A History of Batman
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan
We all know the Caped Crusader. We've seen the movies, toys, back packs, lunch boxes, costumes, and the clothing printed with the famous Batman logo. He's Bruce Wayne! His only superpowers are billions of dollars and an insatiable thirst for vengeance. What a lot of us don't appreciate is where the origins are for the actual character and how long he's been around. He's been reinvented so many different times and viewed in many many different ways. It's hard to keep track of, ya know? That's why I'm here. This is a history of Batman!
The very first time Batman came out from the shadows was in Detective Comics #27 all the way back in May, 1939. If you do your math correctly, that makes Bruce well over 70 years old. He ages quite well if you ask me. In issue 38, Batman's sidekick Robin, the Boy Wonder, was introduced. This noted the beginning of the Golden Age of Comics.
Batman was successful that in the spring of 1940, he was given his own comic. Issue 1 of Batman was released in April, just a month after Robin was introduced. Batman was originally a quarterly publication, but became bi-monthly during the 1950's. Later it became a monthly publication and is on #701 as of July 2010.
Come 1964 Batman was on the verge of disaster. Sales had dropped and DC was thinking about killing off Batman altogether. In order to save him, editor Julius Schwartz gave Batman a huge overhaul. The Batmobile was redesigned, Batman's costume was changed, and some of the more far fetched characters were scrapped.
1966 marked the start of Batman the TV show. Some of us remember the comic-like actions scenes with "whap," "pow," and "bang," across the screen to show sound effects. Corny, yet totally awesome! After the show was cancelled in 1969, people started losing interesting in Batman yet again. In 1969 writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams made an effort to take Batman back to his roots.
In January of 1970 O'Neil and Adams succeeded in taking Batman to a grimmer, darker era. Despite the fact the fan's loved O'Neil and Adams' work, there was a steady decline in sales. Circulation steadily declined all the way through the 80's when it hit an all-time low in 1985.
In 1986 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was published. This is 50 year old Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to fight crime once more. This series was a great success and is the reason for the rise in popularity of Batman. The dark demeanor was kept throughout the 80's. In 1988 a 900 number was opened to allow fans to vote on whether Robin lived or died. We also see the Joker torturing and maiming characters during these years. Brutal!
In 1993 the Knightfall story started in which supervillain "Bane" nearly kills Bruce Wayne and Jean-Paul Valley aka "Azrael" dons the batsuit and fights crime.
Batman has lived in the hearts of children and adults for generations! He has been around much longer than one would think and continues to fight crime in our imaginations. Whether or not you read comics or enjoy superheros, everyone knows Batman and now you know the history of one of the most recognizable characters ever.
