos literarios han llegado al
videojuego. (Gil Gonzlez 2012:208)

As we can see many novels entered into the video game world, but, is this the
only literary genre which allowed the creation of virtual narratives? No it was not, and
there is one specific intermediation which is responsible for the existence of this essay:
the combination between comic and video game. It is quite common to see how a video

game is adapted from a comic and a comic from a book but, in the case that concerns us,
this time video game comes straight from an original figure born in a comic: Batman.

1.2 Origins of The Bat-Man

Whoever who is asked about Batman will most likely describe the figure of a man
dressed with a costume which resembles the shape of a bat, talk about this character
who appears in films and in comics, has a dark personality and uses violence to get what
he needs, which is quite often what the people of his city, Gotham, need. Most of them
will describe the hero. The figure of Batman is well known all around the world; the
image of a strong man dressed in a dark suit, wearing a black coat, gliding under the
constant rain, famous for his night escapades, going to combat against crime and
investigate homicides has appeared for many years in comics, television, video games
and movies. The comic was the platform which gave birth to Batman - Called The BatMan during the first years after the creation of the anti-hero2 - and this happened in the
number 27 of Detective Comics magazine in 1939, a young Bob Kane and Bill Finger
creation which would last until today. The conception of this new character was ordered
by Vincent Sullivan, due to the recent success that Superman had achieved only some
months before; Detective Comics wanted a different super hero without superhuman
capacities and with a completely different personality from him, in order to have two
opposites in the same universe with different ways of fighting for justice. According to
Maroto, for the creation of Batman Bob Kane was inspired by three main things: the
character of El Zorro which gave shape to batmans dual personality, a Leonardo da
Vincis drawing of one of his projects for a glider and a Roland West film called The
Bat Whispers in which The Bat was a villain instead of an anti-hero. (Maroto &
Alboreca 1998:17)
From its first appearance in the number 27 of Detective Comics the success of
Batman was immediate, Bob Kane abandoned entirely his other projects to focus
exclusively on his new creation; it was a gold mine for him and something completely

I think that the term anti-hero suits better when talking about Batman than the one of hero, due
to his cynicism, his turbulent past and some anti-ethic measures he takes when fighting against crime.

10

new for the consumers. The period in which the burgeon and establishment of Batman
took place was called The Golden Age (1939 1945) (Maroto & Alboreca 1998:21),
course which started with the publishing of The Case of the Chemical Syndicate, first
number with the presence of the Bat-Man. From the very beginning, the demand of
new stories with this new character as protagonist was gigantic; Bob Kane was forced to
rely on other draftsmen and writers to be able to satisfy this demand (Maroto &
Alboreca 1999:18). Thanks to this cooperation the development of the character was
quick; a historical background was created in which the reader could know the origins
of Batman and his Universe, space that would give shape to Batmans world and
conform a living area for other characters that would affect his life. Some of them such
as Alfred, The Joker and Robin - this one lost quite a bit of importance over the last
years - became almost part of Batmans identity, moulding it and establishing new
patterns in his behaviour as a vigilante. After almost 30 years of existence it is the
1966 incarnation which proved to be the most successful, outlasting any previous or
subsequent version3 (Ellsworth, Moldoff, Giella & Infantino 2014:5).
Bruce Wayne is the person who embodies Batman and his lore is responsible of
this characters duality. While watching a theatre play when he was a kid, Bruce Wayne
told his parents he wanted to leave. Once they were outside, the event which would
mark the inception of Waynes identity happened; a thief killed Bruces parents and left
him standing beside their corpses. Since then, a sense of guilt and vengeance will
accompany Bruce Wayne for the rest of his life, creating a dark and pessimist side
which would give shape to his ethic and personal duality. This happening was going to
be crucial for the creation of Batman as a self-defence weapon for Bruce Wayne, and
became inception of the duality and the paradox analysed in this essay.

Batman (TV series), with Adam West playing the role of Batman.

11

Narrative Universes in Batman

I have described the main features of Batman, how this character is known, some
other characters surrounding Batmans environment, the place and its main
characteristics in which he dwells. But since Bob Kane gave life to the character, many
other authors contributed to the creation of many different Batmans living in many
different Universes. In this chapter I am going to make a brief overview of three main
different existing Universes with the different authors and works that gave shape to
them, giving examples of the different alternatives of Batman but also following a same
pattern in any case. Once the description of the three Universes is given, I will give as
well an account of the Narrative World dwelling in one of the works target for this
essay, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Rissos Batman Noir (2013) and see the points that
all of them have in common.
A Narrative Universe describes a geographic and social environment in which
several individuals and social groups coexist and, with their acts, build and develop the
narrative of it. Each of these Universes have their distinctions between them, even thou
the common features which define the narratives within them; They have the same
kind of intentionality, not just as products of intentions but also, in different ways and to
different degrees, through expressing thoughts or a point of view on what they
represent. (Lamarque 2014:34). These ways of expressing what they represent
characterize the narratives; it is their content which builds diversity. Despite of the
several evident differences between different Universes, they always respect some rules
which without them, there would not be possible a reasonable and coherent construction
of their characters and stories. In this case, all the different versions of Batmans
Universes preserve the duality in Batmans personality and the constant presence of a
gloomy scenario. I am going to mention three Batman comics - the ones which have
biggest narrative differences, interactions and social circumstances - which hold each
one of them different Worlds with completely different characteristics. I will give a
brief summary of their content so the reader can recall about the features which provide
variances between them.

12

2.1 Batman: Dark Knight of the round table

In Bob Laytons Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table (1998) we are
transported into a medieval myth such as King Arthur and the Knights of the round
table. Here we see the Waynesmoor family as an analogue of
Wayne family, who were expelled from King Arthurs court by
King Arthur himself. The actions that take place in this comic
happen after the birth of Mordred, incestuous son of King Arthur.
Morgana, stepsister of Arthur, has a son whit him - Mordred -, but
when Arthur finds out he tries to find his son, for he would see in
him the proof of his sin. In his final decision towards the solving of
Figure 2, Batman: Dark
Knight of the round
table (1998) cover

this issue, we perceive a reference to Moses story, because instead

of killing all the children of the Kingdom to make sure he gets rid
of Mordred, he just banish them out of his lands. One of the

banished people is Thomas Waynesmoor - analogue of Thomas Wayne, Bruces father who went to exile with his wife and his 8 year old son Bruce Waynesmoor. While the
Waynesmoors are leaving England, Morgana summons huge bat shaped monsters with
the idea of killing all the exiled, but one of the murdered people survives to this
massacre: Bruce Waynesmoor, who will suffer the loss of his parents for the rest of his
life. With the pass of time he meets Merlin and going to be trained by the mythical
wizard himself, in order to be the greatest knight of all time. He decides to use a bat
shaped suit to embody his fear and doom, chooses to fight evil motivated by his loss and
save Camelot from Mordred. Despite in this comic Batmans world is on a different era,
the motivations and feelings that make him be what he is are the same, and a dark
moment will also pursue and modify his behaviour for the rest of his life. Duality makes
possible the creation of Batmans identity.

13

2.2 Superman: Red Son

The city where Batman lives, Gotham, is inspired in New York this one was
baptised by Washington Irving as Gotham City and its society, costumes and
decorative panorama, everything represents an American perspective. In this case we
are situated in a Cold War scenario but from the opposite point of view,
the one of the USSR. Here the character of Batman was also created by the
idea of avenge his parents assassination by an NKVD4 officer. In this case,
he does not belong to a wealthy family but to a working class family,
which was pursued and murdered for spreading propaganda against the
regime of Stalin. In this case Superman, leader of the USSR, describes him
Figure 3, Superman: Red
Son (2003) cover

as a force from chaos in my world of perfect order. The dark side of

Soviet dream (Millar, Johnson & Plunkett 2003:68). The concept of

darkness is also part of Batman in this Universe and created as well as a physical and
emotional mask that would help him to fight his foes; Batman thinks that communism
brought misery to his country and family, it developed an evil society and poisoned the
very minds of the people living in it, so he decided to take extreme measures to put an
end to this immoral government. From his hideaway steals art technology from the
KGB5; first, his goals were to commit terrorist actions against some of the most
emblematic communist buildings of the city, then, when Batman sees the chance of
defeating Superman, seizes it and makes a deal with the murderer of his parents, Pyotr
Yosif Roslov, and together develop a plan to kill him. His duality is preserved in this
Universe as well - he uses violence and darker methods than the common Batman to
be able to defeat what he thinks it is wicked - but, in this case, his actions are perhaps
more motivated by hatred and rage rather than by an unique pursue for the achievement
of national justice.

Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs). It was a secret
agency which acted as a weapon for the communist party of the Soviet Union.
5
Komitet Gosudrstvennoy Bezopsnosti (Committee for State Security). It was the name given to the
soviet intelligence agency and to the secret soviet police agency.

14

2.3 Batman of Zurr - En Arrh

This Batman appeared for the first time in France Herron and Dick Sprang's
Batman #113 (1958) and more recently in Grant Morrison and Tony S Daniels Batman
R.I.P (2008). It does not come from a physical and tangible world; instead, its existence
was moulded by a supernatural environment which conforms what reality looks like
after death, but not a real death, but one prepared by Bruce Waynes unconscious to
ready him for a real deadly eventuality. This Extraterrestrial version of Batman makes Bruce Wayne not be
himself anymore in Batman RIP, he developed a selfdefence system in case he was mentally manipulated
which has the words Zurr en arrh functioning as a
trigger to this system, allowing him to keep sanity. He
Figure 3, Batman RIP (2008) vignette

elaborated a different identity which was not polluted by

Bruces or Batmans consciousness, this new self has a

unique psychic dimension that conforms it and makes Bruce be alienated from his own
fears and external manipulations and even from the very idea of dying mentioned
before, which reduces the characters aptitudes towards facing problems, being these
dispositions depleted by the fear of an incoming death.

2.4 Batman Noir

In Brian Azzarellos and Eduardo Rissos Batman Noir (2013) the aesthetics,
social panorama and geographic situation of the story are present in most of the works
in which Batman is protagonist; the wet city of Gotham always covered by the rain, the
night as the standard diary cycle in the development of the plot and the
memory of Bruces parents murder constantly affecting Batman
decisions towards all the cases he is involved in. All this happens
within a contemporary temporal space. Inner meanings expose
different representations of the city and the ideas of the different

Figure 3, Batman Noir

(2013) cover

15

characters that appear throughout the plot. These internal meanings can be revealed
through the right mixture of black and white and also with linguistic instruments;
together generate a combination of factors that will be discussed on chapter 5, factors
that make this Narrative Universe intention extremely deep in meaning and with a huge
importance of visual representation.
I chose these works due to their entirely dissimilar Universes, in each of them we
find three varieties of Batman that differ not only in their appearance with different
costumes and colours, but also in their social background, as is the case of Batman:
Dark Knight of the Round Table and Superman: Red Son, or in its psychological
realization as it would be the case of Batman of Zurr-En-Arr in Batman R.I.P. And yet,
despite all these evident and great alterations of what constitutes the most orthodox
Batman Narrative Universe, there is still an enduring pattern that is not modified by
these extraordinary narrative environments; this is Batmans duality. In saying this, we
could say that this feature is the one that provides the major part of the character
consistency, is the one which makes the difference between Batman and most anti-heros
and stablish the starting point; a reference for writers and cartoonists to take into
account before developing a new Batman world, it is something that has to be always
present. I will focus on this aspect in a further chapter, and the reader shall see why this
perennial and constant characteristic is so important for the creation of my hypothesis.

16

3
Batman in Video games

After almost fifty years of existence, first in comic books and later on in TV and
movies, - with its first appearance on TV with William Doziers Batman (1966) - the
figure of Batman completed a narrative transmedia circle with his arrival to the video
game industry, with its first title out in 1986 Batman, created by Bernie Drummond and
Jon Ritman developed by Ocean Software. This first game was a simple videoadventure game consisting in the solving of puzzles. Three years after, In 1989
Nintendo Entertainment released a new and more complex and interactive Batman game
based on Tim Burtons film Batman, released in the same year, being this time not a
graphic adventure but a platform game. Several games of the same kind were released
along the years and four more based again in their homonymous films such as Batman
Returns (1992) published by SEGA and Konami, based on the film with the same name;
Batman Forever (1995) developed by Acclaim Studios London based on Joel
Schumachers Batman Forever (1995); Batman and Robin (1998) developed by Probe
Entertainment with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics, based as
well on the homonymous film, again directed by Joel Schumacher, and finally, Batman
Begins (2005) developed by Eurocom and, as in the previous titles, based in its
homonymous film: Christopher Nolans Batman Begins (2005). (Wikipedia,
Anexo:Videojuegos de Batman).
As we can notice from the examples given above6, there is a lot of feedback in
Batman video games from its previous movie, the plot was conditioned by a story
already made before in a different media and the games were published and received as
a replica of the movies. This dynamic changed when Rocksteady Studios developed
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009). This game was based on the Mythos batman saga, so
this time the plot came straight from the comic instead of passing through the workings
and changes of a movie script. Now the gothic and dark aesthetical panorama grew in
importance, in part thanks to the huge graphical improvements which established an
important visual gap between this game and the previous ones. These pictorial
6

There are more Batman videogames that were not based on previous movies; however, I chose the most significant ones to avoid
an excess of information, which would eventually lead to a confusing and misleading reading.

17

enhancements were used to provide significance that could not be given before; they
allowed the diffusion of information exclusively set by the image, which would help to
receive a more complete story than if it was only described by a text. The development
of technology brought improvements into video game industry, this medium appears to
constantly vie for perfection through the evolution of imaging techniques, processing
power, and interactive devices (Wolf 2012:29). This power of further
communication that image has, is described by Sunil Manghani in the following way:
This of course leaves us little to say about pictures, since we can only let the
images speak for themselves [] and arguably this would seem to place
images outside of the cultural context in which they are looked at, spoken
about, exchanged, destroyed and manipulated. By contrast, the idea of the
image as a carrier of determinate meaning has given scope for a range of
theorizing with semiotics being one very obvious example. Semiotics,
when applied to phenomena other than language, is predicated on the idea
that while something might not be coded in the same manner as language,
there is a system of meaning that can be revealed. (Manghani 2013:71)

In other words, there are specific intentions of giving information that require the
additional use of a different vehicle to carry this data to the subject; in this case, the
image fulfils this function and gives to the player a better sensation of gothic and dark
environment, which is what the story pretends, if it was described just with words its
effect would not be the same. For instance, if a complete description of the concept of
anger had to be made, this action could not be completely fulfilled just with the use of
words. Words could give a sufficient description for a basic understanding of the
concept, but the support of an image or a video of an angry man or woman to the
description would give a visual experience that would enhance and complete it
altogether. This complementation of words with images allows the completion of a
narrative in the video game.
Here it is useful to repeat a line from Barthes citation: as if all substances could be
relied upon to accommodate mans stories. Barthes points to the potential that all
substances can be used in storytelling. The video game as a vehicle of narrative is made of
a mixture of written language, cinematic clips (cut-scenes),pictures, graphics, and the three
filmic sound tracks (dialogue, music and effects). (Thabet 2015:28)

This game would have its sequel two years later with the release of Batman:
Arkham City (2011) - developed again by Rocksteady Studios - following the same plot
18

as its prequel but, this time, the importance of the weather and landscape is even bigger,
for now it was necessary to explore Gotham City in order to beat the game. So there
were more options with which increase this feeling of loneliness, gothic and hostile
environment. This was achieved by focusing more on the weather, with its constant rain
and/or snow, in the disposition of old and ruined buildings all over the streets of
Gotham an the complete absence of people on the streets in order to foment the
sensation of danger, loneliness and hostility. Here we see again that all this could only
be transmitted through the unique communicative code belonging to the image
(Manghani 2013:71), and this is something that would prevail and evolve in the next
game of this Batman videogame series, which is going to be one of the protagonist titles
for this essay: Batman: Arkham Origins (2013).
Batman: Arkham Origins, as its title well indicates, describes in its plot the origins
of Arkham Asylum7 and the inception of the story which gave shape to the two previous
Batman games, commented on the former paragraph, and also keeps that fundamental
part which the image has in telling essential elements to the player that its sequels had.
Bad meteorological conditions are a constant through the entire playtime and the fact
that all the actions occur at night is also significant and very symbolic, since the player

can only control Batman and not Bruce Wayne; it makes sense that if only the obscure
and dreadful version of the character is available to us, bad weather and darkness are
present to accompany and give more significance to the Batmans identity and the
distinctiveness of its actions.
Apart from the importance of visual elements that enhance the comprehension of
the story, we can also see in these games what Batmans procedures are when it comes
7

Arkham Assylum is the name given to the psychiatric situated in Arkham district, in which are confined
the most dangerous villains of Gotham City such as The Joker, Harvey Dent and Killer Croc.
8
All the images used of Batman: Arkham Origins are screenshots taken from the game by the author of
this essay.

19

to solve a case of murderer, or to investigate an area to look for tracks or clues that will
lead him to his target. The use of the detective mode was first introduced in Batman:
Arkham Asylum and was kept in its forthcoming titles, it provided a vision which not
only presented the athletic and violent version that portrays most of Batman methods to
fight crime, but also a more intellectual and sophisticated side which supports the
argument that describes Bruce Wayne as a competent detective, also as a billionaire
who invests a great extent of his patrimony in gadgets and advanced weapons. This
detective vision is an electronical device developed by Wayne himself, when used it
highlights the clues present on a crime scene, creates a sleuthing scenario and, at the
same time, guides the player in order to be able to solve the case.

But the development of a good analysis of a crime scene is not the only function
that this vision has; it also provides visual information of the enemies present close to
the area in which Batman stands, revealing figures of foes that could not be perceived
without this tool. The figures of the enemies can be seen through walls and even it can
be known whether they are armed, unarmed and what kind of weapons they are
carrying; if the shape is coloured in blue it means that the individual is unarmed, if its
colour is orange it means that is holding a weapon. Also, it shows the vital status of the
foe - whether it is alive, deceased or unconscious - and the level of anxiety that it has.

20

The possession of innovative gadgets is a representative feature of the economic

capacities that the multimillionaire Bruce Wayne can employ to build part of the physic
shape of his secret identity. Apart from the detective vision device, Batman disposes of
many different mechanisms which he uses to fight crime, travel across the town and
decrypt codes which would grant him access to new areas. These instruments would be:
the Batarang, Batclaw, Concussion Detonator, Glue Grenade, Remote Claw, Shock
Gloves, Smoke Pellet, Cryptographic Sequencer, Disruptor, Explosive Gel and the
Grapnel Gun. All are used by Batman in the game, being reduced the use of these to the
Batarang and the Batclaw in the comic. The presence of these gadgets is greater in the
video game for two mayor reasons; they increase the quality of the playability by adding
more elements with which interact and its graphical description develops easier than in
the comic, in which an excessive presentation of these would only lead to a confusing
reading, due to an overload of elements to describe with the use of image and text.

So in this video game we have the importance of image representation in Batman

and how it allows to perceive further information, necessary to reach a good notion of
the character and its environment and, also, through the playability we gain access to
content which defines different perspectives of the same character. But beside these
aspects there is maybe the most recognizable behaviour of Batman when it comes to
fight crime, one that is central issue for this work, and that is the use of violence to fight
for good and peace, but without killing anyone.

21

Fighting darkness requires to become darkness, fighting fear means become fear;
and yet, there is always his perpetual sense of culpability that pursues him for
everything bad that happens, his continuous sacrifice of his life for the sake of the
innocent and the weak, he has a natural righteousness that conforms his brighter side.
All this is represented in the game and gives to the player all the information required to
perceive great part of Batmans identity: his duality.

22

4
Duality of Batman and the conformation of a paradox in Batman Noir
and Batman: Arkham Origins

The paradox of Achilles and the tortoise, the fletchers paradox or Galileos
paradox of the infinite; these stories, though very different in their content, share a
common process that makes the simple idea of its existence look somehow ludicrous
and unrealizable. This is what a paradox stands for, a proposition that seems selfcontradictory or absurd but it expresses something that could be real or represent a
remote possibility through the use of a metaphor. In all the Batman stories we always
find the most famous paradox, not only in fiction but also in real life; the paradox of
achieving the status of peace through the use of violence. This paradox looks even more
realistic when we understand Batmans point of view of reality and justice and his
ethical background, in which the presence of bloodthirsty villains is common; there is a
necessity to stop these evildoers no matter the way of doing it. When it comes to
describe a loyal and, yet, complex version of Batman and its orthodox Universe, both
the comic, Batman Noir (2013), and the video game, Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)
represent a good paradigm for this action. It can be seen in both titles the main features
which make Batman be what he is, the scenario that surrounds and shapes the character
and its social environment as well. But there is one aspect that it is only present in the
game and not specified in the comic; in Batman: Arkham Origins there is an idea of a
sacrifice made for others sake, Bruce Wayne refuses to have an ordinary life to take care
of the people of Gotham and, yet, the authorities refuse to legalize his actions and
pursue him to give his deserved punishment for breaking the established order. This
concept resembles to a famous myth, the myth of Prometheus. P.F.M. Fontaine gives in
his collection of books, The light and the dark: A cultural history a dualism (1986) a
description of Prometheus that may be worthy to mention.
Prometheus his name signifies he who contrives his plans beforehand is a son of the
Titan Iapetus and the beautiful Clymene, daughter of Oceanus [] Zeus who does not trust
the plans of Prometheus, binds him to a rock and lets an eagle loose upon him to eat away
his liver; during the night this organ grows again to its normal proportions. Not without the
approval of Zeus Heracles later frees the unhappy giant. This was ill-advised, for

23

Prometheus does not desist and tries to deceive Zeus during a sacrifice. Although the god
sees through this, this Titans son outwits him by stealing fire from heaven and giving it to
people on earth. (P.F.M. Fontaine 1986:126)

There can be seen several parallelisms between the mythical figure and Batman,
not only both individuals make a personal sacrifice to help others but they also have an
advisor who tries to give counsel to them but, eventually, this advice is not taken into
consideration and they keep doing what their authorities try to prevent them to do. In
the case of Batman the analogue of Heracles in the myth of Prometheus, the counsellor,
would be his butler Alfred Pennyworth, who apart from being a constant help for Bruce
Wayne when it comes to fight the crime, also shares his wisdom with him and tries to
cool down his masters mind. But the most important thing which binds them is the
presence of a moral
duality

in

their

personality, the idea of

doing something that is
not permitted or even
illegal to give something
good and fair is present
in both characters, and
conforms part of the
concept of duality which
I will discuss on this chapter. So with this resemblance we could say that Batman is the
modern Prometheus, they do not share the same fate, but there is a modern
representation of the values exposed by Prometheus behaviour which endure in
Batmans one. This concept of a Promethean Batman has more weight in the video
game than in Batman Noir; Bruce Wayne interacts with Alfred and this one is always
ready to give counsel to him. We can also see how, quite often, the police are after
Batman for taking the law into its own hands and the player is forced to use violence
against them to be able to continue the story.
We described a modern Prometheus as a metaphoric paradigm, which justifies and
becomes one of the pillars which sustain the paradox of achieving peace through
violence, making it more realistic and putting into question the fact that it is described
as a paradox. There is a detail that provides strength to this opinion; this is the
24

characteristic duality in Batman personality and conduct. The concept of dualism has
many interpretations, its existence dates back to the very beginnings of human
psychology and to the dawn of the interpretation of life itself, but the acknowledgment
of these as an existing idea was not developed until the 1970s. In The duality of mind:
An historical perspective (2009), Keith Frankish and Jonathan St. B. T. Evans offer an
inception of the perception and study of this concept with the following assertion.
Since the 1970s dual-process theories have been developed by researchers on various
aspects of human psychology, including deductive reasoning, decision-making and social
judgement. These theories come in different forms, but all agree in positing two distinct
processing mechanisms for a given task, which employ different procedures and may yield
different, and sometimes conflicting, results. (Frankish & Evans 2009:1)

There is a target element, either a physical goal or an immaterial entity, which

functions as a catalyst of this double-faced interpretative and behaviourist instrument
that we call duality. The concepts of meaning and interpretation are quite related to the
notion of duality we are discussing, for it does not only refer to actions but also to more
inner aspects of the affected matter. For instance, when we deliberate about the theory
of duality in Batman we are not only referring to the characteristic of its attitude
towards the solution of a problem, but also to the intentional meaning given by different
facets of the communicative vehicles9 which carry the plot. I mentioned on the previous
chapter the importance of images when it comes to carry one or several meanings that
could transmit duality, however, pictures are not the only element which act as a
semiotic code to represent this concept, language also provides multiple meanings that
could generate a definitive one with the combination of these. Metaphors are a usual
rhetoric figure used to expand communicative intentions or to increase the dramatism of
a situation, by comparing what is occurring with something that would enhance the
feeling proposed by the cognitive intentions. In Batman Noir metaphors are very
common throughout the story; they use to bear a significance which increases the dark
and the woe that escort the moment. For instance, when describing the present sight of
Gotham from Batmans perspective at the moment, this extract taken from the comic
clarifies this issue and also exposes more examples of duality that will be discussed later
on.

These communicative vehicles would be the text and the image.

25

All the chiselled granite and jutting spokes of steel give the impression that this city has an
iron jawbut it only fools out-of-towners. Anybody who lives here knows Gotham is
really built of tindersticks and gunpowder, with oily kerosene crudely burping out of its
sewers. That is why when it rains; its not so much wateras it is a relief. Now, lonely
hearts and Sunday school teachers like to say that rain is the tears of God. But God
doesnt bother to cry on Gotham, this rain? If it comes from himits not his tears.
(Azzarello & Risso 2013:12)

Batman shares his awareness of the city of Gotham through the use of several
metaphors, all of them share the goal of giving an extra dire vision of it; for instance,
the word water has two different connotations, one refers to the proverb made by the
so-called lonely hearts and Sunday school teachers, which says that in Gotham it is
always raining because God cries over it while. The second one defends Batmans
opinion that if there is indeed a God up there, he would not bother to feel sad for
Gothams miseries, that water coming from him would only be his urine. All the words
written in bold have an inner intention given by the writer as well; if we take a close
look to them we will realise that there is a pattern generated by the repetition of the
same words, terms directly related with other words in bold and words that increase the
dramatism of the description.
Most of times, the use of metaphors is constantly supported by a detailed
description of a sequence of pictures that describes what is being said; the use of
metaphor generates duality of meaning and the reinforcement of this by the use of
images creates a dualism on description: we can see the real actions and also the
elements which make Batman develop the metaphor that produces the eventual dualism
on the meaning. An example for this assertion can be seen on p. 116 of Batman Noir.
The mentioned page is attached in the annex on page 38 so the reader can see the
mentioned duality reinforced by pictures.
So far we perceived two types of dualism here that represent a constant array of
multiple representations and interpretations. Nevertheless, these are not the only
linguistic mechanisms we find in the comic in regards to represent duality; the existence
of metonymy also allows the manifestation of it. Before presenting an example for this,
it is important to clarify what metonymy stands for; to accomplish this clarification I am
going to mention its definition with examples given by N.J. Enfield in The Utility of
Meaning (2015).
26

Metonymy involves reference to something not by explicit mention of it, but by explicit
mention of something associated with it. We say John is washing the dishes, and we mean
that he is washing not just dishes, but also bowls, cups, glasses, cutlery, and so on.
Similarly, Johns new wheels may be understood to refer not just some wheels but to a car
(of which the wheels are an important element). (Enfield 2015:37)

The reference to something that was not explicitly mentioned on a text but
implicitly exposed by its communicative intentions, also represents a constant
throughout the development of the story in Batman Noir. This technique is not only
usually transmitted by the language but also by the supportive meaning of the image,
ant its purpose is to represent, once again, the power of duality and its great relevance in
Batmans personality and surroundings. For instance, there is a murderer in Batman
Noir in which a father and a mother die, leaving their son as an orphan. Here, Batman
thinks more as Bruce Wayne than as his vigilante alter ego, he also shared the same fate
as this kid when he was around the same age and this makes him take this case in a
more personal way, as if it was his duty to stop this killer to redeem himself for let his
parents die years ago. When the notice of this murderer comes into Batmans ears, he
automatically shares Bruce Waynes memories mixed with feelings generated for his
self-defence. Below there is the excerpt from the comic that contains the description of
this situation.
Though my feet were planted firmly on the ground, it felt like they were a million miles
from my head. And since nothing was remotely firm between them, I knew it was about to
fall at least that distance. On the way down, I thought about kicking myself for being so
carelessand I would have, if my legs hadnt turned to jelly. See, carelessness was just
one of many things I had a hard time forgiving myself for. The concrete proved to be just
as unforgiving. As the lights went dim, the last thing I heard was Jonny, begging for his
life between sobs. Then the world went dark and silentand the crying started again. The
dream, the dream I couldnt avoid. The dream I have every time I close my eyes. The
dream of a child no one was left to dream for. A man without fear is a liar; Ive
successfully spent more time than money making certain everybodys afraid of me. Afraid
of me, everybodys afraid of something. What am I afraid of? Its not spiders, the dark,
losinglosingor even death, but dreaming. Sometimes when I dream, the gun goes
bang, bang but he misses, or before the bang, bang I act. I know exactly the right
bundle of nerves I need to squeeze to make him drop the gunwhich he does, but I keep
squeezing, more pressure, more pressure, waiting for the nauseating popand when it
comes, I know hell never be able to hold a gun ever againAnd Ill be held by arms that
Ive never been held since. And sometimes, its not just a bang, bang, but

27

abangbangbang. And were together. But its just a lie, a dream that wont come
true. (Risso & Azzarello 2013:57-58)

Here we have a complete and profound example of the presence of duality,

metonymy and the justified paradox of achieving peace by the use of violence. The
action starts when Batman is being beating up and blames himself for being so careless,
he has recently discovered the murdered of that boys parents which reminded him the
one happened to his parents, so immediately he establishes a relation between the two of
them, bringing out old psychological wounds of guilt. The feeling of guilt is so big on
him, that the idea of being dead becomes into a good dream; in fact, the purpose of all
he said is the eventual declaration of his desire of being dead. Here it can be seen the
use of metonymy to achieve this goal, he is literally saying that he would like to be with
his parents again, but there is a more dire meaning in these words, the guilt he feels is
like an eternal burden, from which he can get rid of in this artificial dreams he uses as a
bunker to protect himself from his own past, as if it was just a bomb that annihilated all
of his innocence. All these oppressed feelings generate rage, a rage that becomes fuel of
his reasoning being, which feeds the idea of the necessity of appealing to violence not
only to fulfil his need of vengeance, but also to eliminate part of what makes people
suffer as he did. Later on, Batman discovers that the assassin of the boys parents was
the boy himself (Azzarello & Risso 2013:141) and realises that his own personal
feelings misled him from the correct path; all his training, all his efforts of becoming
something else, a misty and relentless entity that pursues and punishes evil, all this
succumbed to his own experimentation of tragedy.
The concept of tragedy is constantly moulding the progress of the stories in most
of Batman titles, and it affects deeply the evolution of the plot in Batman Noir. This
tragedy is also responsible for the dualism previously mentioned, for it promoted the
generation of Bruce Waynes masked identity. Francis Barker gives in The Culture of
Violence: Essays on tragedy and history (1993) an explanation of how tragedy is
constituted. We shall see that this assertion matches with Bruce Waynes livings and
feelings.
Tragedy, with its celebration of sovereign presence in the form of lost plenitude, its
doubled, hollowed formation caught up between project and event, is constituted in the
incoherence with its attendant declination in cultural authority between the powerfully

28

nostalgic drive towards restitution, and the deployments of actuality where recovery is
impossible. (Barker 1993:213)

In Francis Barkers words, duality comes from a combination of factors; one

would be the oneiric idea of changing what caused the damage and the other a more
realistic analysis of the actual reality, in which resignation builds the rational notion
which thwarts the previous purpose. This description is loyal to the one of Batmans
feelings given in the previous extract from Batman Noir. The dream in which Bruce
returns to the very day in which the assassination of his parents occurred, he delights
himself by imagining that he changes the fate of the event, he uses his martial
knowledges to break the villains wrist, or he simply gladly receives the impact of a
third bullet which would make him die with his parents and avoid eventual sufferings;
all this agrees with the oneiric desire. Finally, the uptake that all these wishes of
personal and moral redeeming are just fictional and far from becoming something real,
would represent the idea that there is no possible modification of all the doings which
came about.
So far we discussed in this chapter various aspects mainly present in Batman Noir
which, combined, define the shape of Batmans personality and the origin of his actions
when it comes to fight against crime, catalyst of the paradox analysed on this essay. It is
the moment to focus in how all these aspects are presented in the game, Batman:
Arkham Origins, and see how they differ from the ones in the comic but have the same
goal anyway. This game is a third-person game, which means that the player does not
see directly from the protagonists eyes (Thabet 2014:47), but he perceives the virtual
word as something affecting the character hes controlling and always seeing. This
increases the players awareness that everything which surrounds Batman is part of his
life, moulds his opinions and his behaviour; this way the player knows that everything
that happens affects only Batman, not himself, and can focus deeply on his feelings (this
is important to perceive the duality in Batmans personality). In a first-person video
game the player would perceive the virtual environment as something attached to his
actions and personality.
When the mouselook/freelook is not an option provided to the player, the players
focus is always centred on the protagonist (represented by the game-rendered avatar), and
thus limiting the players field of free vision. In this type of game, the protagonist is never
absent or forgotten; the player sees the game-generated character at all times. The players

29

field of vision is anchored to the graphic representation of the protagonist (the avatar).
(Thabet 2014:47)

Once we are able to perceive Batmans identity, there is a question that must be
formulated if we are to compare the video game and the comic: is his personality in
Batman: Arkham Orignis the same as in Batman Noir? They have of course many
things in common and their personality is always moulded by moral duality, but some
aspects of Batmans personality can only be revealed in the game if the player wants to
do it.
If Gran Torino were to be made into a game, and if the player were able to push a
button that releases a derogatory term during the play session and while impersonating
Walt, would the player decide to push that button every so often? The answer depends on
the player: some players would and others would not push the derogatory term button. This
means that Walts personality trait is now an action determined by the player. (Thabet
2014: 46)

When applying Thabets hypothesis on Batman: Arkham Origins, we realise that

it is indeed true the fact that the player plays a big role in the development of the
characters personality. For instance, we are going to see on the next page how Batman
is pursued by the authorities in the game, but it is not obligatory to fight them; the
player can choose between using violence against them or just sneak and avoid being
seen, this action has big relevance in the completion of Batmans morality in the play
through.
We saw before that not only the adequate use of image has a great importance in
communicative intentions for the comic, but we also perceived several innovative ways
which involved the written word for the generation of these cognitive materials
surrounded by dualism. There is an obvious lack of linguistic resources for the exposure
of meanings in the game, the use of metaphors or metonymy that we got from the comic
has no presence here; instead, a great weight of the total meaning relies as I mentioned
in chapter 4 in the power of images and their capacity of carrying meaning that could
not be given through any other communicative system.
Both the game and the comic preserve similar features to develop a similar
character, but each of them have their own characteristic features which establish
evident differences within a same concept. Violence is again protagonist in the whole
passing of the story, this time its presence is more explicit and continuous and shapes
30

the very development of the play through. Now it can be seen more clearly that the
figure of Batman is pursued by the law and authorities, for along the game we find
ourselves amidst several fights against the Police (fights that we can avoid, but Police is
going to be hostile at Batman most of times).

In the comic we could perceive Batmans outlaw secret identity and actions, but
there was not and evident confrontation between him and security forces, his illegal
identity was something that could be rescued from his clandestine relations with
detective Crispin Allen (Azzarello & Risso 2013:38). We do not have access to Batman
feelings or his deeper and personal ponderings as we did in the comic, now his thoughts
are focused in more practical aspects such as tips to help the player solve a puzzle10, or
conversations that would lead us to the next stage of the game instead.

10

The conventional meaning of the word puzzle does not represent a complete description of what it
means in many video games, where it gives lexical representation to the kind of playability which
provides problem-solving skills, pattern acceptance sets or sequence clearing up of in-game issues.

31

Something that has a detailed pictorial description in the comic and in the game is
the specific dark, wet and dirty landscape in which all the actions take place. We
discussed before the importance that bad weather has in the creation of a hostile
environment and as the constitution of a metaphoric figure that suits Batmans gloomy
personality, feelings and past. They do not only share the same meteorological
conditions, but also have in common decorative elements such as old buildings or
sewers, as we can see in (Azzarello & Risso 2013:140) and in the following screenshot
taken from the videogame.

The presence of sewers brings again the topic of dualism; they do not only
constitute a hideout and a shortcut for Batman, but also a relation of parallelism
between his identity as a night vigilante; always hidden in the dark and full of pain and
32

regrets that moisten his natural light of goodness, as the water of the sewers wets and
soils the inside of its construction, making the good idea of its existence - sewers are
quite practical - look dark, dangerous and terrifying.
We saw how the paradox of achieving peace through the use of violence took
shape and evolved in Batman Noir and Batman: Arkham Origins, there is always a
reason - reinforced by numerous factors which, together, make duality an essential tool
for the development of this - for Batman to use the force against different
representations of the concept of evil, and this reason is continuously conditioned by a
feeling of culpability that accompanies him since his parents death. The germ which
infected and conditioned his future was that dire day. Jonathan Dollimore, in Death
Desire and Loss in Western Culture (2001), comments an idea developed by Nietzsche
that can be related to Bruce Waynes own experience of loss.
In an early work, On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life (1874), Nietzsche
shows an acute awareness of how overwhelming the experience of transience and loss can
be, and argues that extreme measures are necessary to resist it. A repudiation of the past,
even to the point of being unhistorical or even anti-historical, was necessary for the health
of an individual, of a people, and of a culture [] by being unhistorical Nietzsche means
exercising the art and power of forgetting, and of enclosing oneself within a bounded
horizon (p. 120). (Dollimore 2001:233)

This account of some of the measures that could be taken to battle the emotional
ravages left by the experiment of loss, constitute a perfect description of Batmans
dreams cited on page 27, in which he goes back to the night in which his parents died
and imagines different endings for the real story. When in his dream his unconscious
decides to change the eventuality of the event is at the same time repudiating what
really happened, generating anti-historical circumstances which would serve as a
medicine that could heal or prevent possible psychological repercussions, developed in
the affected individual - Bruce Wayne - by the constant presence of the dramatic
happening in his consciousness. In other words, Nietzsche explains that the individual
generates a virtual reality in order to overcome the pain of a suffered loss, and that is
what Bruce Wayne did.
All the different manifestations of duality and the presence of the paradox are
exposed through different methods: by the use of image, text or linguistic techniques.
We found those methods to be representative in both titles of the mentioned duality and
33

paradox, some of them have more strength in the comic, in which image carries a great
deal of information and meaning but also does text, and others in the video game, in
which the major part of significance comes from images, acting here the use of
language most of times as a supportive tool. The truth is that, despite of having their
own ways of representing it, Batman Noir and Batman Arkham Origins share in their
content the figure of Batman surrounded by different manifestations of dualism,
generated by the germ that was the very moment of his parents dead. This issue would
lead him to take actions which make us think about the paradox of achieving peace
through violence not as a paradox, but as an unavoidable consequence moulded by
ungovernable circumstances.

34

5
Conclusion

If before reading this essay the reader had the idea that comics and videogames
are just a cheap and childish way of entertainment, without any complex meanings or
intellectual procedures in their making and connotations in their eventual form, he or
she probably has now a completely different opinion about both topics; or, at least, the
author really hopes so. Even in its first days, the comic was used not only to add
entertainment and fun to the readers, but also to criticize, with the use of satiric content,
certain situations of real life promoted by some society behaviours, or even decisions
and attitudes of the rulers towards the people of the country (Kunzle & Parra 2014:108).
This seriousness inherent to the comic was lost with the pass of time, for the massive
sales of super hero comics, made especially for kids, transformed the industry and the
concept that people had about them. But once these stories were developed again by
skilful writers, they gained a literate and complex structure that differentiates them from
those feuilletons published in the 1930s, giving shape to titles of great artistic content
such as Batman Noir. The importance of giving a record of the first comics and how this
narrative area was born was huge, so the reader could know that the sociological
understandings of the comic where not always the same and served different functions,
apart of course from the one of providing an enjoyable, different kind of reading.
In the case of video games, the idea generalized about them was the one that
defines video games as a virtual tool with the mere and unique objective of providing
easy entertainment, especially developed and focused for young consumers. This notion
is again influenced by the obsolete vision of previous days, in which these virtual games
constituted a pastime and amusement for the youngest in game rooms, but their
evolution and involvement with the world of arts and literature changed that and made
possible the making of titles such as Batman: Arkham Origins. These games reached a
level of density in the development of their plots only possible by the combination of
several artistic elements, allowing them to offer more than just entertainment and fun,
but also didactic and intellectual essence. The history of video games is shorter than the
one of the comic, but a brief description of it was also usefully made, in order to
35

understand that they did not always have the exact same functions - they always share
one of course: providing entertainment - , with the evolution of technology and the help
of transmedia, video games acquired various and diverse objectives.
In this work, we analysed and exposed some of the techniques which are used to
give deeper content and more complex meanings to the comics and videogames created
in present time and, specially, in Batman Noir (2013) and Batman: Arkham Origins
(2013). These techniques permitted the diffusion of duality, which became an essential
part for the creation of this essay, through the plots of both works and the generation of
broad significates, thanks to this duality exposed in the text, made out of the
combination of different narrative and linguistic styles and, also, of the unique
communicative intentions dwelling in pictures, which supported the concept of image as
a carrier of meaning. Duality acted as a conductive thread between Batmans
personality, his behaviour and the social and structural environment surrounding him,
carrying always an extra meaning to the plot that reinforces the understandings of this
character, his city and the society in which he lives. In Batman Noir, this duality in
understandings and representations had strong presence in the text and was reinforced
by metaphor, metonymy and other linguistic resources; nonetheless, it was also
supported by communicative intentions of the pictures accompanying the text. In
Batman: Arkham Origins, duality was most of times exposed and identified in pictures
which, again with the power of representation present on them, depicted the character
and its surroundings, making possible to perceive the double meanings that make
possible Batmans existence.
The concept of paradox was presented and a description of what we understand by
it was made. Duality in Bruce Waynes personality and actions is a consequence of his
past, this duality would lead him to become Batman and fight against crime, using
violence to get rid of evil and, therefore, fulfilling the most known and realistic paradox:
The use of violence to achieve peace. Bruce Wayne created Batman from a feeling of
culpability which generated a different feeling: responsibility. He did not only feel that
his parents death was his fault, but also that it was his duty to make fear a weapon of his
own to fight and stop the kind of people that murderer his family, no matter if he was
pursued by the authorities or if he had to break the law. His natural goodness had to be
balanced in order to fulfil his duties, and this was possible with the dark and relentless
character that he created.
36

We saw in Batmans personality a metaphoric figure which stands for an idea

present in social and ideological areas: not everything is what looks like; a deeper
analysis must be done to understand the issue as a whole. What looks bad may not be so
bad or, at least, may have its reasons to be so; what is good may not be that good or, at
least, was not that good during all its existence. All these thoughts represent duality; it is
something which is present in everyday life. In Batman duality allowed the paradox,
making this word to be a mistaken representation of what he really understood: justice.
The lack of academic and analytic sources regarding to the video game world
entailed some difficulties for the development of an investigative vision when talking
about the history of video games and giving a list of some Batman video games; it was
necessary to rely on content present in Wikipedia. Even though the reliability of this
website is often questioned, it is also true that it has a high level of veracity on its
contents.

37

Annex

(Risso & Azzarello 2013:116)

38

Primary Bibliography

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Comics.
MAY, Corey & Dooma WENDSCHUH. 2013: Batman: Arkham Origins.
Warner Bros. & Games Montreal.

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Universidad de Salamanca.
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KUNZLE, David & Ren PARRA. 2014: Pioneros del Cmic: Monsieur
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40

List of Online Figures

Figure 1, medieval image accompanying a text. Photo:

< http://600transformer.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/royal-manuscripts-geniusof.html> [Consulted: 15/05/2016]
Figure 2, Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table cover. Photo:
<http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_Dark_Knight_of_the_Round_Table_Vol_1>
[Consulted: 15/05/2016 ]
Figure 3, Superman: Red Son cover. Photo:
< http://www.laguaridadekovack.com/superman-red-son/> [Consulted:
15/05/2016]
Figure 4, Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh vignette. Photo:
< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_of_Zur-En-Arrh> [Consulted:
15/05/2016]
Figure 5, Batman Noir cover. Photo:
<http://www.denoormanstrips.nl/2013/05/nieuw-amerikaans-30-mei/>
[Consulted: 15/05/2016]

41