The Many Faces

of

Most of the succesful characters that endure for generations in pop culture by necessity either reinvent themselves or are accessible in different versions in order to have an audience in different age groups.  But The Batman has had more faces than many.  In the Thirties, 1939 to be specific, he was a vengeful vigilante dispensing his own version of justice ala the Shadow, even so far as to carrying a gun on occasion.  But even in the first year, Kane and Finger dialed down the darkness a little.

Batman, by definition, is dark.  He has to be.  The character is a manifestation of one traumatized boy's attempt to come to terms with being a victim of violent crime.  But how dark is too dark?  How heroic can a hero be if his pursuit of justice is just a release for his own hate and anger?  So as early as the introduction of Robin the stories started to lighten up the character just a little.  By Batman #1, Gotham was still a dark city full of evil doers, but Batman had found a certain sense of humor and thus began the duo's tradition of making jokes during their fight scenes.

The Fifties gave us what Denny O'Neil aptly called the "Eisenhower" Batman.  One story had him trying to figure out how to handle his fan mail.  Then the Big One happened: in 1966 Batman came to TV.  So, and this is important, for a portion of that audience you now had Batman eing done as a comedy, which is almost as bad as Superman being done as a musical, and both happened that year.  But those of us under ten took the show very seriously.  To this day it remains a fun childhood memory for many of us.

Somebody had to stop the madness and bring the character back to his roots.  A crimefighter, a detective in the tradition of Holmes, motivated by a compassion for victims.  O'Neil got itrightbut the comic book didn't play to a large enough audience to shake the Adam West version out of the consciousness of the poplar culture.  In fact, Batman lite still ruled the airwaves in animated form.

Tim Burton's first two Batman movies gave what some reviewers thought was a disturbing characterization of Batman.  I preferred the two lighter Joel Schummacher film.  But then we ome to Frank Miller's definitive redefinition making the Dark Knight darker than ever.  I don't believe that the damage to Bruce's psyche and the darkness in his heart has o be pervasive or permanent.  I believe that his life long crusade is his way of lighting a candle and dispelling the darkness.  Perhaps the characterization has gone excessively dark because of the times in which we and the current writers live.

I just think there is a balance that has not been right since the Animated Series.

Anyway, as for me, "To the Batpoles!"