The Batman Chronology Video Project on YouTube (by Martín Lel)

I’m super excited to share site contributor Martín Lel’s amazing new video “An Exhaustive Look at the Current Batman Chronology,” which is a two-and-a-half-hour documentary version of Batman’s Rebirth/Infinite Frontier timeline lifted straight from the webpages of my Batman Chronology Project.

Martín has put each year of the Batman Chronology Project’s Rebirth/Infinite Frontier timeline (from Bruce’s birth through to his death) into a straightforward, easy to digest narrative. The video is a tremendous culmination of both Martín’s and my work, and I commend him highly for it, especially the personal flair and touches he’s added. While you never get as many nitty gritty details or scholarly analysis with video, seeing my website adapted into video format does give a certain type of depth that just can’t be attained via a text-based chronological list. After watching through for the first time, I told Martín that his video feels like Chris Tolworthy’s “Fantastic Four as the Great American Novel” theory but applied to Batman. The feature length video not only fleshes out Batman’s overarching story with a pleasing kaleidoscope of expertly edited comic book images, but its narration also highlights several important things that might get missed when one is eyeball-scanning through a long text-based timeline. First, it really impresses upon the viewer exactly how Batman’s trials and tribulations build and connect to each other over long periods of time. Second, it shows how Batman reacts to trauma, learns, grows, occasionally regresses, rebounds, and is generally shaped—again over long periods of time. Third, it shows how Batman’s family is at the heart of his every motivation—and not just the infamous deaths of his parents, but also his very own role as loving father to a handful of kids. As Martín told me, “I 100% believe all of Batman’s history can be read as one big character arc,” and this surely resonates in the video. In short, it’s damn cool to see the Batman Chronology Project play out in this manner.

Please tell us what you think by leaving a comment here and on YouTube. Thanks!


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