Riddle Me This

"They did not want any publicity and the last thing they wanted to do was wreck his premiere evening." Mike Sullivan, Crime Editor -- http://www.thesun.co.uk/

Somewhere, Bob Kane - a.k.a. Robert Kahn - is rolling in his grave. If he were still alive, he might be considered no more than "Old School," after a long career of now-obsolete pencilling and writing. His original vision for Batman was as superhero-vigilante. He credited his partner, Bill Finger, with advancing the character to something more like a "scientific detective." It was OK for him to be violent, since he was just using his angst while performing a public service -- to remove thugs and criminal masterminds from the streets of Gotham and make it safe again for children. And, women.

For a certainty, Batman always has been and, presumably, always will be cast as a murky character. To do otherwise, would be to cast against type. A parade of actors has played him on the serious screen, each trying to out-dark the previous hero through the eye holes.

But, to be sure, no one has taken the part quite so seriously as Christian Bale.

Who else has brought such illuminating, new meaning to the perennial favorites "Pow," "Zap," and "Bffffff."

I will never know the real story.

But, you slapped around some female relatives. Or, you didn't.

You want the publicity. Or, you don't.

You should get your cuticles trimmed for the big premiere shebangie.

OR, you should be arrested immediately for breaking the law.

"Who." "What." "Where." "How."

Why?