Missed opportunity with New 52?

[enyawd72]

^I can appreciate your POV. I never really thought of the DC cities as characters unto themselves, but I guess I could see that especially with Batman. Would you say he's a product of his environment?

These are the kinds of discussions I enjoy here, with well thought out responses and views from all parties...thanks to everyone who posted.

[ShadowAvenger]

I always liked the concept that Metropolis is NYC during the day while Gotham City is NYC during the night. The one thing that I never liked about Marvel was that almost every superhero seemed to be base in NYC.

[Bionicfanboy66]

Marvel Comics Group was based in NYC. Write what you know about.

[Bionicfanboy66]

^I suspect there are a lot of fans like you and boynightwing out there, and that's probably why DC has never changed it.

I thought Detroit would make a good city for Batman. It's about as crime ridden as you can get, and the architecture sure fits.
Part modern, part industrial graveyard.

Or Chicago, which has been known to have more killings and other criminal activity than either LA or NYC.

[Bionicfanboy66]

I've heard that Metropolis was loosely modeled after Minneapolis.

[madmarva]

There was an issue of the 1970s in-house fanzine The Amazing World of DC Comics which said which cities the DC versions were based on or at least what states.

I'm sure someone on the board probably remembers those cities. There was also an Atlas of the DC cities printed for role playing games.

[Earth 2 Chris]

The Atlas of the DCU has entries that explicitly list the home states of some of the fictional cities, like Central City, Missouri / Ivy Town, Connecticut / Midway City, Michigan and Star City, California. But it does NOT list the states for Gotham or Metropolis. But if you go by the enclosed maps, Gotham is in New Jersey, and Metropolis is in Delaware!

Chris

[ctc]

>I feel that's always been part of what holds DC back. Their characters are more archetypes than actual characters, and that makes them less relatable to both readers and moviegoers.

It does hold them back' but not 'cos of anything inherent to the idea. It's more difficult to work with the bigger thsn life characters 'cos you can't fall back on the old audience sympathy tropes as readily. You have to concieve of the characters as something unique before the plots. Sure, SUperman is Clark Kent; but it'd be tough to do a Kent based book 'cos you'sd still KNOW Supes was under there somehow, and after the sixth time he got chewed up for being late you'd start wondering why he didn't just fly in, or quit, or reverse time.... People would start asking awkward questions, and you'd have to start making with the awkward answers.

On the other hand, people will give a more iconic character a LOT more slack in the reality division, provided you're meeting their expectations with larger than life stories. Marvel gets away with it 'cos the idea of heroes as people was part of the conceptualization of their characters. It's subliminal, and plays off expectations. Peter Parker getting chewed out by Jameson = business as usual. Clark Kent getting chewed out by Perry White = why does he put up with this? He doesn't need the job.

>I thought Detroit would make a good city for Batman.

They tried something like that back in the 80's with the Justice League. Probelm is; Detroit is like any other city: a mix of people, areas, businesses.... what you get in comics is a weird shorthand. Detroit REALLY suffers from that; often coming across as a weird synthesis of the Road Warrior and a Michael Jackson video. It alienates readers FROM the D, and it can cause all sorts of problems conceptually if the city suddenly gets notoriety for something in real life. ESPECIALLY something removed from the presentation you've decided to go with in the comic. (So.... would we have shots of Batman perched, pensively on the proposed Robocop statue?) It's better overall to make a city LIKE the image you wish to portray and go with that.

It goes with the preceeding idea; Marvel gets away with it 'cos it was built into their universe very early on. (Issue 2 or 3 of the FF, I believe.) And even THEN, Marvel Universe New York must have a supervillain density of one per block.

Don C.

[hedrap]

The Atlas of the DCU has entries that explicitly list the home states of some of the fictional cities, like Central City, Missouri / Ivy Town, Connecticut / Midway City, Michigan and Star City, California. But it does NOT list the states for Gotham or Metropolis. But if you go by the enclosed maps, Gotham is in New Jersey, and Metropolis is in Delaware!

Chris

That is ridiculous.

I never understood why they didn't make L.A, Metropolis with the Byrne reboot. It would have made total sense from a climate and geography position. Keeping him on the east coast, near Batman, diminishes his stature. It way Keystone always made sense to be in Indiana; Flash can get anywhere, instantly.

[PNGwynne]

I recall that Central City was initially in Southern Ohio, & DC reconned it west in the later '70s.

Perhaps I'm just biased as a Buckeye, but I always felt Barry Allan had the right work ethic & temperament to be an Ohioan.

[boynightwing]

It seems in the last few months, Nightwing has moved to Chicago so we'll see how that goes.

[thunderbolt]

I recall that Central City was initially in Southern Ohio, & DC reconned it west in the later '70s.

Perhaps I'm just biased as a Buckeye, but I always felt Barry Allan had the right work ethic & temperament to be an Ohioan.

In New Frontier he's referred to as the Illinois Flash, so maybe Central City was Chicago or Peoria.

[madmarva]

I always thought Central City was Kansas City. Coast City was L.A. Again, I think the fictional locals brings story potential. DC never would have destroyed L.A. In a comic, but with Coast City as a surrogate for or coexisting with L.A., then it became the spark for Emerald Twilight. The same with the No Man's Land storyline with its earthquake destroying Gotham And when Brainiac's influence amped up the technology in Metropolis beyond the norm in the DC Universe.

As for Marvel's New York setting being a grounding mechanism for readers, it's true for some but maybe not for others. For readers who have never or only rarely visited New York City and don't really have a feel for the difference between Queens and Hell's Kitchen or the Bronx and Manhattan, I don't think the setting is as meaningful to those who are.