Batman (0)

I – The Birth of Batman
The creation of the fictional superhero Batman is credited to artist Bob Kane , even though in reality he was co-created with writer Bill Finger . Batman first appeared in 1939 in Detective Comics #27. Since then Batman has been an important and influential character in the comic book universe .
Publisher of DC Comics, Vin Sullivan was looking for something new for Detective Comics, which would be as intriguing as Superman had been in Action Comics, but it had to be something completely new. Sullivan’s ideas inspired Kane, and he credits the creation of Batman as much to Sullivan as to himself .
Kane’s first image was very much a hero with bird-like wings , but during the process of drawing evolved into a more scalloped concept , which was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s schematics of an ornithopter. The wings on that device were somewhat similar to a bat, which lead Kane on to develop Batman.
Batman’s original mask was inspired by the film “The Mask of Zorro”, but when Kane showed his drawings to Bill Finger, they decided upon adding the distinctive points on the character’s cowl to make him look more like a bat. Finger also found the original wings to be too gangly and recommended more elegant and simple scowled cape for the hero.
It was also Finger’s suggestion to have the hero’s eyes while wearing the costume be simple white spots, which would remind the empty eyes of a bat. Finger later acknowledged that the idea had come from another superhero, the Phantom, who also wore a black mask with no visible eyes.
II – The Story of the Hero
The fictional American Gotham City based on New York or more specifically, in the words of Finger it is “Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November." It is a dark place , a foreboding metropolis riddled with crime , corruption and urban decay.
Bruce Wayne, a millionaire playboy, whose parents were murdered right in front of his eyes, took it upon himself to wage war on crime in Gotham city. He spent his life pursuing mental and physical perfection. However , he realized that pure strength and intelligence is not enough to fight the forces in Gotham. Figuring criminals are superstitious and cowardly, he decided that he would need a disguise that would strike fear into their hearts. At that moment, a bat flew in his window , inspiring him. This is how he became Batman, the Dark Knight , the hero of Gotham and the city’s last hope against evil .
But Batman did not only have to fight petty crime in Gotham City – soon many super villains raised their ugly heads. The first one Batman had to go against was the Joker, who became the archenemy of Wayne. Joker has been presented as both a violent sociopath, who kills people for fun and as a somewhat goofy trickster and a thief . The tale of Joker’s origin varies, but the most common version is that he fell into chemical waste, which bleached his skin and turned his hair green.
Another prominent figure in Gotham City was Catwoman. She was a high-profile jewel thief, first referred to only as The Cat, because of her cat mask. The woman behind the mask is Selina Kyle and her activities and costume has usually been explained as a response to having suffered a long history of abuse. Catwoman is often pictured as a love interest of Batman, sometimes even as the one true love of Bruce Wayne. By having such a personal connection with the hero, she has become less like a super villainess and more reminiscent of an anti-heroine.
III – Tools of Trade
Batman is most often distinguished by the variety of equipment he has at his disposal. What he lacks in superpowers, he makes up with tools such as a grappling hook, explosives and smoke . The most memorable must be the batarang and the batmobile.
Batarang is basically a throwing weapon that is shaped like a bat. Originally the batarang functioned much like a boomerang in that it returned to the thrower – this is also the origin of the name, combination of boomerang and bat. Later, the batarang has become more like shuriken, an asian weapon that is also called the throwing star . Batarang has been a prominent weapon in nearly all major Batman television and movie adaptations.
Batmobile is Batman’s personal car. Originally it was armor plated vehicle with rocket boosters for additional speed. However, with the evolution of the character, batmobile has also evolved. It soon became more like a sports car with tail wings that were similar to Batman’s scowled cape. In “Batman Begins ”, the batmobile once again became a heavily armoured vehicle, but this time it had the ability of transforming into a motorbike.
One important piece of equipment, though not used by Batman in combat as others, was the Bat- Signal . This was a searchlight with bat-shaped insignia over the lens that projected the symbol of a bat on the clouds in the night sky. It was used by the Gotham City police to call on Batman whenever he was needed. The reason for using a searchlight was that the signal could be seen from anywhere in Gotham City.
IV – The Hero on the Screen
Even though Batman began as a character in comic books, much of his popularity can be attributed to the 60’s TV series. The series gave its subject matter a much lighter treatment and relied heavily on comedy .
In 1989, a movie by Tim Burton was released , which once again brought the character to public’s attention and also earned millions at the box office. The dark and ominous tone of the film also became synonymous with Batman.
After many sequels, one worse than the other , Batman was once again saved in 2005 by Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins”, which created a cult following for the character unseen before .
The most recent film – “The Dark Knight”, sequel to “Batman Begins” was unanimously praised as a masterpiece and Heath Ledger’s role as the reimagining of Joker was found worthy of an Academy Award .
Sources :
http://www.superherodb.co m
http://www.batmanytb.co m
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.imdb.co m
http://images.google.co m