Am I up to a challenge??

My good buddy Nate gave me a blog-challenge this week. He said that the point of the blogosphere is to give a forum to people who get hoppin' mad over things that only they care about. He faults my blog with a general lack of frustration and anger, and really that's because I'm such a nice guy.

The truth is, however, there is something in recent history that has been upsetting me, and up till now, I have remained quiet.

No longer.

I am sooooooo psyched for the upcoming release of "The Dark Knight", moreso than most movie-goers. I have been a Batman freak for most of my life and currently own every issue of the comic from 1964 to current day. Most of my clothes have a bat insignia on them somewhere, as do my favorite blanket and half of my bath towels.

The cast they have assembled for the film is incredible. The director is one of the best currently working in the industry. The writer is a really talented scripter with real comic book experience and only one minor misstep against him ("Blade 3"). It features at least one of the very best Batman villains, maybe two.

And yet, even with all of this going for it, and even with all of my accumulated excitement over next week's debut, something about it has me outraged.

Look at this picture:

Do you see anything wrong with it? Feel free to ignore all the weird, pointless shapes and seams on the suit. I have no clue what they are doing there but I'll forgive them. At least it doesn't have nipples again (see "Batman and Robin" - or better yet, DON'T!!!)

Oh, go ahead and block out the fact that the whole thing is pretty much gray and that you have to strain to see the copyrighted bat emblem on his chest. They pulled that on us the last time around so I'm almost used to it.

Take a look at the lower half of the mask. Once you work your way down below where his ears would be, the whole thing starts to curve inwards and taper to a narrow neck. It looks really weird. It's like the middle of his head is the widest part with a tiny scalp and chin. The horns are curved to look like the taser gun Selina Kyle used in "Batman Returns." It's really odd. The part that makes me angry is the neck though. I can't find a picture that shows it as well as the one that is currently hanging at our local cinema. Even Sarah was criticizing it this weekend when we saw "Hulk", and in that moment, I realized that my anger was righteous!

Here are a few examples of how Batman's mask should be sculpted/drawn. Hopefully you will see that it indeed makes for a more striking figure:

So anyway, I'm still 100% behind the upcoming movie, and I have complete faith that it is going to be great; however, I am outraged that the Bat-suit doesn't look at all like the costume I have loved for 32 years now. Hollywood was so close to getting it right; why not go the last few steps and make it perfect????