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Caped Crusader Celebrates 70th Birthday
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Batman Begins Poster
The Dark Knight Detective is seventy years old and is still patrolling Gotham's mean streets, making them safe from just about every nut-job that ever escaped from Arkham Asylum. But what is it about a man who dresses up as a flying rodent that we find so appealing, that the character would still remain relative after seven decades?
Batman was created by writer/artist Bob Kane, and made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27, back in April of 1939. He was a depression era hero— a millionaire who used his wealth to create an arsenal of weapons and technology to fight crime. Kane drew from several sources, blending Zorro (who was a wealthy man by day— righter of wrongs by night) with a mysterious character from a silent movie serial called The Bat (who was a criminal), a mysterious underworld character, who skulked around at night, terrorizing his victims. Kane then drew inspiration, literally, from some drawings of a bat wing-shaped glider designed by the master artist himself, DaVinci to develop the Batman's unique bat-like cape. (Note: Over the years writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson has laid claim to creating the Batman we know and love— working out the look and back story of the character while working for Kane as employees in Kane's art studio.)
The Bat-Man, as he was referred to back then, was an instant hit— so much so that within a few years of his first appearance, he got his own comic (Batman #1-1940) and a was appearing in a series of popular Saturday Morning Movie serial cliff-hangers.
By the 1950's Batman's popularity was dipping, mostly due to the work of Dr. Fredrick Wertham, a hack psychiatrist who wrote a book that blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency. This brought about a Senate investigation, which led to comic publishers watering down their comics in a self censoring bid to ward off federal regulations or worst the banning of comics altogether. Throughout the 50's through the late 60's Batman stories were geared more for elementary school kids. Batman stories went from crime/drama to sci-fi and fantasy stories.
Then in 1966, Batmania took the country and the comics industry by storm. The Batman TV series made the caped crusader hip and cool, in a campy sort of way, and for a couple of years the stores were flooded with all sorts of "bat" merchandise. There were even dances and hairstyles inspired by Batman. But as the fad wore off, so did Batman's appeal. Sales were dipping again, and DC decided to bring in top talent to revamp the character and return him to his dark and brooding roots.
The 1970's was a sort of renaissance for the character. DC wanted to wash all aspects of the 50's and 60's Batman out of reader's minds. The Bat-Man was reborn as the Dark Knight Detective. A dark and brooding character, who's trauma fueled his vendetta against criminals. The comic book writers had a new target audience, college kids, and they took full advantage of their audience's desire to read compelling stories, and to flesh out the character from a 2-D stereotype, to a 3-D character with foibles.
The Batman was back and better than ever. He appeared in the long running Superfriends cartoon show, and also starred in 2 separate cartoon series in the late 60's and mid-70's. He also guest starred in a Scooby-Doo episode, and appeared in a PSA commercial about equal pay for women.
In 1986, writer/artist Frank Miller gave Batman a much needed shot in the arm with his ground breaking graphic novel—The Drak Knight Returns. It was a media sensation, and a critical and commercial success for the artist, for DC, and for Batman. Soon Hollywood would come calling again.
In 1989, Batman returned to the big screen—This time in the form of a star-studded, blockbuster movie. Tim Burton's Batman, starred Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker. It was a mega-hit, which caused another bat-mania storm to hit the country. However as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and so the second wave of bat-mania soon died out. By the mid-90's the public was wearing thin of the dark knight detective.
Batman comics would slide up and down in sales throughout the 90's into 2000. Then in 2005 Batman Begins took the franchise and turned it on it's head. If Burton's Batman was Dark— Batman Begins was going to be darker. The film opened to rave reviews and a gold stamp from comic fans— this was what the fans were looking for. Batman Begins had captured the essence of the character down to the last detail and stayed true to the character in the comics. Hollywood soon follow up with a sequel, The Dark Knight, which pitted Batman against his greatest foe, the Joker.
So why is Batman still around after 70 years? The answer is simple and yet complex. One reason is that he has adapted with the times, while still retaining the elements that strike an appeal among the masses. No matter what the decade, people need a hero. And like the mythic Greek heroes of old, Batman/Bruce Wayne is a tragic hero— born through tragic means (the death of his parents), yet overcoming tragedy to fight injustice, and to do what the law won't and can't do.
As long as there are talented people around to keep the character fresh and make the character evolve with the times, there will always be a Batman.
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