"The Big Bang Theory" Proves That I'm a Total Geek

Last night, it was finally confirmed. I am a total geek.

How do I know? Because on last night’s “The Big Bang Theory,” Sheldon and Penny’s date engaged in a long debate over who should be the rightful successor to Batman’s cowl. And I actually understood every word of it…

You can see a small clip here.



So for those of you who are not comic book geeks like me, you may have been totally confused by Leonard saying “if Batman’s death proves permanent,” which opens the door to something I’ve been wanting to discuss for a long time but had no reason to bring up the subject…

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in the comics, Batman is dead. He was killed while trying to save Earth from the evil Darkseid. And now DC Comics has unleashed “Battle for the Cowl” a mini-series that will introduce the new Batman. As Sheldon and Penny’s date were debating, the top two candidates are Dick Grayson, the original Robin, and Jason Todd, the second Robin who for a long time was recently believed to have been murdered by The Joker.

Now perhaps the reason there wasn’t such a huge media outcry over this death like there was with Superman and Captain America is that it was pretty hard to understand. And the death didn’t even occur in a “Batman” book (It occurred in the limited series, “Final Crisis.”). Just this week I read writer Grant Morrison’s commentary for the “Batman R.I.P.” storyline and I still don’t get it.

Of course, what would I expect from the man who broke up my favorite comic book couple of all time and then killed my favorite comic book character of all time?

I’m pretty sure that Bruce Wayne is not actually dead because that would completely screw up the Batman mythos. But stranger things have happened…

So now, let me hear from the other comic book geeks out there. What do you think of the whole “Battle for the Cowl” thing? And is there anyone out there who can explain “Batman R.I.P.” to me?

And should Grant Morrison just stop messing with iconic comic characters?

Perhaps Sheldon will debate that topic next. I’ll look forward to his opinion…

“The Big Bang Theory” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS…