Prologue
Dear Reader:
Batman has been an iconic character through this past few decades, just like Mickey Mouse or Superman are. Ever since I was a little kid I always loved Batman and all the movies and all the television shows. I liked the camp the Batman movies of the late 1990’s had when I was little. When I got older I got to experience and analyze the depth and seriousness the character is capable of having. Batman is a very interesting, dark, disturbed character who follows his own rules as long as he doesn’t endanger the lives of people around him.
I chose Batman as the subject of this work because I think he has a lot of history and depth and people don’t know that. People only know Batman because of his movies and maybe to a lesser extent the TV shows. Not many people have read the comics or know other things besides the origin story of why he became Batman. I think you will enjoy and learn a lot more of Batman thanks to this research paper. I also believe you will thoroughly enjoy my genres because it shows different aspects of Batman and expand on the idea of this iconic figure.
My genres will make you appreciate the character whether it’s in his ups or downs. It will help you fuel your vision on what Batman is and how much he has evolved from that first comic book in May 1939.
Finally I believe this multi-genre paper will show Batman on his past, present and possible future. And with this information you will be able to see why is that comics have been around for a long while and still have not died down.
Introduction
Batman was created on May 1939 by Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger (Goulart). This fictional character first appeared in the comic book Detective Comics issue number 27. The company responsible for creating Batman was DC Comics, who also had created Superman a year before in the comic book series Action Comics. After Bruce Wayne, his alter ego, had seen his parents shot and murdered in front of him by a petty thief called Joe Chill, he swore to never let that happened to anyone else ever again (DC Encyclopedia 38). His alter ego is a billionaire playboy who has his own company called Wayne Enterprises. Batman introduced the idea of sidekicks in the comics with Robin and Batgirl. This was established so that children would be able to associate with Robin and enjoy the comic books even further.
By the 1940’s Batman became a very popular character with youths which later spawned a radio show and two serials on the big screen. The phenomenon continued, but by the end of the 1940’s the comics were getting a bit ridiculous and it was being accused of having homosexual tendencies. The whole Batman craze died down a bit over the course of the 1950’s and got a big boost when Adam West portrayed Batman in the television show “The Batman” which debuted on ABC in 1966. Adam West brought humor and silliness into the Batman character. This idea was then passed over again to the comic books and even the animated television shows such as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. The humor in the comics kept being introduced in hopes of gaining more sales and more audience, but instead where losing them. The Adam West show helped with selling merchandise but it was also selling a fake image of what Batman represented in the 1940’s.
After the show was canceled different cartoon shows spawned showing us the same silly Batman we all came to love in that decade. It wasen’t until 1986 that DC Comics showed us a darker and more serious Batman. It started with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns representing a dark future with a very old Bruce Wayne still fighting for justice as Batman. The four story arc showed us his struggles and battles against the Joker and even Superman himself (Miller). After this comic was released, most if not all DC comic book heroes got darker and more serious. Frank Miller’s comic book also spawned other dark and more serious Batman stories like Batman Year One which shows us the origin and the first year of the “Caped Crusader” (Mazzucchelli). This comic book was used in Batman Begins, an origins Batman movie made by Christopher Nolan. Batman: A Death in the Family also was a four story arc showing us the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd by the hands of the Joker. Darker Batman stories where coming out and comic sales where rising up, but now the targeted demographic was teens and even adults. All this revamp of what Batman was suppose to signify concluded with the release of Tim Burton’s Batman.
Tim Burton was starting off as a director only having Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice when he was assigned to direct Batman. It showed us a dark and gothic Gotham City, with a very serious and mysterious Batman and Bruce Wayne. It was a critical and commercial success and it won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction proving that comic books are far from ever being dead. The success of Batman brought more sequels, one which was directed by Tim Burton and the last two were directed by Joel Schumacher. Batman Returns was bigger and better than the first but at the cost of staying away from the established mythology of Batman and just putting him darker and even more cruel than before. The company distributing the films, Warner Bros., saw this and decided to go for a lighter Batman for the children to enjoy. Joel Schumacher then proceeded to make Batman Forever, which was a good balance of light and seriousness, and Batman & Robin, which was a commercial disaster.
On the course of the 1990’s Batman continued to show a serious and psychologically interesting character, but with the disaster of the last two Batman movies, it showed losses in comic sales as well. A fifth Batman movie was announced; promising to be darker, but never surfaced because of the flop Batman & Robin was (Jett). Over the course of the 2000’s, Warner Bros. was hoping to make another Batman movie. It wasn’t until 2005 when Christopher Nolan was hired to direct Batman Begins. The movie was a mild success and Nolan was given a green light to a sequel. In 2008 he made the second highest grossing movie of all time, The Dark Knight, showing us that Batman is far from being just another super hero or pop culture icon.
Finally in 2009, DC Comics took a shocking turn to the readers, and just like they did with Robin, Superman, Green Lantern and others, they killed Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman by the hands of Darkseid (Morrison). But just like the latest movie showed us, you can’t just kill off one of comics best and most famous superheroes for no reason. DC Comics is planning to give Bruce Wayne a triumphant return to the comics next year. This shows us that superheroes are a part of our childhood and a part of our history, since we see them as we grow up and we will keep seeing them everywhere until we die.
Annotated Bibliography
Goulart, Ron. Comic Book Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Guide to Characters, Graphic Novels, Writers, and Artists in the Comic Book Universe. New York: Harperentertainment, 2004.
This book helped explain further the whole history of Batman. It also pointed out that Bill Finger helped Bob Kane create Batman in the comic books, a little something most people probably didn’t know. This encyclopedia also helps you understand other superheroes as well like Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and others. Even older comic book characters are included like Felix the Cat. Other information regarding the origin of superheroes can also be found in this encyclopedia.
The DC Comics Encyclopedia Published 2004 by DK Publishing, Inc. 375 Hudson Street, NY NY 10014.
This encyclopedia also helps expand on what I already knew about Batman, some of the gadgets he used, more about his origins, and his villain gallery. It also talks more about the characters exclusively to the DC Comics Universe; where as Comic Book Encyclopedia only touches the surface of them. A great book if you’re interested in other DC superheroes as well.
Janson, Klaus, Frank Miller, and Lynn Varley. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. 10 Anv ed. New York: DC Comics, 1997.
This comic was the beginning of a whole new era of comic books. This proved once and for all that comics are not for little kids. It shows us that comics can be smart, sophisticated and profound, not just funny and silly. The comic shows us of an old and defeated Batman who struggles against a new threat and with the help of a female Robin he achieves victory.
Mazzucchelli, David, and Frank Miller. Batman: Year One. New York: DC Comics, 1997.
Batman: Year One shows us a darker origin story of Batman and all the struggles he faced. The secondary characters get fleshed out and become more three dimensional unlike before where they stayed in the background. An important side note is that this was used to create the script for the movie Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie was heavily influenced by this comic and it clearly shows, especially with the relationship between Jim Gordon (Commissioner) and Batman.
Morrison, Grant. Final Crisis. New York: DC Comics, 2009.
These comic book story arcs created by DC Comics which end in “Crisis” are considered one of the most important ones since they always try to make it as epic and shocking as possible. Past “Crisis” story arcs included the death of Supergirl, The Flash, and now more recently Batman. I really recommend looking these up because the writers do come up with great ideas and interesting stories that makes the reader stand still until he finishes reading the last page.
Jett. A History of BATMAN 5: What It Is and How It Came To Be. BATMAN ON FILM. February 4, 2005. December 1, 2009. <http://www.batman-on-film.com/opinion_jett_b5history.html>
This article helps the reader understand what happened after the flop of Batman & Robin and how we came to get Batman Begins. It shows how many ideas Warner Bros. rejected, some which are good, some which are horrible. It also showed you how Hollywood works and how hard it actually is to give a dead franchise live again.
Multi Genre 1:
Map with Legend of the Batcave
Multi Genre 2:
Collage
Multi Genre 3:
Movie Review
This will be a series of short movie reviews starting from Batman (1966) starting Adam West and culminating with The Dark Knight (2008). I will not include the serials made in the 1940’s and 1950’s because I haven’t seen them and probably you haven’t either.
Batman (1966)
Now this could possibly be the most recent Batman movie I saw, since I bought it for 10 bucks on Borders. This is pure Adam West and 1960’s references all over the place. This is camp at its finest. Now I don’t like Batman being portrayed like this but since it was released at that time, people needed laughter and fun. Adam West makes the funniest Batman you will ever see, and it was such an impact it created a Bat-craze during that time. The movie’s plot is silly, I’ll give a brief summary. Joker, Catwoman, Penguin and Riddler all capture this captain and hold him hostage as they come up with ways to make Batman miserable. While Batman is trying to solve the crimes and puzzles, the four villains are also making a device which dehydrates and turns people into sand, which then they can add water to them and re-hydrate them(Dumb, I know). A pow, bam and kapow later Batman and Robin defeat the villains and save the day.
It’s a fun, nostalgic movie. I can’t give it a 0 because you know it wasn’t trying to be serious or profound; it was trying to be fun for the whole family. It does that very well. I liked it and if you want to see a different side of Batman you can’t see now a day, go check it out.
Rating:
3/5
Batman (1989)
This Batman is darker than its previous incarnation and it shows. The city is all dark and gothic, the characters look deteriorated to a certain point, the evil and cruelness is shown everywhere. This is the Batman that is portrayed in the comics by Frank Miller and such. This is the Batman fans wanted to see for a while. The plot is basically the origin story of The Joker with the Batman sort of starting out becoming the Batman. Then we see through the whole movie the conflict between Batman and The Joker which climaxes in the Joker being defeated.
The Joker, portrayed by Jack Nicholson is evil and crazy as hell and it shows. Michael Keaton does a great job at demonstrating how serious and dark Batman can actually be. He shows us that Bruce Wayne IS the alter ego and Batman is his true persona. The sets are beautiful and very realistic. The climax is amazing and heart pumping. This is a great restart of the Batman series after Adam West had his shot. My only gripe could be that we don’t see much of the origin of Batman until halfway, and the screw up of the origin of the Joker. But other than that great Batman movie, if you haven’t seen it, go check it out.
Rating:
4.5/5
Batman Returns (1992)
The people had spoken and made Batman (1989) the highest grossing movie of that year, so Hollywood green lit the sequel. Obviously after the tremendous success of the first one, Tim Burton got creative control of the movie, which was a good and bad thing. The good aspect was the introduction of the new villains was excellent and how they were handled was great. The climax of the movie was also spectacular and very dark. The bad thing? This was a Tim Burton movie with Batman as the main protagonist. This meant that Batman wasn’t the Batman you knew from the comics, he was too dark, killing people left and right, the introduction of new characters that weren’t from the Batman mythology. This movie was good, but those things ruin the whole moment. Also the fact that this movie was hated by fans and parents for being too dark didn’t help much either. The main performances where good, especially by Danny DeVito who was excellent as the Penguin.
This movie wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t Batman anymore. It moved too far away from the mythology and for me that ruined the experience. Also the plot wasn’t that amazing either, only the Penguin’s scenes it’s what makes the movie good.
Rating:
3/5
Batman Forever (1995)
This was my actual first Batman movie I saw in theaters, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. After what happened with Batman Returns, Warner Bros. decided to go to a more light Batman adventure, so they hired Joel Schumacher to direct. The plot is basically the origin story of The Riddler, Two-Face and Robin. Even though people disliked it for not being like Tim Burton’s version I think it was the perfect mix of seriousness and lightness. Val Kilmer was a great Batman but Two-Face could have been handled differently. It was a waste of a character since Two-Face has such an important role in the comics. It also didn’t help that he was like a cheap version of the Joker with all the laughing. JimCarrey’s Riddler was good and very interesting seeing how he transformed into this character. This movie was, for me, superior to Batman Returns but inferior to Batman (1989). It’s a very good movie and if you want a good mix of light and dark, go see it. Sadly the same cannot be said for the sort of sequel…
Rating:
3.5/5
Batman & Robin (1997)
Horrible, Skip It.
I mean it, skip it…you want a reason? Fine…
This movie shows you how to screw up a perfectly good franchise and leave it dead for 8 years. Nothing works in this movie, not even George Clooney who tried to sort of save it. Mr. Freeze is horrible, saying literally one ice pun in every sentence he spoke in the whole movie. Poison Ivy, for me was sort of ok, but could definitely been handled better. Bane was a total waste of character. BANE BROKE BATMAN’S BACK AND LEFT HIM PARALIZED IN THE COMIC BOOKS! How can ANYONE screw such a kick-ass character like that?! The whole plot is that Mr. Freeze wants to make Batman & Robin’s life miserable by stealing crystals which he is planning to use to freeze the whole city and world…just because. Poison Ivy is there to use her scent to make Batman and Robin fight between each other so Mr. Freeze can continue his plan. Batgirl was poorly introduced as Alfred’s (the butler) nephew! This movie has more silly moments than you can imagine. It tried to be serious, but funny, like Batman Forever, but failed miserable.
I saw it as a kid and I really liked it, but come on, I was 7 after all. When I re-watched this I was so amazed of how dumbed down and stupid this movie really is. Not even if this was released in 1966 would it have been a success. Horrible, don’t watch it.
Rating:
-2/5
Batman Begins (2005)
After the disaster of Batman & Robin the whole franchise took a hiatus for 8 years and let a whole bunch of comic book movies steal the show for a while. Then this movie was released. This is an excellent origin movie because it’s about BATMAN’S origin. It’s about how he was developed into the character we know and love. The plot is the main battle against Ras-Al-Ghul and Scarecrow. I love this movie because a lot of the things of the comics are brought here such as: Jim’s relationship with Batman, how Batman shows us Bruce Wayne is his alter ego, the crime ring in Gotham City and how the city is really deteriorated and infested and so on. The director took a wild approach into making this movie real in a sense. They made it so Batman’s gadgets seem plausible, his batmobile and equipment came from military experiments, Scarecrow is just a normal dude with a mask, Ras-Al-Ghul instead of being immortal it shows that they just have many Ras-Al-Ghul and when one passes the other comes. I really liked this approach and it shows us how plausible could it be to have a Batman in real life running about. I really liked this movie a lot and I recommend you see this since not so many people know of this movie’s existence.
Rating:
4.5/5
The Dark Knight (2008)
This Is Batman. Plain and Simple. Like most movies, they get worst by each sequel, instead this movie perfected it’s predecessor in every possible way. It’s amazing visually, the story is gripping, and the characters are interesting. The Joker and Two-Face shine in this movie. Harvey Dent’s transformation into the evil persona he will eventually become was perfectly handled. While Batman isn’t that much amazing in this movie, it does make sense since he already had his origin story, it was time to flesh out his villains rogue. The interrogation scene is one of the most interesting and gripping scenes I have ever seen. The tension and the dialogue is pure comic book come to life. This Is the True Batman movie. If you haven’t seen it, see it as fast as you can.
Rating:
5/5
Multi Genre 4:
Wanted Posters
Multi Genre 5:
Fake Trailer of Batman & Robin
Will be posted very soon, had problems with Youtube
Epilogue
I had a lot of fun writing and thinking creatively on ways to explore this fictional character. I’ve always loved Batman and thought he was a great inspiration to people, just like Superman. I like this type of research paper where it’s not only talking about a certain theme or idea, but fleshing and exploring the idea further and thinking of different ways of expressing the same thing. I hope people learn about Batman and about the origin and how he has developed through these past seven decades. In the end it’s all a journey, we all have to pass a journey and we will have our ups and downs, just like Batman has and will have until the end of times.
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