Longtime readers (who are just the greatest, believe me, above average and good-looking, everyone says so) may know I'm a little obsessed with comics, and maybe specifically Batman. They may be aware that I have mentioned Batman many times on this blog -- and have even discussed the famous Bat-Signal that the police use to call the Caped Crusader for help.
Well, thanks to my wife, I now have my own Bat-Signal!
Yes, it looks like an ordinary Batman-themed pen, as one might see anywhere, but it actually has a secret button that turns it into the Bat-Signal Projector Pen! The batteries inside power the light that shoots the signal from the top, so it can shine anywhere you might need to notify Batman that there is perfidy on the prowl!
On the ceiling!
You may say it's silly for a grown man to carry such a thing, but you know, it's a dangerous world. I'll bet that the president carries a pen just like this. If I were him I would insist on using it to sign a big treaty with some important country like Sweden. Just to remind those Swedes that we have Batman and they don't.
I have to admit I've often wondered how the Bat-Signal is supposed to work. You can't just flash it in the sky; it vanishes into the night. Maybe it would shine on a cloud, but what if it's clear?
The first time I attended an arena concert that used laser light to form words and shapes in the air, I thought it would make a much more effective signal. Would it work in the skies over Gotham? No idea. Maybe just shoot into space or blind pilots. Anyway, they didn't have lasers in 1942, when the Bat-Signal was first seen in a comic book.
It was all mysterious to me when I was a little kid, when I saw Batman and Robin just get a phone call from the Commissioner and drive over to see him in broad daylight. They used the Bat-Signal only a couple of times on the sixties TV show, although it appeared in cartoon form over the opening and closing credits.
However it works, the Bat-Signal plays a crucial role in Gotham crimefighting. So the pen is not silly at all. What IS silly are the Bat pants that I got five years ago. Silly, but comfortable. But my wife, who gave them to me, still won't let me wear them outside unless it's pitch-black, and even then she's worried I'll faint or get another concussion and be found there in the morning in my Bat pants. As the Swedes say, Hur pinsamt! (How embarrassing!)
6 comments:
Great Scott! I have a pair of Bat Symbol Bat Coasters in my Mazda Batmobile's Bat Cup Holders for my cold Bat Drinks. Whenever I need to slake my Bat Thirst, they are ready to mitigate the Bat Condensation from the outside of the Bat Bottles!
I think the world needs an essay on who, exactly, is this 'Scott' of whom we hear so much in DC world.
What a cool thing!
I didn't buy many comics as a kid ... because my cousin bought them all! His collection is worth many tens of thousands of dollars now. He has every first edition of a DC or Marvel comic starting from around 1960, each hermetically sealed in plastic. E.g., he has Spiderman #1 ... a copy sold recently for almost $1M.
I was more into cars, e.g., I could tell you that the TV Batmobile was a rebuilt 1959 George Barris custom car, the Lincoln "Futura".
That car, in its original red livery, appeared in a 1960 romantic comedy with Glen Ford and Debbie Reynolds.
Gordon used the bat signal instead of the hotline to contact Adam West and Burt Ward when Liberace was causing trouble in Gotham. How did he know that they wouldn't be home to take the call? Spooky.
Anyway, they didn't have lasers in 1942, when the Bat-Signal was first seen in a comic book.
"They" obviously were not briefed/read on for the boffins of the Bat Cave.
You guys have raised an awful lot of questions. I'm going outside to aim my pen at the clouds and see if Batman will call me!
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