By the time I was 14, I was already enchanted with the surreal world of graphic novels. The grim doors of our diminutive club library served as a portal to immerse myself in the phantasmagoria where heroes, cities - even worlds - blended into a harmonious concinnity that appealed to me in the way ordinary stories seldom can. Then the library shut down. I remember the Tower of Babel being the last graphic novel I ever read.
Nine years down the line I am introduced to DC, a virtual hub where data is shared from all over campus. I find a file with the click of a button that could well have been an arcane document retrieved from beneath the debris of nine years of estrangement. "JLA: The Tower of Babel", it read. A stolid figure draped in black standing, disdainful in defeat, above the Earth's mightiest heroes - white eyes thirsting for revenge and gleaming, perhaps, with a touch of guilt. Tim Burton's Batman could never do justice to the character (although I admit I liked it when I saw it, but hey! I was 5). Nolan devoted a colossal amount of time and effort in humanizing the Bat, lending empathy to a character so doused in mental conflict that in reality, we could never hope to relate. But sometimes I feel that if they were ever to come up with a Justice League film, they would have to add at least an equal measure of ingenuity in order to apotheosize the character.
Although I'm not a regular reader of graphic novels anymore, I can't help but marvel at this creation of DC (heh). The Tower of Babel reads with a sense of urgency and intensity that will pique your interest with the first page you turn. The story plunges you into the midst of synchronized anarchy, systematically compromising the members of the Justice League and all you can do is gape at the impossibility of it all. J'onn J'onzz is attacked with a rocket that releases nanites that cling to the Martian's skin and cause him to sweat magnesium that makes his earthly body inflammable. The United Nations headquarters is under assault when Aquaman and Elongated Man each take bullets that metaphorically drive a scythe into their specific weaknesses. Aquaman is injected with a serum that makes him hydrophobic - afraid of the very element he needs to survive and Elongated Man in frozen and then smashed to bits. Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern) wakes up blind, the Flash is seemingly immobilized by a vibra-bullet that causes him to experience seizures at light speed and Wonder Woman is forced into a coma where she's engaged in a fight with an opponent who's equally matched with the aim of keeping her engrossed in the heat of battle till her heart gives out. And finally, the mightiest of them all succumbs to an artificially manufactured variety of red Kryptonite that enhances his powers to earth-threatening proportions and is thus, impelled to hide himself away in a corner. And all this while Bruce Wayne is hot on the heels of the mystery man who commissioned the removal of his parents' graves from the cemetery.
The plot doesn't wait to thicken before revealing the master-mind behind it all - Ra's Al Ghul, the eco-terrorist who periodically threatens Batman, globally holding existence at gunpoint. But how is it different from any other JLA story you ask? Wherein lies the genius? The answer is provided by old Bats himself.
After an alien tyrant named Agamemno nearly won the earth by inhabiting the bodies of the league-ers, Batman had failsafes put in place to take down the members one by one should such an event occur again. He meticulously used his years of observation to design measures that would render the earth's mightiest defenders helpless and in agony, yet inches away from death, measures that would test them physically and psychologically, bending them to his will and breaking them with the snap of his will. Unfortunately, these documents were stolen from him by Ra's with the help of his daughter Talia Al-Ghul. Ra's used them to keep the members distracted while he erected a tower that would transmit a signal that would destroy all communication on the earth, resulting in anarchy.
The Tower of Babel is a read that will tear you from the inside by assailing you with an experience where you'll rejoice at the prospect of not rooting for the silent crusader. It is the beauty in the breakdown. The matter of trust comes to the fore at the fag-end where a vote cast by each of the other league-ers shall determine whether the Batman gets to stay on the team. Despite the emotionally stirring fatality of the event itself, the matter is something that transcends even the physical roll-out of the crackerjack plot. Should the almighty heroes be allowed to hold such power unchecked is the the pith of the debate that precedes the judgment - a sort of "Who guards the guardsmen?" if you will. And while the weight of the decision nearly brings the members to blows, the words remain unsaid. Silence reigns supreme while a hero melts into the shadows, forever a step ahead. Forever tainted.
Nine years down the line I am introduced to DC, a virtual hub where data is shared from all over campus. I find a file with the click of a button that could well have been an arcane document retrieved from beneath the debris of nine years of estrangement. "JLA: The Tower of Babel", it read. A stolid figure draped in black standing, disdainful in defeat, above the Earth's mightiest heroes - white eyes thirsting for revenge and gleaming, perhaps, with a touch of guilt. Tim Burton's Batman could never do justice to the character (although I admit I liked it when I saw it, but hey! I was 5). Nolan devoted a colossal amount of time and effort in humanizing the Bat, lending empathy to a character so doused in mental conflict that in reality, we could never hope to relate. But sometimes I feel that if they were ever to come up with a Justice League film, they would have to add at least an equal measure of ingenuity in order to apotheosize the character.
The plot doesn't wait to thicken before revealing the master-mind behind it all - Ra's Al Ghul, the eco-terrorist who periodically threatens Batman, globally holding existence at gunpoint. But how is it different from any other JLA story you ask? Wherein lies the genius? The answer is provided by old Bats himself.
After an alien tyrant named Agamemno nearly won the earth by inhabiting the bodies of the league-ers, Batman had failsafes put in place to take down the members one by one should such an event occur again. He meticulously used his years of observation to design measures that would render the earth's mightiest defenders helpless and in agony, yet inches away from death, measures that would test them physically and psychologically, bending them to his will and breaking them with the snap of his will. Unfortunately, these documents were stolen from him by Ra's with the help of his daughter Talia Al-Ghul. Ra's used them to keep the members distracted while he erected a tower that would transmit a signal that would destroy all communication on the earth, resulting in anarchy.
The Tower of Babel is a read that will tear you from the inside by assailing you with an experience where you'll rejoice at the prospect of not rooting for the silent crusader. It is the beauty in the breakdown. The matter of trust comes to the fore at the fag-end where a vote cast by each of the other league-ers shall determine whether the Batman gets to stay on the team. Despite the emotionally stirring fatality of the event itself, the matter is something that transcends even the physical roll-out of the crackerjack plot. Should the almighty heroes be allowed to hold such power unchecked is the the pith of the debate that precedes the judgment - a sort of "Who guards the guardsmen?" if you will. And while the weight of the decision nearly brings the members to blows, the words remain unsaid. Silence reigns supreme while a hero melts into the shadows, forever a step ahead. Forever tainted.
1 comment:
Mail it to me. I'll read it after the 3rd. Promise.
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