Location of Gotham City

[Corven_Ren]

I was just wondering where Gotham was located. If anyone has a picture of a map that shows it I would be greatful.

[Corven_Ren]

Thanks alot Mitchel. I was never much into DC when I collected comics years ago. Collecting only Batman: Shadow of The Bat. SO my knowledge of that Universe is limited. You are repped for you efforts.

[input.jack]

The irony, of course, is that originally, Metropolis was supposed to be a "stand in" for New York City. Gotham was -also- supposed to be New York City (and is a nickname for NYC), but when DC editors decided that all their characters should be running around in the same world (back in the early 40s), they decided that Gotham City was, instead, a stand-in for Chicago.

Then, in the 1970's, Marvel and DC did a couple of collaborative comics, where their characters crossed over and met one another. No one really said much about it until the 80s, when they did it again, and for some reason people started writing in asking "How can Metropolis and New York City -both- exist?"

At which time someone on the DC staff came up with the idea of having the fictional cities be located -alongside- the real ones....with the odd geography you have on the map given, where Gotham City in in New Jersey, and Metropolis isnt even in New York state!:help:

[Kenn]

Well, Wonder Woman was living in New York City proper in the early 1970s, so the question could have existed then.

In a number of 1950s and 1960s "World's Finest" stories, they said that Gotham was "just across the bay" from Metroplis. They didn't say which bay,

[David Johnston]

Without getting into the official answers, when the question mattered to me, I put Gotham in Massachusetts and Metropolis on the Great Lakes.

[wcw43921]

Interesting. I always though of Gotham City as being closer to Newark, NJ, perhaps even standing in for Newark.

Now if this were the Smallville universe, then Metropolis would be closer to where Keystone and Central City are placed.

I also note that Hub City appears to be standing in for Cairo, IL, and that the actual town of Metropolis, IL was left off the map. Given that town's long-standing assocaition with (and deep affection for) Superman, im seems only fair that it should exist in the DC Universe as well.

[st barbara]

Given that the creators of "Superman" were from the Chicago area I always thought that "Metropolis" was meant to be Chicago and "Gotham City" was a stand in for "New York".

[David Johnston]

Given that the creators of "Superman" were from the Chicago area I always thought that "Metropolis" was meant to be Chicago

Which in case anyone forgets, is by Lake Michigan.

[wcw43921]

Given that the creators of "Superman" were from the Chicago area I always thought that "Metropolis" was meant to be Chicago and "Gotham City" was a stand in for "New York".


Nononononononono.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were not from Chicago. They grew up in another Great Lakes city--Cleveland, Ohio.

If you don't believe me, believe Wikipedia--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman

And if you don't believe Wikipedia, here's another page--

http://theages.superman.ws/History/Version0.php

And another--

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8580/super.html

And another--

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=880648

And plenty more where that came from.

[st barbara]

I had thought it was Chicago but i'll take your word for it. Certainly Metropolis wasn't based on New York City. If I remember correctly National Periodical Publications, the publishers of Superman,were based in Illinois (Sparta, I think, without looking at a reference book), so it makes sense that two boys from the general area would base their mythical city on a large city nearby, and sell the idea to a local publisher.

[Shaft]

Hmm, Gotham looks like it's pretty close to Hudson City...

Next issue: Batman vs The Blue Moon Killer.

[Mark Rand]

In my universe,which is more CU than DCU, Gotham City is just up the coast from Atlantic City and Gotham County, which it is the county seat of, is the southern part of Ocean County.

Hudson City, on the other hand, is in the Newark area.

[Princedarkstorm]

I belive it is in New Jersey according to the ATLAS Of the DC UNIVERSE sourcebook.

[Balabanto]

Technically, Gotham City is sort of where Newark is, if you look at the map.

Not so technically, Hudson City (From Dark Champions Sourcebooks) is, umm...well....Hoboken.

That's right. Your characters have been saving the restaurant capital of the world from Card Shark for years. :)

[Greywind]

Just makes me wonder why the Bat doesn't speak with a joisey accent...

[Shaft]

Just makes me wonder why the Bat doesn't speak with a joisey accent...

The man is a master of many languages. He can speak English with whatever accent he wants.

I'm sure that Matches Malone speak with a joisey accent though... ;)

[assault]

Just makes me wonder why the Bat doesn't speak with a joisey accent...

I would imagine that his "natural" accent would reflect his upper class and highly educated background.

Frankly, I think he would talk like a Kennedy.

[Supreme Serpent]

I would imagine that his "natural" accent would reflect his upper class and highly educated background.

Frankly, I think he would talk like a Kennedy.

"Robin, you pahk the Bat-cah while I get us some wicked good grinders from this spa."