Batman: An Introduction

Out of all the superheroes and popular comic book heroes, my favorite has always been Batman. That said, I have never read a single comic book devoted to him (or any of the popular heroes for that matter) and for the longest time, I avoided anything to do with comics because I thought that they were beneath other forms of media (I was a big snob at that moment in time) and also simply because they just didn't interest me. So, like other things that I've discussed on here, Batman come has come in and out of my life at various points. It wasn't until very late in high school that I not only became interested in the character again but was also mature enough to appreciate the fact that there was more to him (as well as the other heroes) than originally met my eye. But ever since then, I've been able to safely say that he is my favorite comic book character. I think it's because of the fact that he's a normal human being with no superpowers and also that the idea that an ordinary person can make a difference appeals to me. It could be that combined with the dark, gritty and, at times, Gothic feel to his world and environment, his fascinating rogues gallery (I don't care what anybody says, Batman's enemies are the coolest of any superhero), and the complex nature of the character, as in the concept of duality within him and the idea of him having to battle his own personal demons as well as the evil of Gotham City. In short, there's a lot of stuff in the character that speaks to me personally and draws me to him more than most other comic book characters.

Batman is one of those things that I've been aware of my entire life basically. When I was a little kid, and I'm talking about from the age of five onward, I had a cousin who was a huge Batman fan (that and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but that's a topic for another day). He had a lot of stuff devoted to Batman, from the movies to episodes of the animated series, action figures, etc. Since he and I saw each other a lot as kids, I couldn't help but be aware of Batman. The incarnations of Batman I was familiar with at that young age were the two Tim Burton films and the 90's animated series. I watched the first film quite a bit at that very young age but truth be told, I have sharper childhood memories of Batman Returns, since I watched that a lot from the ages of five to seven, I would say, when I was able to form more concrete memories. As for the animated series, I watched that quite a bit on the Fox network on Fridays when I would visit my aunt. Again, at that time, I was so young that I didn't grasp the plots or the character stuff (in fact, my childhood memories of the show are hazy at best since I was just so young) but it wasn't hard to entertain me as a kid.

As you can probably tell, the Batman I've personally known my entire life has always been the darker incarnation. As for the 1960's show with Adam West, I saw that every once in a while (and I mean that with the biggest emphasis imaginable) but it was just not something I was familiar with as a kid at all. Truth be told, since I've always been familiar with the darker interpretations, I've never been a fan of that show. I know it has a huge following and to a lot of people, Adam West, whether he likes it or not, is Batman but the overt campiness and cheese factor of that show has just never been my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of campy stuff, but that show's style has just never appealed to me.

As I grew past the age of seven, I saw less of Batman in the stuff I watched. I never saw the two Joel Schumacher films at all during my childhood save for brief glimpses and even then, they never hooked me. I did visit Six Flags during the summer that Batman and Robin came out and watched a Batman stage show there but that was it (my cousin also tried to get me to ride a Riddler-themed rollercoaster called the Mind-Bender but I absolutely refused since I'm scared to death of those types of rides). Now granted, I was a fan of the Superfriends shows when they started airing on Cartoon Network but other than that, I just never watched or sought out anything to do with comic books, including Batman-related stuff. I only became a fan of the Superfriends simply because I stumbled across an episode of it one day and liked what I saw. I never went looking for it, mind you. Interesting note, it was on an episode of The Super Powers Team, the final and most dramatic incarnation of the Superfriends, that I learned of Batman's origin. Beforehand, I had been too young to grasp it. It was an episode titled The Fear, where Batman (voiced by Adam West, no less) chases after the Scarecrow but winds up in Crime Alley. He later explains to several other members of the team that that is where the death of his parents occurred. While I haven't seen that show in years, I remember that episode and that section in particular being very dramatic, particularly when the Scarecrow uses his fear-inducing devices to make Batman relive that night. It was even more dramatic for me because, again, I had no idea that that was how he became Batman. Interestingly, I've discovered that episode was the first time his origin had ever been dramatized in a medium outside of the comics.

Batman would come back into my life again in 1998 when Cartoon Network began airing the animated series. I hadn't seen the series since I was a very young child and now, at the age of eleven, I was able to enjoy it much, much more than I ever had before. I still didn't quite comprehend how complex and well-made the show actually was (at least, not when compared to other cartoons since I hadn't developed that way of thinking yet) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. As for the darkness, while I wasn't quite able to grasp that either, something in the back of mind was aware that this Batman was different than the one I had seen on those Superfriends shows. Regardless, it instantly became a show I enjoyed watching, although I wouldn't admit it to any of my peers at school because at that time, it wasn't exactly "cool" to like stuff associated with comic books.

After a while, I stopped watching that show since, due to the demands of high school and changing tastes, other things started to take priority. For most of my high school life, I hardly even thought of Batman. However, one night in my senior year in high school, I saw a bit of Batman Returns for the first time years and it instantly piqued my interest again. I began seeking the movie out and watching it more and more every time it aired on television and realized how much I truly loved the Batman character as well as his whole world. That winter, I bought both Batman Returns and the original film, in order to see it again after an even longer time, on DVD and I became a real fan from that point onward. And it was the perfect time to be a fan, since Batman Begins was coming out that summer (I saw that in the theater, by the way). On top of that, in the fall of 2005, the four original movies all got great special edition DVDs that came in a big box-set, which I got for Christmas. By that time, I had also played the Batman Begins video game (which I experienced before the film actually). In other words, I was now truly a fan, much more so than I ever had been before. I was also now able to grasp and appreciate the complexities of the characters, the stories, the setting, and so forth (thanks mainly to the great documentaries on those aforementioned DVDs) as well as the varying degrees of interpretations. For example, I rather liked the realistic approach that Christopher Nolan brought to Batman Begins and I felt he carried that over very well into The Dark Knight. That said, I've never watched or been interested in seeing Batman Beyond or Batman: The Brave and the Bold but for the most part, I'm now a admirer of all things that have to do with the character.

In closing, I will simply say that I fully comprehend why Batman as beloved a character as he is, whether it be in the comics, in movies, in television, etc. Whichever way you choose to see him, he's just an awesome and fascinating creation. And finally, I can safely say that I don't see his popularity waning any time soon. As long as there are new filmmakers and storytellers to give their own interpretations of him, Batman will always have a very close and devoted following that I think he deserves every bit of.