Gothamist: New York In A Comic Book World

Ham

Wed, 15 Sep 2004 19:35:11 -0500

On another note, it is amusing to note the contrast in police techniques between London and New York. While it seems that the London bobbies patiently and politely pleaded with the protester to come down for nearly five hours, two weeks ago the NYPD had a SWAT team on these convention protesters within minutes: http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2004/08/26/protesting_with_banners_and_in_the_buff.php

mrnyc

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 20:04:26 -0500

sorry but cleveland ohio is the original home of superman as it was his creators. he moved to the new york city metropolis after a dozen issues or so. bright lights big city called you know....

armagnax

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:39:08 -0500

I heard that the gotham in batman was originally supposed to be chicago, or at least at one point. Much like Metropolis = new york, bludhaven = detroit, and coast city = san fransisco. So sayeth my local comic book guy. Something to do with docks and gangs and bob kane, i wasn't really paying attention. And these days New York reminds more of Metropolis that Gotham. And I figure these days Matt Murdock would be spending much more time in court as Hell's Kitchen is so quiet and filled with rich people.

Sterling

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:34:23 -0500

I suspect that Washington Irving's coinage was the result of several factors, not least being the adjective "gothic" in all its meanings. I'm a big fan of Washington Irving, and I think it's possibly also derivative of Gothenburg (G�teborg) in Sweden. The reason for this is that Roelof Jansen was from near there, and there's some reason to suspect that Jansen may have been the model for Rip Van Winkle (he disappeared for a long period of time and when he turned up he had an absurd story to justify his absence). A lot of the early Dutch settlers were truly unusual characters, and Jansen and his wife Anneke Jans were among the most colorful. Irving was very well acquainted with their antics of 150-175 years earlier. Gothenburg was a major Dutch shipping destination, so quite a few colonists were likely from there or had been there. And don't forget that Stuyvesant conquered New Sweden in 1655, which had been settled on land between current-day Philadelphia and Wilmington, and incorporated the Swedish colonists into New Netherland. There's still a group of descendants from Anneke Jans' first and second marriages hoping to rectify the improper transfer of title of her farm in 1705. Why bother, 300 years after the fact? Because the farm is now called "TriBeCa". It's pretty funny stuff.

wordq

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 16:07:28 -0500

Yo, Spidey and DD may also be from NYC and seem to reflect the day/night aspect of Metropolis/Gotham, but they are from the Marvel Universe. So there.

sp

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 14:13:26 -0500

the origins of the name gotham are quite contested, but I like this explanation: "Washington Irving applied the name to New York in an issue of a humorous magazine name Salmagundi, a title taken from the name of a salad which consists of a variety of ingredients. The original Gotham is popularly supposed to be the village of that name in Nottinghamshire, though I gather there�s little good evidence of this. The story is that bad King John (Magna Carta etc) decided to visit Gotham on a royal progress, though why he should when he had a perfectly good castle to stay at just up the road at Nottingham is not explained. The villagers realised this would be inconvenient and expensive because of the size of the king�s retinue. They decided to pretend to be imbecilic in front of the king�s heralds, by trying to fish the moon out of a pond, running madly in circles, trying to drown an eel, clasping hands around a thorn bush to imprison a cuckoo, and other crazy actions. The ploy worked and the king decided not to come. A collection of tales about stupidity was published in the reign of Henry VIII, entitled The Merrie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham. So the name had by Washington Irving�s time long been associated with stupidity, even though the original story was actually about a kind of twisted cleverness. Washington Irving thought this just the name to give to a city which he believed was inhabited by fools." So the name Gotham arose from a protest against a despotic leader. How circular. here is a more in depth explanation of the English origins of Gotham: http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Gotham1.htm

S.D.

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 12:56:14 -0500

Yet Another Brilliant Protest.

r.

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 12:49:59 -0500

While I won't sing the praises of Chicago, I'll admit that its skyline is hard to beat (and therefore makes it a fine place to film).