My So-Called Bat-Life

I was born in 1964. The same year that Batman went for a slightly new look. (Golden Age Batman had always had a simple black Bat insignia on his chest but as of Detective Comics #327 his insignia was surrounded by a yellow oval, suggesting the Bat signal.) Some of my first memories are of the Caped Crusader. ABC’s hit TV show Batman premiered January 12, 1966, so my earliest years were spent immersed in Batmania. I clearly remember playing the 45 of Neil Hefti’s ‘Batman Theme’ over and over again, twisting to it and jumping around the living room pretending to beat up henchmen and   ne-er-do-wells.

Adam West’s Batman was so omnipresent in those mid to late 60s years it’s no surprise he made such an impression on me and other children of the era. Of course it wasn’t the Batman alone that proved memorable. I showed particularly keen interest in Julie Newmar’s Catwoman and to a lesser degree, Yvonne Craig’s Batgirl – a character that had been created for the television show.

Though the ABC Batman series only lasted three seasons its impact would resonate culturally for a decade and a half. In those fifteen years the show would find a healthy afterlife in syndication. After school everyone I knew would run home to watch The Commander Tom Show out of Buffalo, New York. Commander Tom alternated episodes of the George Reeves Adventures of Superman and the Adam West Batman. When we weren’t pretending to be the Dynamic Duo or the Man of Steel we were playing with our Mego Action figures.

The eight inch Mego figures were first produced in 1972. Along with Batman and Robin (who had humungous green oven mitt-sized gloves) Mego also produced the villains Joker, Penguin and Riddler. At some point early in my childhood my parents began buying me comic books from the local variety store. I’d often end up with a mishmash of titles including Archie, Pep, Richie Rich but Batman and Superman were definite cornerstones of my literary diet. (It wasn’t until much later that I’d find an appreciation for Marvel titles. I just found their Heroes With Hang-Ups too much for my young tastes.) My favourite titles were Batman Family, World’s Finest and The Brave and The Bold.

The Batman Family featured reprints of stories that focused on secondary characters like Robin, Batgirl, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon and even Vicki Vale and Bat-Hound. The World’s Finest teamed-up the Bat with Superman. When that novelty wore off DC included stories revolving around the sons of Superman and Batman. The Brave and The Bold was another team-up title but in this case Batman was joined by a revolving door of special guest heroes. Along with these three favourites it was always a treat in the seventies to find a new issue of the over sized series Limited Collectors’ Edition waiting at the variety store. These 10″ x 14″ books tended to be thematic reprint books but were cooler than anything else imaginable back in the day. They were published between 1972 to 1978. Perfect for me. That was Grade 2 to Grade 8. Five exclusive Bat books were published in this format and many others that featured Batman.

In 1973 the Caped Crusaders returned to television in the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends. Aside Justice Leaguers Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, the Dynamic Duo were joined by Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog. In 1977 these later three were replaced by Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna and their pet monkey Gleek.  Every weekend the Super Friends would face-off against their evil opposites, the Legion of Doom. It’s a show that is hard to revisit as an adult but it was more than enough for my ten year-old tastes.

A few years later the Dynamic Duo would get their own Saturday morning title, The New Adventures of Batman, voiced by West and Ward. They were joined by Batgirl and the always irritating Batmite.

These were awkward years for the Batman as they were for me. I was entering my early teens and had just begun high school. Batman was languishing in mediocrity having become an object of ridicule.

In grade 11 I decided to take a film class. A classmate of mine, Ted, asked me if I would act in his film. He said I’d be playing Batman, and he would make the costume. I knew Ted to be smart, funny, and a talented artist so I said sure. The film was a silent Super 8 film that ran a little over five minutes but I got to dress up as Batman and run around downtown Toronto with a bomb over my head re-enacting the Some Days You Just Can’t Get Rid Of A Bomb scene. Some of my closest friendships came out of my experience of making that five minute film.

My interest in comic books was rekindled around this time. Both Ted and Mike (who played Sparrow opposite my Batsman) were excellent artists/cartoonists who had continued to read contemporary comics. Mike was excited by a writer and illustrator named Frank Miller who had been working on Daredevil. Mike told me Miller would be illustrating a four part stand alone Batman series. Pat, another friend of mine, and I would go to our local comic shop and pick up the new books that were coming out at the time – John Byrne’s Superman relaunch The Man of Steel, Watchmen, and this new Bat book we had waited for.

Miller’s Dark Knight Returns (along with Alan Moore’s Watchmen) is seen as a groundbreaking moment in a mainstream comics. DKR presented recognizable real world figures like David Letterman and Ronald Reagan. It gave us Batman and The Joker as a psychotic Yin Yang. The Batmobile was transformed into a tank and Robin was a young girl named Carrie Kelley who shared a strong resemblance to Jill St. John in the pilot episode of Batman 66.

Frank Miller single-handedly erased the long standing BIFF! POW! image of the Adam West Batman from our minds. Batman was now what the character himself had intended to be – an intimidating vigilante and a creature of the night – truly the Dark Knight. Once the jeanie was out of the bottle the darkness continued unabated. One Robin would die at the hands of the Joker, while Batgirl was crippled and humiliated by the Crown Prince of Crime, transforming her into the wheelchair heroine, Oracle.

In 1986 DC published issue #400 of Batman with a stunning cover by Bill Siekiewicz and an introduction by Stephen King in which he professed his love of Batman over the Man of Steel. Not long after this Warner Brothers announced they would bring Batman back to the big screen. When it was also announced that comedian Michael Keaton would take on the title role fanboys freaked out fearing that Batman would return to the world of camp and chuckles.

The film premiered in the summer of 1989 to universal acclaim. Keaton was edgy, Jack Nicholson who often played characters on the edge of madness was a more than adequate Joker. Stylistically Gotham was a dark foreboding place similar to the template Miller and co had painted. On opening night many in the audience stood and clapped through the closing credits. The film was the biggest grossing film of 1989.

Director Tim Burton would return to direct the sequel Batman Returns – a successful and satisfying film if displaying more of Burton’s trademark quirkiness. The last two films in the relaunch of the cinematic franchise show a marked decline in taste and quality while the final film Batman & Robin can be said to be goofier than any of the Adam West outings. Sitting through Arnold Schwarzenegger and the myriad of ice puns should not be attempted without strong medication. Both Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin were directed by Joel Schumacher. Director and fanboy extraordinaire Kevin Smith has said these last two films were “the worst thing to happen to Batman since his parents were killed.”

The 90’s also saw a steep decline in the quality of the Bat titled comics. Investors decided that collectibles such as comics were an untapped market. As a result publishers like Marvel and DC flooded the market with new tittles, alternate covers and generally overtaxing working writers or employing artists of sub-standard talent. Batman was no longer just the eponymous comic and Detective Comics. New Bat books like Gotham Confidential, Gotham Knights, The Batman Adventures, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Shadow of the Bat were all brought in to the marketplace, as were comics for Robin and Batgirl.

Two interlocking story lines dominated the Batman comics of the 90’s. An overworked and guilt ridden Batman has his back broken by Bane, and a violent antihero named Azrael takes over Bruce Wayne’s mantle as The Batman, until Bruce is able to heal and take back the cowl.

Although Batman had a rough go of it on the big screen and in the comics during the 1990’s some of his best stories were still being told by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini on Batman, The Animated Series (TAS). I first discovered Batman TAS on the KidsWB. I was a new father and my Bat indoctrination of my young had already begun. I was immediately struck by the quality of this new show. The creators had intentionally modelled the look of Batman TAS from the 1940’s Fleischer Superman cartoons. As a result it looked like nothing else that was being produced at the time and was absolutely perfect stylistically for the Dark Knight. The show became the genesis for all of the WB / DC animation projects to follow.

In the next few years Superman, Teen Titans, and Justice League would all end up with quality animated shows and a whole new tale was added to the Bat canon. Batman Beyond was set even later than The Dark Knight at a time when Bruce Wayne is now too old to be the Batman so he takes on a young protege to fill the Bat boots.

Going into the 21st century the Batman was doing better than ever before. The Brave and the Bold was an animated show for young children that introduced them to the entire DCU. Chris Nolan gave the world a trilogy of films that was more stern than Batman himself, while young Bruce Wayne came to television in his own version of Smallville, Gotham. In 2016 Batman will be featured in two blockbusters – Suicide Squad and Batman Versus Superman.

There it is, fifty years of my so-called Bat-life but before leaving the Batcave for the comfort of Wayne Manor let me list off my 30 favourite Bat-moments (and a few crummy ones) of my so-called Bat-life.

• “Somedays you just can’t get rid of a bomb!” Batman (1966)
• The ’66 TV Pilot sets the tone for the series, Batusi, intoxicated Batman, Robin too embarrassed to watch Batman pitch woo, and Jill St. John in Robin’s costume.
• Catwoman Goes To College, Season 2 ep 49, Feb 67
• Season 3, Nora Clavicle and the Ladies Crime Club. Yes it’s here purely for the Human Knot silliness. The list IS subjective, Kids. Jan 18 68
• Batman #222 Til Proven Dead riffs on the Beatles conspiracy Paul Is Dead! June 70
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• Batman #232 1st appearance Ra’s al Ghul June 1971
• Batman #239 Silent Night, Deadly Night Dec 71 Denny O’Neil story
• Detective Comics #395 Neal Adams covers from 385 – 422 are all stunning.
• Batman #251 The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge. Adams/O’Neil Sept 73
• Swamp Thing #7  Night of the Bat  Bernie Wrightson art Dec 1973
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• Batman #311 Great cover with Batgirl, Bats and Dr. Phosperous  May 79
• Batman #323/324 Catwoman returns to the series Art by Aparo and Giordano 1980
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Feb 1986
• Justice League #5, Sept 1987 “One Punch!” Batman is left to babysit rookie JLers and is forced to take out a mouthy Guy Gardner with … one punch.
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• Batman Year One – Miler 87 Issues 404 – 407
• Batman: Arkham Asylum 1989 graphic novel
• Batman TAS, Joker’s Favor 1st ever Harley Quinn S 1 Ep 22 
• Batman TAS, Almost Got ‘Im, S1 Ep 35 Nov 1992 
• Batman TAS, Christmas With The Joker, S1 Ep38 Nov 13 92 
• The Batman Adventures: Mad Love comic, Feb 1994 1st Harley Quinn in comics
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• Superman TAS, World’s Finest Oct 97
• SubZero, Direct to market Batman TAS movie, March 98. The animation team showed just how much better they were than their big screen counterparts with this beautiful Mr. Freeze tale.
• Batman TAS, Over The Edge Season 4 episode 12 May 1998, A gripping and masterful story that begins with the death of Batgirl.
• Batman TAS, Legends of the Dark Knight Season 4 episode 19 Oct 98. An adaptation of a classic Bat comic but it updates it with the first animation of a segment of Miller’s Dark Knight.
• Batman Beyond, pilot, Jan 10 1999
• Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, 2000. Surprisingly grim, though not as disturbing as Alan Moore’s Killing Joke.
• Batman #608 – 619, ‘Hush’, Dec 02 – Sep 03. Jim Lee and Grant Morrison team up for a great story and equal quality artwork.
• JLU, ‘Kid Stuff’ Episode 3, Aug 2004 Batman and the other JLers are transformed into kids. And Bats and WW have a thing for each other.
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• The Dark Knight,  Heath Ledger’s Joker re-creates the character, 2008
• The Arkham Asylum Video Games, 2009
• Lego Batman: The Movie –  Gordon to Robin “Listen to your … Batman”, 2013
• The Lego Movie, Batman sings Darkness, Feb 2014

The Evil That Men Do …

The Dark Knight Rises, beloved by some who feel director Nolan can do no wrong. But I had many, many issues with it none of which were Anne Hathaway. In brief, no Batman should run away for 8 years, I miss the old Venom Bane of the comics. I don’t need a quasi-real world terrorist. MORE Catwoman. Glad to be moving on from the funeral-toned seriousness of this franchise.

Batman & Robin, This is the evil opposite of Dark Knight Rises. It was Batman ’66 on ecstasy with sour puns clogging the script like a virus. If you have avoided it so far, stay away. It is the worst film I have ever paid to see.

Killing Joke, Yes, Alan Moore is seen as the Jesus of comics but for me this one just went too far. In the age when grimmer was better for the Bat this was about as bad as it could get. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) shot, crippled and degraded at home by The Joker. He then takes pictures of her. He kidnaps Commissioner Gordon strips and chains him and forces him to watch Joker’s slide show of Barbara.

Azrael,(KNIGHTFALL) this entire storyline smacked of gimmick. It was Batman’s version of the Doomsday and Death of Superman books.