關於哥譚市你不知道的十大真相(2)

Was Rebuilt By Lex Luthor

7.萊克斯·盧瑟重建了哥譚市

"No man's land" seemed to be the problem Gotham would never recover from. An earthquake massacre, a ruined city, mass evacuations, and federal abandonment seemed to be the perfect storm to destroy the city. It was saved by a very unlikely source: Lex Luthor. He spent oodles of his seemingly endless money in order to rebuild the city from the ground up.

"無人之境"似乎意味着哥譚市將不復存在。一場死傷無數的地震，到處斷壁殘垣，大量市民撤離以及聯邦政府的拋棄無疑像颶風一樣摧毀了哥譚市。然而，一個極不可能的人卻拯救了他——萊克斯·盧瑟。他投入了大量資金，從頭開始重建哥譚市。

Interestingly, the government's hands were tied. They had literally abandoned Gotham City, making the city itself outside of their jurisdiction. Therefore, America could not do much to stop Luthor helping out an embedded chunk of no-longer-America short of sending in the military—which would have been a public relations disaster for the president. Who wants to be seen as the president sending in tanks to stop a rich humanitarian from saving lives? So, Lex rebuilt the city, and the president gave in to public pressure and brought Gotham City back into the United States.

有趣的是，美國政府卻沒有干預。他們曾經徹底拋棄了哥譚市，對它不管不問。因此，美國政府沒有阻止萊克斯·盧瑟，否則，總統將飽受輿論壓力。哪個總統想被看作成一個阻止富有的人道主義者拯救生命的人呢？所以，萊克斯重建了哥譚市，而總統也迫於公共壓力使哥譚重新回到了美國。

As for Lex, it turned out to be part of a gamble to control almost all of the city through hard-to-trace fraud. Batman stopped Luthor, but only after the villainous mogul returned the city to its former majesty.

其實，萊克斯只是想通過一種隱晦的手段來達到控制哥譚的目的。最終，蝙蝠俠阻止了盧瑟，但卻沒能阻止他把哥譚變成從前的樣子。

am Is Green Lantern's City, Too

6.哥譚也是綠燈俠的城市

Gotham is understandably synonymous with Batman for many casual fans. However, Batman is not the only hero who has a decades-old claim on the city, as it was also home to Green Lantern. This was not the Green Lantern that many are familiar with—the space cop with a willpower-fueled ring—but instead his Golden Age predecessor, Alan Scott.

對於一般超級英雄迷來說，哥譚就是蝙蝠俠的代名詞。但是，蝙蝠俠並不是哥譚的唯一一個超級英雄，因爲哥譚同時也是綠燈俠的家鄉。但這並不是許多人熟悉的那個綠燈俠，那個意志堅定的空間巡警，而是第一任綠燈俠――艾倫·史考特。

This Lantern's ring was quite literally a magic ring that was powered by a mystical force known as the Starheart. Despite this difference, his powers would be very familiar to modern-day Lantern fans. He can fly, emit bursts of energy, and create objects through both imagination and willpower. In some ways, he has a one-up on Hal Jordan and other future Green Lanterns with his magical abilities that help him cancel magic spells, pass through walls, and even teleport.

艾倫的戒指的力量之源來自於一種叫做星心的神祕力量。儘管和其他的綠燈俠有所不同，綠燈俠的粉絲們還是對他的能力很熟悉。他能飛，可以發射能量波，通關想象和意志創造物體。從許多方面來說，他都是勝過哈爾·喬丹以及其他綠燈俠的，因爲他可以不用唸咒語就能施展超能力，甚至還能心靈感應。

Alan Scott originally lived in Gotham City and worked for the Gotham City Broadcasting company. He fought crime in the city as Green Lantern, and a young Bruce Wayne once saw him fighting the villain Icicle on Gotham's streets, helping to inspire the future Batman.

艾倫·史考特最初居住在哥譚市，並且在哥譚市廣播公司工作。他以綠燈俠的身份在這座城市中打擊犯罪。年輕的布魯斯·韋恩還曾經在他打擊反派Icicle時見到過他，並激勵韋恩成爲了未來的蝙蝠俠。

am's Government Makes Batman's Life Easier

5.哥譚市政府讓蝙蝠俠更容易作戰

It's tempting to completely turn off one's incredulity when reading a Batman story. After all, after accepting that a story about a billionaire beating up the mentally ill is meant to be both noble and serious, it would seem easier to accept anything except, perhaps, this: Why are all of those rooftops free for Batman to skulk around on? Where are the garish advertisements and neon signs that litter the rooftops of every other major metropolis?

當讀蝙蝠俠的故事時，你很難對它產生懷疑。畢竟，在接受了億萬富翁打擊罪犯的事實後，接受其他的事似乎就容易多了，比如：爲什麼哥譚市的屋頂可以供蝙蝠俠隨意使用?其他大城市樓頂上大型的廣告牌和霓虹燈在哥譚都去哪裏了？

Fortunately, the comics provide an answer for this question. In Dan Slott's Arkham Asylum: Living Hell comic, he revealed that an Arkham inmate actually named Humpty Dumpty once attempted to fix the Gotham clock tower, causing a huge chain reaction that knocked down most of the giant and oversized advertisement props on Gotham's rooftops. Afterward, Gotham passed the "Sprang Act" which forbade gigantic prop advertisements within the city. This is supposed to provide an explanation (albeit whimsical) for where all of the oversized props used by villains in the Golden and Silver Age went, and also to honor Batman penciller Dick Sprang.

還好，在漫畫書上做出瞭解答。丹·索羅特在《阿卡姆：人間地獄》中提到了這個故事。阿卡姆瘋人院中一個綽號叫做"矮胖子"的精神病犯曾嘗試修復哥譚市的鐘塔，結果拆掉了大多數樓頂上的廣告牌。後來，哥譚市政府頒佈了一項名叫"Sprang act"的法令，該法令禁止在哥譚市內搭建大型廣告牌。雖然很荒唐可笑，但它卻解釋了在其他超級英雄漫畫常被大反派利用的大型廣告牌爲什麼不在蝙蝠俠的戰鬥中出現的原因，其實這項法令也是爲了紀念蝙蝠俠的創作者之一——Dick Sprang。

am Is Actually In New Jersey?

4.哥譚市實際上在新澤西州？

Gotham is a city with multiple identities. It was originally New York City in the most literal sense—that is, the earliest Batman stories were set in New York City before "Gotham" was ever mentioned. The visual influence of an older New York is alive in both Burton's Batman movies and Fox's Gotham TV show. Christopher Nolan's iconic Batman films are well-known for being filmed mostly in Chicago. However, the best case for the location of the comic book Gotham is, in fact, New Jersey.

哥譚是多個城市的縮影。從許多方面來說，哥譚市最初是以紐約市爲原型的，因爲在哥譚市出現之前，最早期的蝙蝠俠的故事線是設定在紐約市。紐約最顯著的影響是在伯頓的蝙蝠俠系列電影和福克斯電視臺的美劇《哥譚》中。克里斯托弗·諾蘭的蝙蝠俠系列電影大多數則是在芝加哥拍攝的。但是，蝙蝠俠系列漫畫最初的定位實際上是在新澤西州。

The most definitive "evidence" of this comes from a 1990 DC Comics role-playing book that provided a map of that universe's America, and this map very clearly placed Gotham City in New Jersey. To be fair, it's easy enough to dismiss a decades-old role-playing game book as non-canonical. However, Detective Comics No. 503 mentioned the infamous Jersey Shore as being only 20 miles north of Gotham, and Robin and Batgirl quickly went from being in the Bat Cave to driving on New Jersey's Hudson County Highway. Finally, the Shadow of the Bat Annual from 1994 clearly shows a license plate that reads "Gotham City, NJ."

最明顯的證據是1990年DC漫畫提供了一幅美國的衛星地圖，地圖清楚地標記了哥譚市在新澤西州。確實，人們很容易就會忽視一本二十多年前名不見經傳的舊漫畫書。但是，第503期的《偵探漫畫》曾提及聲名狼藉的澤西海岸距離哥譚市北只有20英里，使得羅賓和蝙蝠女俠得以從哥譚市的蝙蝠俠基地迅速趕往新澤西的哈德遜縣。最後，1994年的漫畫《蝙蝠俠：蝙蝠之影》展示了一張銘牌，上面寫着"哥譚市，新澤西州"。

ZC：譯 來源：前十網