Photo illustration: Hulton Archive/Getty Images;
Courtesy of New York State
Please Don’t Make ‘Gotham’ the Official Nickname of New York City
So Queens councilman Hiram Monserrate wants to make “Gotham City†New York’s official nickname. (Check out the link if only for the commenter who argues that “we need the bat man to save the city.â€) Why? To capitalize on the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, while offering that film some free publicity. Now, between the two Vulture editors working today, we know the least about comics — and Kois mostly reads geeky indie comics written by French speakers. But even we know that Monserrate’s proposal demonstrates a lack of comics understanding. Gotham City is not New York! The differences are legion: Their geographies are totally dissimilar; Gotham’s street gangs are charmingly multiracial; multiple sources place the city in New Jersey, not New York. And, most glaring, the made-up metropolis is plagued by corrupt hypocrites in the highest levels of government — a ludicrous fictional conceit definitively indicating that “Gotham City†exists in a never-neverland fantasy world that only a child would find plausible. —Ben Mathis-Lilley
Councilman Goes to Bat For ‘Gotham City’ [Runnin’ Scared / VV]