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BOOKS: Bats vs Supes: Decoding the Mythos - what's it about?

Crack photojournalist Nick van der Leek has brought out a second book [available Friday 8 April] in his Kindling For Film Fare series.  In Bats vs Supes: Decoding the Mythos the author tries to understand the problems bedevilling the DC comic universe.  What are DC getting wrong that Marvel consistently get right?

A movie featuring Batman alone should be a juggernaut in this brave new comic era. But a flick featuring Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman ought to be a contender for biggest blockbuster ever. And yet Batman v Superman is not going to make the magical $1 billion milestone. Why?

After a strong record breaking opening, the worst fears of the comic’s core fan base were realised. Snyder had messed with the comic mythos. “There’s darker and there’s fucking with source code,” as the author puts it.

For a film that’s about finding your authentic self, whether it’s Bats, Supes, Wonder Woman, a schizophrenic Lex or being born a monster, this film shouldn’t be fighting its own source code. Right out of the starting blocks and at every turn it is. Has Snyder killed the DC cinematic universe? Are [spoiler alert] Jimmy Olsen’s early assassination and the coffin at the movies conclusion portentous signs of a systemic failure at DC? Is the issue too little creativity or too much?

In True Crime writer Nick van der Leek’s inimitable style he interrogates the archetypal mythos to discover the epic origins buried in the comic canon. The author analyses in detail where Snyder nails it, and where he goes off track.

 Using extensive research the author investigates whether DC and Snyder deserve credit or criticism, and how DC stand apart from more successful celluloid rivals, Marvel. At the same time the narrative is a treatise about the world we live in – both real and imagined.

 One of van der Leek’s more frightening revelations is this: has an entire cinematic universe been simply undermined, or has it been destroyed to cater to society’s dark heart? And where is our dark collective heart taking us…is it a place even superheroes fear to tread? Decoding the Mythos provides sanity and reference to a world – factual and fictitious - spinning out of control.

 Available NOW!!!