Michael Bandy
Batman and what inspired his creation and
how he evolved over the years in all Medias
Michael Bandy
Introduction
One of my most loved Medias is comics and the TV shows they inspired and
the best one in my eyes is The Batman. Because this comic book character
was heavily inspired by popular culture such as movies and novels. As well
as famous name in history and inventions made by Leonardo de Vinci
which were also used for the inspiration for batman costume.
Over the course of this document I aim to show how batman creation was
inspired and also how over the years the major change that have take place
in the world have inspired major changes in the character of batman either
his origin or how he acts towards other character or his personality.
What first inspired Batman Creation?
Batman was first created in 1939 and appeared in a comic book series called
detective comic which would later be a series that focus fully on batman
instead of story based around different detectives each issues. His two
creators, Artist Bob Kane and Writer Bill Finger drew their inspiration from
popular culture and even historic names and inventions.
For example the main idea of the batman character was based of popular
detective novels and shows that were famous in the 1930s such as “The
Phantom” which was a another popular comic book character at the time
and novels and movies that the two creators enjoyed at time such as “The
Bat Whisper” (1930), which was a movie about a detective who had a secret
alter ego called The Bat. Another movie that inspired in the creation of
batman was the movie “The Mask of Zorro” (1920) not only was this film
used as inspiration for batman but it also feature in the comic book itself as
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the movie the young Bruce Wayne’s and family were seeing the night they
were murder.
Another form of media that has inspired the batman creation is Pulp
magazine. These cheap magazines were very popular in the first half of the
twentieth century and they feature a lot of character that were detective but
also rich playboy who used their money to help them fight crime. An
example of a popular pulp magazine detective was “The Shadow” who’s
pulp magazine version was a gun toting no nonsense crime fighter that Bill
Finger liked, where as artist Bob Kane enjoyed the radio version of “The
Shadow” who had the power to cloud men’s minds so they could not see
him.
But these were not the only pulp character that inspired batman creation
there was three more famous pulp detective that inspired Bob Kane and Bill
Finger and there were “The Phantom Detective” and “The Black Bat” and
“The Bat”. “The Phantom Detective” was a pulp magazine about a rich
socialite who was also a master of disguises that had his own secret crime
lab and was summon by lighting a search light in a tower. Where as “The
Black Bat” was a story about a district attorney name Tony Quinn who
started to fight crime in a bat costume after criminals threw acid in his face
because of the similarity between “The Black Bat” and “The Batman”, Bob
Kane and Bill Finger nearly faced a lawsuit with the creators of “The Black
Bat” because their character were such much alike.
The final Pulp Magazine Bob Kane and Bill Finger drew inspiration from
was “The Bat” which is a magazine about a reporter who is framed for
murder named Dawson Clade who wears a black hood with a bat emblem to
fight crime how was inspired to use the bat emblem when a bat startled him
which is similar to how Bruce Wayne decided to become Batman. In my
introduction I wrote how famous people and invention were used to inspire
characters and the costume design of batman. Two famous people where
used in the creation of Bruce Wayne name and would be added to the
Wayne family tree in the comic book. These people were the Scottish patriot
Robert the Bruce and revolutionary U.S brigadier general Mad Anthony
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Wayne. Also Leonardo Di Vinci design for one of his flying machine would
be used in the creation of batman cape which allows him to glide in the air.
How over the years the changes in the world have
inspired change in The Batman!
Over the course of first appear in detective comic in 1939. Batman has gone
though a lot of changes that have by in inspired by events that have happen
in history and by changing views that has also happen in history. In this
section of my document I will highlight some of the major change that has
affected The Dark Knight starting with his Golden age in comic all the way
too Today’s comic and other media exports.
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Golden Age
During this age of comics batman was being retooled to fit the current
generation views and how they felt after coming out of the war in 1946 and
even though some of the batman cases in the comic book could be quite
dark. The art style of the comics where very much the same as other comic
book character where the main character were all very normal looking were
as batman and robin were in brightly colored costumes even though they
were so post to petty dark in their outlook in life. Also there were lots of
issues were batman and robin took part in charity races or crossover with
other character that was part of the DC mainstream or other show on at the
time.
The reason the batman of this age was so bright on his outlook on life was
because at the time people did not want a reminder of what they had gone
though in the war and having a character that was totally fueled by his
desire to avenge the death of his parents would bring up a lot of bad
memories for families recover from the war and the lost of family members.
Silver Age
During this age in batman comics a lot of change were made not just to the
art style of the comic book with the character design getting darker and
more realistic. But also to the character of the comic with Bruce Wayne
(Batman) becoming a more darker character who was prone to brooding
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and was so focused on stopping crime that he didn’t even trust his own
allies. There were still issue that boarded on zany and campy themes to
them but the series was starting to head in a darker direction with the joker
who before had been more of a criminal prankster was becoming more of
an insane madman who had a tendency to kill everyone will trying to get
batman to break his no killing rule by getting him to kill him. The reason
characters were starting to get darker was because a lot of fans of batman
were now in their late teens and had grown beyond then need to have what
they read censored at even turn. So the comic was again retooled so that it
target teenager instead of children.
Bronze Age
During this age of comic batman and his allies as well as his villains were
tackling more modern day problem such as relationships problem and
family issues. Also at this time in comic book history a lot of new publisher
were appearing so they had to make the issue last longer and their story
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cover more than two or three issues as well crossover over the character
into each other comics.
The art style of this age in the batman era is getting more realistic in the
character design and the backgrounds are getting darker and more gothic.
With the building looking like there are in nighttime all the time round.
Modern Age
In this age of the batman comic the problems that the batman face vary for
families problems with his young son and two wards and facing the distrust
he has in super powered heroes and his fear of losing the people he care
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about. This was inspired by how teenager have started to feel distance from
the people in power and roles of authority.
The art style of this age in the batman era is real life like with the character
wearing a lot of dark colors with the background be a mix of both brightly
light areas with darker area taking center stage when the character are in
their costume.
Batman other media success
Over the course of the years that batman has been published he has
appeared in other forms media such as TV and Video games. In this part of
the document I am going to write about only the major success that batman
had in these media or ones that bought about a change in the batman
comics.
An attempt at batman enter other media was The Batman TV series
featuring Adam West and Burt Ward in some ways this can be consider a
success because it had a huge following and in other ways it can be consider
a failure because it was a very campy show that did not focus fully on what
drove batman to fight crime or how solved all the crime he faced. So while it
can be consider a success because it got a lot of people interested in the
batman comic.
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True fans of the comic consider it to be a failure due to the campy image it
gave batman and how it didn’t really focus on Bruce Wayne’s motives for
becoming batman. It also inspired the comics to start making the costume
and the theme the comic dealt with darker so that they could lose the camp
title batman had been label with thanks to this show.
For many the show that would define batman in his truest personal on TV
was Batman the Animated Series which was aimed at teenager. This show
really highlights the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman and what drove him
and how dangerous the batman villains were even though no one died in
show.
The episodes show viewer a deep look in the batman mind and even the
villain’s minds showing that they were not all ways the bad guy or what
made them how they were. The art style of this version of batman was very
bold and dynamic and instead of going with bright colors the backdrop and
costumes they went with a darker gothic feel to the cartoon.
The character design while not as realistic as x-men was at the time but it
seem to draw more people to show because of the quality stories they
produce.
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Batman has also appeared in movies with the most success being the
movies made by Christopher Nolan which show how batman was created by
the tragic murder of his parents. This movie and its sequel which focus on
the batman greatest villain the joker and really digs deep into by doing what
Bruce Wayne does as batman does he just create more criminals for him to
fight later or does he accomplish what he set out to by saving Gotham from
being run by mobster and murderers.
The style of this film is very realistic with all the gadget and weapons that
appear in the movie looking like they could be found in the military or used
by feudal agents in their field of work.
The final media batman has appeared is video game with his greatest
success being the games Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. While
batman has many games on many consoles the Arkham title are seen as the
best because they allow the player to feel like they are the batman because
they are not just beating up bad guy like the other batman game let you. But
you also have to think about how and when you are going attacks because
the guard will call for back like in real life.
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The art style of these games is a mix of realist graphics with the character
only able to do what a well trained fighter could do with all those gadgets
and comics books images which are used on poster and the in-game bio of
character from the comic book. These games are seen as the best batman
game out there by fans of the batman and have even inspired their own one
shot comic book.
Michael Bandy
References
http://www.comicvine.com/batman/29-1699/
http://thebatman.bravepages.com/comics/timeline.htm
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/717534/batman-arkham-city-guide-learncombat-gadgets-upgrades-riddler-challenges-and-more/
http://www.gladstons.com/shop/christmas-gift-ideas/1974-leonardo-da-vinci-sglider.html
http://catwomanfan.com/en/comics/golden_age/batman84.php
http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/87
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Batman_Silver_Age_001.jpg
http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2010/06/detective-395.html
http://pages.ebay.com/buy/guides/comics-buying-guide/
http://www.comicscorral.com/forums/showthread.php?325-Batman-in-the-BronzeAge
http://insidepulse.com/2011/09/24/dc-comics-relaunch-batman-1-the-robinsproblem-with-nightwing-red-hood-red-robin-damian/
http://pages.ebay.com/buy/guides/comics-buying-guide/
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/205/
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Batman:_The_Animated_Series
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_Begins
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum
Michael Bandy