Your Eye on Gotham

DC Roleplay Blog Dispatches from Gotham City by a recent transplant. Call it an anthropological interest: how and why do people live here? Don't they know they can leave? I suppose that's a little hypocritical on my part, having moved here for work. This is not a Batspotting blog.

[gotham-city-sonar]

Hello and Welcome

I always like to do things properly, so I suppose I might as well create a pinned post.

What is this blog? - This is a journal of sorts regarding my observations as an immigrant to Gotham. The city is...fascinating, and deserves some exploration.

Where are you from? - I've lived in various places on the West Coast, most prolongedly Star City.

Why are you in Gotham? - I'm an EPA representative for the Ace Chemicals industrial cleanup efforts.

What do you think of Batman? - He seems better than the alternative. My Gothamite acquaintances are generally favorable.

What's Gotham like so far? - Entirely terrifying.

Specialty tags (may be subject to change):

dispatches from gotham - observations on the city, anecdotes

portrait of the artist - about me, the author of the blog

the bat - regarding the legendary Batman and his brood of vigilantes

things that go bump - observations on crime, villains, dangers, and the like.

civic memory - Gotham's history

sonar squeaks - snippets of the Gotham City rumor mill

[gotham-city-sonar]

A co-worker told me yesterday that if you eat Solomon Grundy pieces it passes through your digestive system like a lego. I asked her how she knew that and she gave me a terrified look and then PLAYED DEAD until I left the room.

I saw her later and she pretended we never had that interaction.

Is there a polite way to ask someone "Are you a possum that was transmuted into a human or what?"

[gotham-city-sonar]

Just Witnessed a Street Battle

I've just seen one of the "Bat-family" in action. I think it was Black Bat, though it's difficult to tell. It was...something.

This is not my first superhero (though that word tastes almost strange applied to these enigmatic predators of crime) fight. Living in a large US city, you're bound to catch a few. I've seen plenty of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

But Green Arrow was always performative in his fights. He knew that eyes were on him; he put on a show of defanging crime, demonstrating it's impotency with his flair and confidence.

Here there was no banter. No buzzsaw arrow or winks at passerbys. The villain (I didn't recognize him. He seemed to be a wizard or a cultist, or perhaps using scientific abilities to imitate one) was dispatched efficiently and silently. The Bat fluttered from the shadows like a dark shape and struck him with the cold precision of disassembling a machine.

I don't think she liked being watched in this process. Her helmet had wide, hollow eyeholes like sockets through which she regarded the crowd when she had finished. She told us to call the police. Then there was a flutter of fabric, and she was gone.

[lovesick-joey]

youtube content in the dc universe

two | three

[lovesick-joey]

update

[gotham-city-sonar]

Fashion

Fashion in Gotham is different than the rest of the United States. Modern trends are of course still in play. They have the internet. But certain things have stayed in the cultural millieu long after being jossed by mainstream America.

Trench coats. Unironic fedoras. Tweed vests. None of these will have you taken for a hipster on Gotham's streets. They simply remain current.

Part of this can likely be chalked up to the poverty in the city. The recycling of clothes, the rummage bin sales, and so forth. Yet it is also something of Gotham's culture. Aesthetically, the 40's have not yet died here.

The supervillains can't help the fashion scene either.

[gotham-city-sonar]

A Different Breed

Many people are obnoxious about their cities. Someone from LA, New York, Detroit, or the like will often brag about the more dramatic elements of their hometown when it comes up. You know the sort. "Well in my town we--" and so on.

Gothamites are very much those sorts of people. In this case, it's well deserved too. Living in Gotham, growing up in Gotham, is a harrowing experience. Other cities have supervillains, but none of them have the atmosphere that Gotham does.

Yet those that stay often have a deep loyalty to their city. Being a Gothamite seems like more than just living somewhere. It seeps into your soul. The whole culture is so distinctive it occasionally feels like a totally foreign country.

A foreign country that I've seen beat the tar out of loud mouthed New Yorkers.

[gotham-city-sonar]

As bad as Gotham is, older Gothamites constantly assure you that even with the "freaks" (as gothamites often call their supervillains) the city was worse before Batman showed up.

Some will wax poetic about this, or point to different factors. "Something to look up to," "hope," "crime has become less organized and thereby less systemic."

A coworker of mine offered her two cents.

"Ya seen Back to the Future II?" She asked me.

"Sure." I responded. She nodded sagely.

"You remember the bad timeline? Where Biff's a sports bettin' billionaire? That was Gotham before Batman."

[zombiebuthotter]

Things I 100% believe Gothamites say:

“Riddle me this, Batman” - teasingly quoting Riddler while asking a friend a question

“No shit, Batman” - when someone says something obvious

“Next Batman over here” - sarcastic when someone has a shitty idea

“Break a leg, Robin” - adapted among Gotham gymnastics

“Okay Catwoman” - when someone brags about shoplifting (like “Okay Queen”)

“Need a coin?” - jab to two-face if someone is undecided

“That's Arkham-level crazy” - self explanatory (Arkham Asylum)

“Pulling a Batman” - ghosting someone / disappearing mid conversation

“GCPD’s on it” - sarcastic way to say something is never getting solved

“Don't go full Joker now” - when someone keeps on escalating and doubling down during an argument

“It’ll heal before the next breakout” - a child crying about a scraped knee

“Must be a Wayne Project” - whenever they see something getting fixed or functioning in a legal way

“You ain't Batman” - when someone tries to do something reckless

Feel free to add more if you have any ideas!

[gotham-city-sonar]

Heard maybe half of these. I haven't seen anyway brag about shoplifting yet, but maybe I'm in the wrong circles for that...

[oldblog-bloodied-hands-of-gotham]

Someone gave me a weird look for wearing shorts. Is it not shorts weather in Gotham right now?

[gotham-city-sonar]

I've only been here a month but I get the impression there is no "shorts weather" in Gotham.

[gothamfactoryworker]

Every Gotham survival guide: Whatever you do, do not go to a factory. Stay away from chemicals.

Me, every weekday: On my way to go work at the chemical factory.

[gotham-city-sonar]

The Rumor Mill

Gotham City is a place of shadows. Mystery. Intrigue. No one really knows what goes on in its alleys and catacombs, the closed doors in city hall, the lair of the enigmatic Batman.

So of course, everyone talks. If you get Gothamites in the right mood, they will prattle endlessly about what they've heard, seen, or suspected of their city. This is something I encourage; you won't find many better leads. Once they feel they won't be mocked, they're especially eager to impress an outsider with the mystique of their home.

They say that Gotham has two sewer systems. The first was infested by alligators and criminals so badly that the city built a second one using misappropriated road maintenence funds (so they wouldn't have to clear them out). This newer network hosts the city's feral penguins (if those even exist).

They say that the reason it rains so much in Gotham is because of a Native American curse on the land, or a cult of vampires that control city hall. They say that enough gold has been dumped into the Finger River over the years to make Fort Knox blush, but there's a reason no one will retrieve it. They say...many things.

In Gotham, who can tell?

[gotham-city-sonar]

Does anyone know what's up with all the Zeppelins?

[ednashtn]

gotham is so fucking funny

[gotham-city-sonar]

...considering a visit, but this feels like it would be asking to be caught up in some sort of villainous activity.

[gotham-city-sonar]

The Architecture

Gotham is famous for its unique urban landscape, and this fame is very well deserved. Even with the diminishment of buildings in the classic "Gotham Style" caused by recent renovations, the environment still feels like no other city on Earth.

Everything is exagerated, larger than life. Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau mixes with Art Deco and Brutalism, each building trying to loom over the competition. Huge statues adorn some public spaces, sculpted like a piece by Rodin, huge gods brooding over the populace. At night, search lights pierce the darkness; I'm told these are for aircraft, to guide them through Gotham's perpetual smog.

Judge Solomon Wayne often gets the credit for the unusual skyline, but I think that oversimplifies things. It's been a long time since his Gotham, yet the City has only continued growing stranger. It seems like something in the spirit of the populace rejects mundanity in design, strives for an otherworldly vision.

Walking these winding streets in darkness, it feels like the city swallows you whole.

[ominous-signs]

I'll try to get a picture next time I see it, but there is a sign up in the mountains near me that says "turn to Jesus". It is positioned on the road overlooking a large cliff.

Official ominous sign

[gotham-city-sonar]

The Weather

Gothamites will tell you constantly that their city is brighter than the media depicts. "Everything happens at night, so the news is always in darkness. The smog isn't as bad as you think, and it's better than Los Angeles. It's not really that rainy. etc."

I have learned that Gothamites are liars. In the month since I've moved here from Star City, we have had six (6) days I would consider "sunny". Mentioning this to a local will only earn protestation.

"Look," they say, pointing to a bright spot in the overcast clouds, "you can see the sun right there." It doesn't occur to them that "bright enough to see" isn't the same thing as "sun bathed".

And if the sayings about red skies are true, then sailors must really delight in Gotham.