Batmonth: Earning Your Wings, Part Three

Batcave File #0003

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Welcome to our last installment of Earning Your Wings, your Batmonth crash course! Yesterday, we talked about Batman in the Silver Age, in which Robin is introduced, bringing with him some pesky baggage that caused some pretty big changes to Batman's world, including Batgirl. But, as I foreshadowed yesterday, these changes caused a bit of a darker rebellion down the line. Unlike the firestorm created by Seduction Of The Innocent, however, the changes were more gradual, and and came in several "waves", if you will.

The first major changes came about under a man named Dennis O'Neal. You see, later in Kane's tenure as Bat-writer, sales took a steep nosedive. Kane was quoted as saying that DC Comics was considering canceling the title. I suspect this was because of all the cookie-cutter campy crud brought upon by Wertham's criticisms. At the same time, the Adam West TV series was dying slowly, and with it, the campiness of the Silver Age.Under editor Julius Schwartz, writer Dennis O'Neil, and artist Neal Adams, Batman returned to his gritty roots, together with a new, modern look that's a heartbeat away from today's. The comic addressed more social issues, like drugs. Other major changes included killing the second Robin, (if you're confused about either the fact that there's more than one Robin, or wondering about how he died, store that factoid in your brain for now. We'll get to it in a future post.) and adding darker villains such as Ra's al Ghul, who you may remember from Batman Begins. The Joker also became less of a kooky klutz, and returned to his homicidal roots.

But it would take three other men to bring us the Batman we know today. The first was a man named Frank Miller, writer of the aptly named The Dark Knight Returns.



This was the equivalent of dropping an atom bomb on the franchise. Set in a post apocalyptic world of terror, Batman must prowl endlessly fighting criminal delinquents. Regardless of the story's quality, one thing was for sure:

It was new, it was fresh, it sold like hotcakes, and it was insanely dark.

I've read it. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but its impact on the Batman mythos is undeniable. Batman became brooding, and darker than ever. This set the stage for a Gothic-esque feature length movie, directed by Tim Burton.

The thing is, the movie itself wasn't what has impacted the mythos. It's what came afterward that made the biggest impact. This portrayal has gone down in history as the definitive Batman, shaped so many writers, and extended its reach to even the recent movies and mainstream comics.

Thing is, I'm sure you've never heard of it. So, as such, come back tomorrow, as I rev up the DeLorean and dive into Batman: The Animated Series.

See you then,
Tomato