- published: 25 Jul 2007
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Gotham City ( /ˈɡɒθəm/ GOTH-əm) is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940). Since first being mentioned, Gotham has primarily taken elements from New York City, but also from Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Vancouver, London and Chicago. Frank Miller has referred to Gotham City as New York City after dark.
Writer Bill Finger, on the naming of the city and the reason for changing Batman's locale from New York City to a fictional city said, "Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City'. Then I tried 'Capital City', then 'Coast City'. Then I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name 'Gotham Jewelers' and said, 'That's it,' Gotham City. We didn't call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it."
"Gotham" had long been a well-known nickname for New York City even prior to Batman's 1939 introduction, which explains why "Gotham Jewelers" and many other businesses in New York City have the word "Gotham" in them. The nickname was popularized in the nineteenth century, having been first attached to New York by Washington Irving in the November 11, 1807 edition of his Salmagundi, a periodical which lampooned New York culture and politics. Irving took the name from the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England, a place that, according to folklore, was inhabited by fools. The village's name derives from Old English gat 'goat' and ham 'home', literally "homestead where goats are kept", and is pronounced "goat 'em", /ˈɡoʊtəm/ goat-əm (c.f. Chatham, /ˈtʃætəm/ CHAT-əm, a similar name which has not undergone a t → th pronunciation shift). In contrast, "Gotham" as used for New York or in the comics is pronounced /ˈɡɒθəm/ GOTH-əm, like the word Goth.
Two-Face is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942), and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
Two-Face was once Harvey Dent, the clean-cut district attorney of Gotham City and an ally of Batman. However, Dent goes insane after mob boss Sal Maroni throws acid at him during a trial, hideously scarring the left side of his face. Dent adopts the "Two-Face" persona and becomes a criminal, choosing to bring about good or evil based upon the outcome of a coin flip. Originally, Two-Face was one of many gimmick-focused comic book villains, plotting crimes based around the number two, such as robbing Gotham Second National Bank at 2:00 on February 2. In his autobiography, Batman creator Bob Kane claims to have been inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, specifically the 1931 film version which he saw as a boy. Kane had not read the novel when he and Bill Finger created Two-Face. Some inspiration was also derived from the pulp magazine character the Black Bat, whose origin story included having acid splashed in his face. In later years, writers have portrayed his obsession with duality and fate as the result of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and multiple personality disorder. He obsessively makes all important decisions by flipping a two-headed coin, one side scratched over with an X. The modern version is established as having once been a personal friend and ally of Commissioner James Gordon and Batman.