Table Of Content

Batman Unmasked A L S O A V A I L A B L E : Gray: Song and Dance Man, 3rd Edition Harper: Women in British Cinema Jones and Jolliffe: The Guerilla Film Maker's Handbook, 2nd Edition Macnab: Searching for Stars Ravner: The Films of Peter Weir Vincendeau: Stars and Stardom in French Cinema B A T M A N U N M A S K E D Analyzing a Cultural Icon Will Erooker B L O O M S B U R Y LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA 50 Bedford Square London WC1B3DP UK www.bloornsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Pic First published in 2001 by the Continuum International Publishing Group Inc © Will Brooker 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-0-8264-4949-8 PB: 978-0-8264-1343-7 EPDF: 978-1-6235-6752-1 EPUB: 978-1-6235-6019-5 Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: 1978 vii 1 1 1939-1945: Origins and Wartime 2 1954: Censorship and Queer Readings 3 1961-1969: Pop and Camp 4 1986-1997: Fandom and Authorship Conclusion: 1999 308 Bibliography 3 34 Index 353 v. 33 101 171 249 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements Thanks to: Denny O'Neil and Alan Asherman at DC Comics, who generously shared their time, their archives and their memories. Roberta Pearson for her support, her encouragement and her example. Deborah Jermyn for buying me Roberta's The Many Lives of the Batman second-hand in 1995. John Hartley for his inspiring background presence and for always finding the money. David Barker at Continuum for his unflagging faith and enthusiasm. Fiona Graham for the index. Justine Davis, who loyally assisted with the New York research. Liz Brooker, who proofread my first Batman story in 1978. Pete Brooker, who brought home The Dark Knight Returns in 1985. Joe Brooker, boy wonder. Will Brooker Cardiff — New York — London May 1999 v ii Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat How I Wonder what You're at (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) Gloria Hunniford: Do you regard yourself as a cultural icon . . . Adam? Adam West: . . . it ... doesn't matter. (Adam West with Will Brooker and Gloria Hunniford, Open House with Gloria Hunniford, Channel 5, 14 April 2000) Introduction 1978 What are now called 'Departments of English' will be renamed departments of 'Cultural Studies' where Batman comics, Mormon theme parks, television, movies and rock will replace Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens (Harold Bloom, The Western Canon, London: Macmillan (1994), p. 519) 1. Hunt the Dark Knight I have kept a diary consistently since I was very young — since the age of seven, but more of that below — and on 29 July 1992 I pasted in two photographs, one from the Guardian and one from the Greenwich and Woolwich Mercury. The first is a snatched image of a man and a woman running, hand in hand. The woman clutches a bag and seems to be panting; the man is grim, focused, wearing shades and a jacket. Beneath his jacket, half-concealed, is a Batman t-shirt. The caption explains: 'On the run: a couple sprint across a Sarajevo intersection where snipers often attack civilians.' The second photograph is a posed portrait. A boy of about five vears old sits on a hospital bed, slightly cross-eved and bewildered, bravely giving a thumbs-up at the camera. To his left is a figure in a Ninja Turtle outfit, bending over the bed: to his right is a teenage boy 1