Batman - Part One

Making his debut in the May 1939 issue of Detective Comics, Batman has been around longer than any other traditional superhero besides Superman.  For this reason, both the history and personality depicted in Batman comics has shifted repeatedly.

The original Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, was modeled after Zorro.   That version of Batman was a pretty somber character because, as Bob Kane explained, “I always thought it would be more exiting for Batman to work outside the law rather than inside it.  I guess growing up in the Bronx, we used to be vigilantes to survive.”

It fits then that the early Batman was far more ruthless than later mainstream counterparts would be. Frequently carrying guns, Batman showed no remorse for harming or killing villains.

Still, several important components were introduced during that first year that would become mainstays of the Batman universe, including the infamous utility belt where Batman was able to stash his expensive gadgets and the first Bat vehicle.  Also during that first year, Batman’s origin was revealed for the first time.  The familiar story of a boy whose parents were shot in a mugging gone wrong would be a theme that would be expanded on, but the basics were present even in 1939, as a small Bruce Wayne swears  that he will “avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals.”

The introduction of Robin in Detective 38, the following year, began to soften Batman’s image somewhat.   The first of four Robins, Dick Grayson was introduced as “An exciting figure whose incredible gymnastic and athletic feats will astound you…a laughing, fighting young daredevil who scoffs at danger like the legendary Robin Hood whose name and spirit he has adopted…Robin the Boy Wonder.” 

Dick Grayson was the first, and longest running Robin, but he was not the last. After the character was upgraded to his own superhero, Nightwing, in the mid-eighties, he was replaced as Robin first by Jason Todd, then by Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown.

In his role as Robin’s mentor, Batman gradually became the boy’s father figure and the focus of the book was their relationship.  The relationship of Batman and Robin came under fire from  Fredric Wertham in his book Seduction of the Innocent. A scathing commentary on comics and the potential harm they could inflict on children, Seduction of the Innocent claimed that Batman and Robin were engaged in a homosexual relationship. 

The Batman comics retaliated to this charge by adding a “family” of characters. The Bat-Mite, Bat-Hound, Batwoman, and eventually Batgirl were added to downplay the so-called homoerotic tension between Batman and Robin.

This growing family and the growing inclusion of the more fantastic, outer space elements in the Batman comics led to a much brighter disposition than the Batman of the early years. That brightness of the 1950s and early 1960s took a turn for the camp following the premiere of the Batman television series in the mid-sixties. Though the change in direction initially raised sales, when the short-lived television series ended, sales of the comic plummeted.

Because of the low sales, DC once again changed the direction of the Batman comics.  Writer Denny O’Neil would claim that he was trying to recapture the pulp feel of the early Batman comics when he took over the helm in 1969.