THE DARK KNIGHT BEGINS DC’s other cultural icon celebrates 70 candles on his cake so TRIPWIRE takes a glance at Batman’s anniversary WORDS: ANDREW COLMAN
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t wouldn’t have seemed plausible back in 1939, but DC’s decision to include a non-superpowered spandex hero in one of their established titles would prove to be as important and innovative an idea as any in pop culture. The Man Of Steel had exploded into the young medium, immediately establishing a new genre and becoming an icon in the process. Batman however had progenitors and was steeped in the pulpish noir of the era, not to mention that he was just another crimefighter when he first appeared in Detective Comics#27. Despite this he has proven to be as durable and probably more popular than any other character in comic history. And as Golden Age heroes go, his mythos has scarcely dated, whilst he has been more adaptable than his original contemporaries. The key to Batman’s early success was how bizarre and elemental he looked, and how he dealt with crime. A genuinely gothic character at this stage, he was even more sinister than his forebears The Shadow and The Spider. Borrowing from cinema as much as pulps, creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger understood that mystery and darkness (the very antithesis of Superman’s milieu) were crucial to the strip. And unlike
Supes, Batman was all too vulnerable in his own benighted backyard—as Kane stated about his creation, “I want him hurt”. Kane and Finger were also aware that a character borne out of vengeance rather than idealism was too monolithic to last—depth and a backstory were required, which would inevitably humanize and demystify the character. His highly credible origin story, in Detective Comics #33, which detailed how a young Bruce Wayne was orphaned by a street thug was simplicity itself, and certainly struck a chord with the title’s young readership. The first eleven issues of Batman’s tenure in Detective were, under the auspices of Kane, Finger and new writer Gardner Fox, in a similarly grim vein, as Batman dealt with foes of an especially ruthless leaning, such as Dr. Death and Hugo Strange. With issue 38, the tone of the strip would change dramatically as sidekick Robin was introduced. Purists may point out that with his arrival, Robin drained both Batman and his stories of the brooding, filmic menace that had been so compulsive, and immediately ushered in a new lightweight, humorous era. Of course this was true, but this move was to grant Batman his longevity. As Robin co-creator and artist Jerry Robinson pointed out, his presence added to Batman’s heroism and gave
younger readers a character to identify with, rendering Batman more human in the process. Bill Finger felt that Batman’s Sherlock Holmes needed a Watson, and that it would add necessary dialogue to the strip. Within a year of Detective 27, Batman gained his own title and cemented his place in the industry. As important as this milestone was, it was more significant for the first appearance of Catwoman, and arch-foe The Joker. Despite DC’s newly self-imposed code regarding magazine content, this new character brought in an unabashed level of psychosis and dark, twisted humour. Created by Jerry Robinson, The Joker was a combination of the playing card and the harlequin, a grotesque, irrational and tawdry figure who captured the imagination immediately and proved effectively that a hero needs a good rogue’s gallery. As Robinson mentioned, “I felt the time had come when Batman needed a superior villain with which to cope. I wanted a character that embodied the qualities of intrigue and mystery, yet with a great visual flair”. Although it was too early for anyone to suggest that these two archetypes defined one another, he was always the main draw, as evinced by repeated appearances in both books, usually (as was the case with Batman# 11) with a classic cover. If anything
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Batman co-creator Bill Finger on the golf course
his barnstorming, garish insanity was the obverse side of Batman’s newly softened and repressed image. However his sinister edge was quickly pared down, and wouldn’t reemerge until the early ‘70s. The 1940s proved very much to be a Golden Age for Batman, despite both books moving ever further away from hard-boiled detective stories. Batman# 24 saw the Dynamic Duo travel back in time to ancient Rome, whilst issue 36 saw them at King Arthur’s court. Very much presaging what was to become a staple in the 1950s, issue 41 saw Batman and Robin become interplanetary policemen, with green aliens on the cover. Belying this lack of grit, there were still great new villains who debuted in this period, such as The Penguin in Detective# 58, and Two-Face, in Detective# 66. Two-Face rapidly became as striking and oddball as The Joker —his “split” appearance and schizophrenic behaviour (always letting his double-headed coin make his decisions) making him a villain uniquely conflicted between good and evil deeds. And then there were the gimmicks and the spin-offs. In response to the Green Hornet’s car the Black Beauty, the Batmobile arrived in Detective# 48. And then there was the Batcave, the Bat-signal and other accoutrements. Such toys had an air of pre-James Bond glitz about them, which was to translate into the first screen version of Batman in 1943, the title role played by Lewis Wilson. A movie serial, The New Adventures Of Batman And Robin, followed in 1949, the leads this time being Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan. The latter feature was reasonably
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dark compared to the ‘60s version. Nonetheless the stories throughout this decade remained entertaining and still emphasized detection. Under Bill Finger, the stories continued to be quirky (he was responsible for the “giant prop” look in some of the tales)and loaded with odd information. With Edmond Hamilton, Otto Binder, Don Cameron, Al Schwartz and Bill Woolfolk all contributing, no great strides were made but there was still inspiration. However from 1950 onwards, the art, now being handled almost exclusively by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff, had matured but was beginning to stagnate, and the stories were soon to deteriorate. Whilst the super-hero genre
“The series was in trouble by the early Sixties and it was left to newly appointed Batman editor Julie Schwartz to provide a wholesale revamp for both titles.”
all but disappeared in the post Golden Age period under the welter of even more pulpish fare such as horror, crime, war, romance and western, Batman’s two titles soldiered haplessly on, gradually marginalizing classic villains in favour of lightweight, silly plots, and the same Weisinger-type nonsense that had befallen Superman’s titles. In the 1950s, readers were introduced to Bat-Woman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Hound and saddest of all, BatMite, whilst the artwork became ever more cartoonish. The series was in trouble by the early ‘60s, and it was left to newly appointed Batman editor Julie Schwartz to provide a wholesale revamp for both titles. From June 1964, a “new look” was introduced, which (apart from adding a yellow oval to Batman’s chest emblem) did dispense with sci-fi whimsy and shallow characters, and returned the Caped Crusader somewhat to his detective roots. For the first time in over a decade the art style was tinkered with, as Carmine Infantino took over as penciller. This new direction was needless to say a positive move, but was to prove shortlived when the T.V. show arrived on America’s small screens in 1966. For all the camp buffoonery and ‘60s “mod” trappings, the T.V. show was a major success which revitalized sales of Batman, Detective and World’s Finest (even though it was basically trashing comic convention and one of the medium’s best-loved characters). One welcome effect from the show was that it did bring back some of the classic villains that had been absent from Batman’s titles for some time, but largely its influence was arresting, as Batman
Drawing on his imagination: A photo of Batman’s co-creator Bob Kane (right) taken in the 1940s cating to a downtown penthouse, and Robin leaving the series (temporarily) to go to college. The accent with these stories was on Batman as the loner detective, but the mood and tone of the two books were to take a quantum leap with the arrival of writer Denny O’ Neil and definitive Batman artist Neal Adams. The period in which Adams was penciller (ably assisted by inker Dick Giordano) is considered by many fans as one of the high points in comics, let alone the two Batman titles. During his time on both books, Adams, along with Novick and the underrated Jim Aparo, brought fandom the Batman that had existed in those first eleven Detective issues—the gothic “creature of the night” who terrorized villains (the cover to Batman# 227 and Detective Comics aped many aspects of it, including bringing in a new Batgirl. At least Egghead and King Tut didn’t make the crossover. At the time the TV show ended in 1968, DC were floundering against Marvel’s challenge for dominance of the marketplace. All of the company’s super-hero titles were seen as dated and irrelevant by fandom, not least Batman’s. Major changes were afoot, however, as incumbent editor Carmine Infantino’s artistic revolution at National meant that Batman would finally be given the overhaul he needed. Firstly writer Frank Robbins and veteran artist Irv Novick were brought in to reboot and immediately distance Batman from the TV version, with Bruce Wayne relo-
“The three-part story in Batman 243-245 had a touch of James Bond about it but it was a great take on both characters [Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul] ” being very much an homage to Detective# 31, for example). O’Neil and Adams were not just about style, as they plucked Two-Face back from obscurity, and also reintroduced the Joker as he was meant to be—a deranged, sadistic and highly intelligent psychopath. Even better, they created a worthy new nemesis for the era—Ra’s Al Ghul. The three part story in Batman# 243-245 had a touch of James Bond about it, but was a great take on both characters. O’Neil and Adams’s version of Batman would influence all subsequent stories for the next decade. After their departure, Batman continued to be handled by creative teams who maintained the tone of the books whilst acknowledging the Batman of Finger, Kane and Robinson. Artists such as Alex Toth, Howard Chaykin and Sal Amendola all turned in great stories with a retro feel. In the late ‘70s, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers briefly restored Detective Comics to greatness with six issues that gave us an updated version of Batman’s late ‘30s persona —Golden Age villains such as Hugo Strange and Deadshot were brought back, along with the Penguin, and the Joker (in issue 475), in what is perhaps the best ever story featuring the clown prince of crime. Engle-
hart provided continuity and also an unusual balance between Batman’s crimefighting and his private life as Bruce Wayne. Although both titles would only occasionally rise to such superior levels thereafter, the quality rarely suffered over the next decade. Artists such as Michael Golden, Don Newton, Gene Colan, Trevor Von Eeden and Norm Breyfogle all contributed significant and sometimes outstanding work. All of these progressive talents had given Batman’s persona and canon breadth and credibility, which was to draw superstar creators to him. In 1985 Frank Miller, who was already established as the hottest property in the business, reached his creative zenith with the miniseries The Dark Knight Returns. Set in a hostile and barren future, Miller’s revision of Batman as an aging, pathological monomaniac was the tour de force that fandom expected—an impressionist chiaroscuro that drew from a wide variety of influences, which
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in turn was to have a huge impact on the medium from thereon. At this stage in four colour history, there had already been signs that the mass media were taking comic books seriously, and The Dark Knight, in making that crossover, gave super-hero properties (in particular Batman) a new respect in Hollywood. It also was to lead to countless Batman miniseries and one-shots being published, including the darkly humorous Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, and Miller
Go West: The Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward (above) gave the character a boost back in 1966 and David Mazzuchelli’s Year One. With Batman’s stock at a new peak, a high-budget event film styled at least partly on The Dark Knight series was inevitable. Tim Burton’s 1989 movie was the corollary of all the creative efforts made by the character’s writers and artists over the preceding twenty years, and although it was suitably gothic and dark, with excellent set designs by Anton Furst, it was only a moderately successful transfer that failed to draw the viewer in, and (for all the inescapable hype and Jack Nicholson’s scenery-chewing) was quite pedestrian. Nevertheless it was one of the films of the year, and did contain one or two memorable sequences. The problem may have been Tim Burton’s admitted indifference to comics, as the 1992 follow-up Batman Returns already saw the rot begin to set in, as pantomime and ludicrous mugging
“Miller’s revision of Batman as an aging, pathological monomaniac was the tour de force that fandom expected: an impressionistic chiaroscuro which was to have a huge impact on the medium from thereon in.” 50 TRIPWIRE
Jerry Robinson, creator of The Joker, has in recent years been retained by DC Comics as a consultant (step forward, Danny DeVito) undermined whatever spirit may have been drawn from the source material, although Batman’s relationship with Catwoman was reasonably well-handled.. However the less said about the two later films that all but killed the franchise, the better. A considerably more accomplished spin-off arrived on TV screens at the same time as Batman Returns, ironically due to
the success of Burton’s two features—Warner Bros’ Batman: The Animated Series. This highly ambitious and award-winning production was far more sympathetic to comic books, drawing as it often did from celebrated stories by Adams, Rogers and Miller himself. Taking a lead from Englehart and Rogers’ late ‘70s work, the style of the series was based on ’40s noir, as well as the contemporary gritty version. Clearly series designers Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski were more than conversant with comic history and cadences, and their “Dark Deco” style perfectly suited the lead characters and setting, aiming as they did for a more adult demographic. All the classic villains were present and delineated with greater pathos and depth than had previously been seen outside comics. And even more impres-
The modern faces of the Dark Knight: From Nolan’s movie interpretations (above left and centre) to Morrison and Quitely’s latest revamp (far right), Jim Lee (bottom left), Tim Sale (bottom centre) and Tony Daniel (bottom right), the character has come a long way since 1939 sively, some of the newly created or refitted characters, such as Harley Quinn and the resurrected Clayface, made their way into DC comics continuity. Since the mid-90s, the Batman franchise continued to expand, with ever more miniseries and new titles on the shelves. Some of them, like Loeb and Sale’s Long Halloween, Loeb and Lee’s Hush, and Grant Morrison’s recent Batman And Robin series have shown that the character can still be the basis for some highly distinguished story arcs. Batman’s enigma and mythos was, and still is DC’s biggest draw for creators, as evidenced by Christopher Nolan’s revival of the film franchise. The only
DC property to have challenged Marvel’s recent dominance of super-hero cinema, the two films helmed by Nolan garnered very positive notices by both fans and critics, especially 2008’s The Dark Knight, which deservedly broke box office records for such a feature. Perhaps the first super-hero flick to genuinely break free of genre convention, Nolan’s highly ambitious and authentically grim work took chances by letting Batman be upstaged by The Joker and the blind terror that he so casually spreads across Gotham. Nolan’s film also manages to keep the viewer guessing and has a developed subtext that would’ve met with Finger, Kane and Robinson’s approval. Judging by this, there’s still plenty of life left in this seventy year old. q
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25 who made batman great Over the years, many creators have shaped the Dark Knight Detective’s destiny but here is an alphabetical list of the 25 creators we feel have had the greatest impact on him… Neal Adams Jim Aparo Mike Barr Norm Breyfogle Alan Davis Steve Englehart Bill Finger Dick Giordano Michael Golden Alan Grant Bob Kane Jim Lee Jeph Loeb David Mazzuchelli Frank Miller Grant Morrison Don Newton Dennis O’Neil Frank Quitely Jerry Robinson Marshall Rogers Tim Sale Dick Sprang John Wagner Mort Weisinger
SPEAKING FRANKLY As part of our Batman celebration, TRIPWIRE caught up with current Batman & Robin artist FRANK QUITELY to find out how he approached taking on another comics industry legend… WORDS: JOEL MEADOWS
TRIPWIRE: I just want to talk to you about your approach to the Batman stuff. How much have you redesigned the visual look of the characters for the title? FRANK QUITELY: Not much. Originally what happened was Grant had just done a thumbnailed sketch of the redesign that he wanted for Batman & Robin, of the two main characters. Obviously there was lots of designing going on with the other characters, the supporting cast, but with Batman & Robin, he had a thumbnail for a redesign which he gave to me to work on. But it was too far from what DC wanted and they sent me over the designs by Adam Kubert and it’s basically very similar to the normal Bat outfit but with shorter gloves. There’s not a great deal that’s different about it. The Robin I got was a similar picture and I think it was Tony Daniel. But I changed it with the boots and various other details, that waistcoat thing that he wears, whatever you would call that. Some of those details I changed from the originals that Grant had done and some were basically the Tony Daniel version that they’d sent. TW: What’s been your visual approach for the Batman pages? FQ: I suppose they all have a slightly noirish feel in terms of staying in the shadows and whatnot, lighting. I think it’s Alex Sinclair who’s going to be colour-
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