It’s that time of year again, folks: Batman Day, the annual holiday in which one of the world’s largest corporations invites us to think about one of its most lucrative mascots, even more than we already do. (And let’s be very clear here: We think about Batman a lot.) To celebrate the event, DC Comics has decided to forego its usual means of commemorating the Dark Knight—murdering various people’s parents, in the hopes of inspiring a real-life Caped Crusader to emerge from the ashes at last—in favor of shining a glorified flashlight on the walls of a bunch of cities around the world.
Specifically, Melbourne, New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Berlin, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, London, São Paulo, Montreal, and Mexico City will all play host to the Bat-Signal, a method of communication that was impractical before the invention of the cellphone, and now just feels like bragging. (Meanwhile, if you’re not in any of those cities and want a similar effect, feel free to shine a candle at your nearest rabid bat.) The Signal’s last showing will be in Los Angeles tonight, in commemoration of Batman TV series star Adam West, and damn it, we really didn’t want to feel any actual emotions about this stuff.
For what it’s worth, the Batman organization as a whole is in much better shape this year than it was the last time we all gathered around the Alfredtree; DC just announced James Tynion IV as the new writer of its main series Batman comic, and the franchise’s film potential is in an upswing, with Robert Pattinson having recently agreed to take on the role after Ben Affleck so casually dropped it in the trash. Sure, he’s a tad overshadowed by that other guy with the purple suits right now, but still: Not bad for a dude who just turned 80.