I think that I've always felt that superheroes are just like us. Or maybe I just envisioned them like us in my mind. As a young Bill Kirby I somehow saw myself in the persona of the Dark Knight. I was intrigued by his ability to nobly face adversity while persevering through any conflict and somehow always come out victorious. But perhaps the greatest lesson he taught me at an early age was that the bad guys are just like the rest of us; they just make really bad life choices.
Now in my 53rd year as a superhero impersonator, one would think that no fifty-eight year old man, in his right mind, would tell others that he is Batman. Or would he? As my mimicry matured, I've come to realize that Batman was driven by the emptiness caused by the loss of his parents. His emotional loss allowed him to discover and understand the darkness that people hide within themselves. It gave him the uncanny ability to learn how to see things in life not as they appear but rather to understand what he sees and how it came to be.
So just what the hell does all of this mean? Maybe now, having lost my parents; living everyday with the dark emptiness that comes with their absence, I'm looking to identify with someone who can feel what I feel, hurt like I hurt, dream like I dream, and love like I love. It's about identifying with someone who is just like me. And if it's not a human person why can't it be a superhero? Why can't it be the Bat Man? There's nothing wrong with that. Maybe I've been a superhero all along. I mean, Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't already have.
If nothing else, there might just be a real reason why I'm holding onto my childhood fantasy. Maybe there really is something to this characterization after all and we all know that is always something more to something. In the end, aren't we all just fascinated with something beyond our own reality? I know that I am. I'm Batman.
Be Well.
Bill
