I am an only child. As an only child, I spent several of my days at my grandparents. Unfortunately, this was a neighborhood of mostly older folks, so I had no other kids my age in the neighborhood. My biggest pleasure was playing in the covered ditch that ran the perimeter of my grandparents house and reading comics. I loved comics. My favorites were Superman and Batman. I liked a lot of others too. I began to discover that Batman was my favorite. I used to tie a bathroom towel arond my neck and play batman. I once even made my own batcave in my room at my grandparents house. I taped sheets of paper all over the walls, dresser, chest of drawers and door. These had various scales, graphs, flashing lights and buttons. I believe it irritated my grandmother but it kept me occupied so she didn't gripe too much.

I discovered the reason I was so drawn to Batman was he wasn't like other superheroes. He didn't come from another planet and get superpowers from the yellow sun. He wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider and acquired its abilities. He wasn't bathed in gamma rays which turned him into an emerald nightmare. Nope, he was just an average person thrown into an unimaginable situation. To summarize, he witnessed at the young age the terrible murder of his parents by a robber. This forever changed his outlook on life. He makes a vow at his parents grave to avenge their deaths by forever waging war on crime and criminals. Point is, he was an average guy with no superpowers other than his intestinal fortitude to make a difference in the world. This is an average guy busting his butt to be in the best physical and mental shape possible to do the world a service. No matter what the circumstances, he doesn't use guns, and doesn't take lives. He always brings the criminals to face justice.

Anyway, I've waited for three years for the new Batman movie to be released. I saw it at a midnight showing last night at the new theater in Paragould with my buddy(who by the way knows way more than I could ever think of about comic heroes). Contrary to the critics it was one of the best batman movies I've seen. The only flaw in my opinion is that Heath Ledger will not be able to reprise his role as the Joker. It was really great!

So, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, I'd suggest spending some time in the air conditioned theater and checking out the latest installment. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

We could use a few Batmen in this day and age, no doubt.

Oh, I know this wasn't much of a police blog, but police work is just a part of my life. It doesn't consume me whole although it does drive me.

If you have any questions or anything you'd like addressed, email me at trumannpd_7@ yahoo.com. I'll do my best to accomodate.

Hopefully next time won't be so far between.