Introduction to “The other Universe of Bruce Wayne”
Superheroes are great, aren’t they? They always manage to be at the right place at the right time. Saving innocent people from super villains, protecting the city against crimes, serving justice to those who deserves it…they accomplish all of this while hiding their true identity. Their influence towards children creates this image of “good guys” that allows children and even some adults to look up to them. Bruce Wayne is a great example of this; streets of Gotham are safe because of this mysterious yet admired man in a bat suit. He has it all. He has had countless romantic relationships with different types of woman, he has a job that endlessly provides him financial balance, he has his other occupation that allows him to save innocent faces, he has a best friend slash a butler who does all his work for him, and on top of that he’s good looking. There is, in fact, one little flaw. He’s not like most superheroes. What he doesn’t have are powers that allows him to fly, he absolutely doesn’t have super strength that makes him different from any ordinary man, he doesn’t have spider webs shooting out his wrist, his body isn’t mutated like an animal’s to let him have extraordinary senses. He has money, and lots of it. Will Bruce Wayne still be able to keep his title if we take money out of the picture?
In “The other Universe of Bruce Wayne” Mr. Wayne is portrayed differently. The author, Bucky Sinister, clearly wanted to show how Mr. Wayne’s life was like in an alternate universe. In an alternate universe he’s like any other man, actually, a little less because of the world he allowed himself to fall into. In the poem, he lives in a trailer in Arkansas. He just got dumped by his girlfriend and longs for alcohol to comfort him. Clearly, Bruce Wayne wasn’t “Bruce Wayne” in that other universe. Sinister commented that in another universe Mr. Wayne is loved. Everything in life has its opposition. The ability to recognize opposition and appreciate what we have is priceless. Life doesn’t promise happiness forever, but it does offer us opportunities to make the best out of it. Batman has got it right in this universe. He’s taking what he does have and using it to the best of his abilities, to serve justice. Sometimes we just have to work with what we have, for there might be another world where we have nothing.