If you have been reading my thesis I would like to thank you for your kindness and apologize for not posting in a while. My professors all but set fire to my last draft for various reasons. One biggy was organization. I also learned (the hard way) that one who is writing a thesis on Batman should never include ANYTHING ABOUT HEIDEGGER! This draft is an attempt to remedy both of those problems.
enjoy!
Craig Knight
Thesis chapter
May 15, 2012
Over the past 7 decades,
comic books and superheroes have been an enduring tribute to the heroic
ideal[Mr. K1] . These characters that boldly defended truth, justice and
the ever equivocal American way, have attempted to follow the same script
handed down since the their inception. This ideal that was spawned in the comic
book’s early days of good vs. evil has increased in complexity with each coming
age.
In the early days of the medium referred to as
the Golden Age[1] by enthusiasts, the
superhero’s goal was strait forward because it was aligned with the nation’s
aim of defeating fascism. Hero’s like
Captain America, Superman and Wonder Woman donned the colors of the flag as
they pummeled Nazis and other villains who threatened the nation’s security. During this stage in the development of
comics, one-dimensional neatly packaged characterizations of superheroes made
them ideal propaganda against real life enemies abroad. In the 1950’s however, the end of World War
II and the allies’ victory left a void where the need for such heroes once
thrived. Among the survivors were
Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.
In the Golden Age, comic
book writers strived to pinpoint the vivid contrast between the superhero and his
nemesis. For example, characters like
Superman were always given socially redeeming characteristics such as
unblemished integrity and a pleasant disposition separating him from his arch
enemy Lex Luthor who often showed disdain for the weak and less fortunate. The
S emblazoned on Superman’s chest served both then and now as a symbol for good
and left very little room for other interpretations. Recent trends in the genre have presented more
complex superhero with inner conflicts that often affect their mission. Batman is among the most popular of this
imperfect breed of champions. This new
hero places truth, justice and the American way under constant scrutiny. Bill Finger and Bob Kane created the Batman
comic with this in mind. Together, they
aspired to create a hero that despite being human was able to accomplish super
human feats. In the early days of the
comic this was accomplished until the other campy versions of Batman entered
the scene in the 1970’s leaving many readers longing for a more complex version
to return.
Frank Miller is one pioneer
in this genre who has skillfully re-presented Batman as one of the primary characters
in DC Comics that continues to scrutinize American values and as a result, constantly
operate in a setting where he must also endure equal criticism. Miller displays the characters many attempts
to resolve his internal conflicts in the midst of his external wars with the
criminal elements in Gotham City. He displays these conflicts in his two
celebrated graphic novels Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight
Returns. In my analysis of these works, I will explore
the appeal of Batman as an anti-hero and the major character traits that define
him as such via Bob Kane and Frank Miller.
Batman continues to endure in
print and other media because of the foundation laid by Kane and its later
resurgence by Miller. Both have paved
the way for others to continue to skillfully depict the character in a manner
that highlights his ability to persevere in spite of his stature as a mortal
man operating in a pantheon of super beings with godlike powers. Instead of super speed or strength he uses human
qualities, which can either be great assets or liabilities in given situations.
But regardless of their instability these
qualities are vital to the Batman mythos.
His heroic status is often determined by decisions based on his angst, resourcefulness, will, wealth[2], vengeance and virtue.
Kane Meets Wayne: The
Genesis of the Caped Crusader
In his biography Batman and Me, Bob Kane reveals the origins
of these qualities before his character inherited them. Miller and others later
expanded on these traits and presented a more current caped crusader. Although there have been many incarnations of
the Batman character, the most relevant are those that incorporate his six
essential character traits. The appeal of these traits is that they could all
be described as human, which is a direct contrast to other superheroes. In the
1940’s, the Batman character often faced villains who were also mortal. Mob bosses and serial killers were the
standard. Later, in the 1950’s the
character engaged in more bizarre battles involving aliens in outer space and
even vampires.
When DC comics felt that
this was getting out of hand they hired writer Julius Schwartz revamp the
character’s image. Him and others were able to transform the caped crusader
into a hero who’s human traits despite their fragility allowed him to be
relevant in any arena, whether he was fighting mobsters or super villains. He has become a character whose strong appeal
allows him to fight alongside super humans and not be overshadowed in the eyes
of his readers. This is because as a character he represents the height of
human potential. He is characterized as
an individual having speed and strength that are far beyond average, but he his
often physically mismatched against the super villains he fights. He is also less endowed than his fellow
heroes in the Justice League[3]. It
is this imbalance that drives his character to always be one step ahead of
everyone, allies included.
A major reason why the Batman comic has endured over time is
that since the 1940’s its writers have created a character who is constantly
aware that not only will he never [Mr. K2] be as strong or swift as his counterparts, he will also age
and eventually die. In essence, his
greatest strength as a character is will to survive. And all of the traits
discussed earlier contribute to his survival. His
angst from losing his parents, resourcefulness in the face of danger fueled by
his will and his inherited wealth,
which funds all of the devices used in his war on crime are all bolstered by a
monolithic sense of virtue acquired
from the fateful moment of his parents’ death.
All of these traits have proven to be both allies and enemies of the
caped crusader. For example, his angst
is often hidden by his public image as a playboy billionaire and a stoic
perfectionist when his alter ego takes the stage. Many writers of the comic depict him as a man
who is guarded and unable to maintain relationships. And letting his guard down always presents
the greatest danger.[4]
The genesis of these
characteristics leads back to Batman’s creator, Bob Kane. Although Kane did not suffer the same
tragedies as his creation, the roots of all of Batman’s major characteristics
may be found in Kane’s humble beginnings in the Bronx, NY. Bruce Wayne’s lamentable past is one that
does not come without a sense of irony.
On the surface, his wealth creates a gulf between him and other boys his
age until his parents’ death. Although
this event does not change his economic status, it is an equalizing force that
changes the course of his life. Wayne’s
lens, which was once clouded by wealth, privilege and naiveté, now reveals a
gloomier vision of life that up until this tragedy was only shared by others
outside of his field of vision. He makes
it his duty to wipe the muck from this lens not just for himself but also for
everyone in Gotham. Hence,
he begins to see that the happiness that he was robbed of is everyone’s right,
not just his. [Mr. K3] To this character, tragedy became a resource that he would
use to not only change his life but other’s lives as well.
Bob Kane’s life in the Bronx
is a direct correlation to the Batman myth. Like the thief depicted in the
first Batman comic, The Great Depression also took happiness from people’s
lives. But for Kane it replaced his lack of material wealth with the
resourcefulness much like his character. Although the effects of his personal
hardships did not carry the grotesque bite of murder like his creation, and may
not quite qualify as tragic, they were painful enough to force into light a
creative energy that was part angst and part hope. For example, he explains in
the following excerpt about his father’s influence on his decision to become a
cartoonist.
My father had to
struggle for most of his relatively short life to earn a living for my family. To supplement his income, he sold insurance
on the side. He rarely took a vacation, and his constant chasing of the dollar
left me with a feeling of insecurity…I realized that watching my dad’s plight
was my strongest motivating force, and this compelled me to use my talent for
cartooning to its fullest. I wanted the better things in life and poverty did
not fit into my plans...had he been wealthy I doubt whether I would have had
the incentive to work as hard as I did to become successful at my chosen craft (Kane 6).
This short description of
Kane’s life lays the foundation for Miller and others to continue the Batman
myth. It addresses the angst of poverty
and a will to succeed. He responds with a character that has more than enough
money and an iron clad will to survive. There is also the classic desire to
achieve what his father couldn’t. Kane’s
biography is also a pre-cursor to his character’s resourcefulness in the face
of danger. Kane realized early in his
youth when he joined a gang called “The Zorros” that like his famous character,
he too was a loner who in order to
survive had to join a neighborhood gang for protection (1). Like
Zorro [they] wore hooded black masks at night to conceal [their] real
identities. The name Kane chose for
this gang is of course an obvious connection to Batman[5]
but it doesn’t stop there. The following
is an account of one of Kane’s most vivid memories as a Zorro. In this scene,
he was spotted by a rival gang and chased into the lumber yard where he and his
fellow Zorro’s often initiated potential members by challenging them to perform
various feats of bravery such as leaping off of 20 feet piles of lumber.
One night while I
was walking home alone from my violin class, I was followed by a group of
seedy-looking roughnecks from the tough Hunts Point district. They wore the sweatshirts of the Vultures,
and they were whistling at me and making snide remarks that only “goils” played
with violins. I stepped up my pace and
so did they. Finally, I started running
and they did likewise, until I reached my neighborhood. Unfortunately, my buddies were not hanging
around the block at the time… I made a snap decision to run for the back
fence. I got up and dislodged some
lumber, which came rolling down with a crash!
Spotting me as I began climbing up a high pile of lumber, the Vultures
started after me. I finally reached the
top of the thirty-foot high pile and looked down breathlessly at my
antagonists. As I started pitching
shafts of lumber down upon them, some of the gang ducked and others were
knocked out cold by the cascading beams of timber.
The Vultures (they could not have chosen a more befitting name) had me
surrounded below, as I surveyed the scene from my vantage point fifteen feet
above them. As the frustrated ringleader
ordered his palookas to climb up after me, I spotted a block and tackle hanging
nearby that must have been used as an implement to hoist the lumber. I leaped for the hanging tackle, caught it in
mid-air and swung down in an arc, bowling over a couple of Vultures with my
feet until I completed my swing high onto another stack of boards. I heard a Vulture curse bellow, “That s.o.b
has gotta be one of the Zorro Gang, the way he leaps around like ‘dat Fairbanks
guy in ‘da movies!”(8)
Although Kane’s Zorro
adventure may seem a bit far-fetched, it sheds light on two very important
components, which further support the Batman mythos. One, it shows Kane’s belief in impossible
feats that can be accomplished when an individual uses the resources available
to him. And Two, it shows that a hero always needs reminders of his
limits. Later in Kane’s tale, he
eventually gets caught and beaten up and in the process sustains an injury that
almost ends his art career. Ironically
enough, he did not wish to seek revenge despite his gang’s vow to even the
score. Perhaps Kane’s wish was another allusion to his character’s virtuous
brand of revenge, which is conflict that runs throughout many Batman stories. Frank
Miller however, pushes the theme of revenge a bit further with his more violent
version of the Dark Knight.
Enter Frank Miller and the Dark Knight
Frank Miller’s status as a
pioneer in the reinvention of the Batman mythos is common among many critics of
the genre. Modern
Batman stories reveal an individual driven by a desire for vengeance[Mr. K4] . Miller’s reinvention of the hero in the late 1980’s depicts
him as an individual whose rage is not only directed at the individual who
killed his parents, but also at the ineffective police force that failed to
protect them. In Batman: Year One, Miller sets scene in a dark alley
outside the cinema where Thomas and Martha Wayne, his parents are happily
preoccupied with their 8 year old son’s reenactment of a scene from his
favorite movie “The Mark of Zorro”. The tender
family moment ends abruptly when a robber emerges from the shadows and kills both
of his parents while he watches, powerless to save them. Wayne’s inability to save his parents becomes
a running theme in the character’s adult life.
He seeks to eradicate his guilt along with Gotham’s criminal element as
a masked vigilante, and along the way meets foes like the Joker and others who
share similar pathologies but have chosen to wreak havoc on society instead
saving it[6].
One vital element of the
Batman story is the recurrent and pivotal moment of his parent’s death. Many writers both in the comics and on the
screen have revisited this moment with Wayne as he takes his yearly excursion
to Crime Alley, the place where they were killed and lays down two roses on
that very spot. Since Frank Miller,
readers of the comic have consistently been made aware that to truly understand
Batman, this moment in his history must remain ever present. It is
here where Bruce Wayne first becomes aware of Gotham the concrete-clad beast
that he must conquer. But as Frank Miller reveals in Batman: Year One conquering
the beast cannot be accomplished without becoming a part of it. In this story, a
25 year-old Bruce, the prodigal son of Gotham returns home after traveling the
world in search of training for his monumental task as the caped crusader. But Frank Miller’s Bruce Wayne is still a
novice to crime fighting. Although he
possesses many fighting skills, he is still naïve to the ways of Gotham. It is a city where most of the police force
and city officials are corrupt and fighting crime is no easy task. He is not
yet aware of the interdependent relationship between him and the city.[7] He sees only an enemy that he must
conquer.
Part of Miller’s narrative
skill in this tale is in taking the reader down Wayne’s dark journey to
knighthood with his inner monologue[8] as
the only lamplight. It begins on a plane descending down on the
city. Bruce Wayne gazes out of his window as the captain announces the final
descent. He ponders that from where he
is sitting just above its clean shafts of
concrete and snowy rooftops, which are the
work of men who died generations ago it looks like an achievement. Here
Miller’s allusion to the crime ridden labyrinth that awaits our hero could
serve both a wink to those in the know and a foreshadowing invitation for those
who are new to the Batman myth. He gives an even better clue about this
world that awaits Wayne as he continues to ponder during his descent on to the
city and decides that he should have
taken the train, [he] should be
closer…[he] should see the enemy. (2)
Another example comes a few
pages later as he walks through the belly of his adversary on a twenty-block walk to the enemy camp where
along the way he is sized up like a piece
of meat by the leather boys in Robinson Park, waded through pleas and
half-hearted threats from junkies at the Finger Memorial and stepped across a
field of human rubble that lay sleeping in front of the overcrowded Sprang
Mission. (10) Although Miller’s
opinions of city dwellers are of course screaming from these pages,[9]
they do represent a fair view of a character that has experienced trauma at the
hands of one of its inhabitants. In this scene Wayne is portrayed as an
embittered spirit who has declared war on the city and vengeance for the
injustice it has dealt him.
Batman: Year One is a coming of age story
for the Dark Knight. Miller gives the
reader an immature version of Bruce Wayne just before he actually realizes that
the corruption that consumes Gotham is a vital part of his identity, an
identity that feeds on the night. So he
decides to embrace this part of Gotham that awakens at dusk and form a relationship
with it. His heroic deeds, however, are
not without their share of breaking and entries, assaults, and obstructions of
justice. All of the things that people
fear about Gotham and the night and the city must include The Batman. He cannot be a symbol of justice unless he is
a symbol of fear to his enemies.
In his book Super Heroes:
A Modern Mythology, Richard Reynolds illustrates Bruce Wayne’s decision to
become a symbol of fear to battle both his demons and the crime element in
Gotham City. He decides to don the symbol of a bat, a creature of the night,
when a bat flies through his window while he sits brooding in his father’s
study. He views this as a definitive
omen and says the famous words from Bob Kane’s Batman 47[10];
‘Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, so I must wear a costume that
will strike terror into their hearts! I must be creature of the night, like a…a
…A Bat! (Reynolds 67) Although Kane’s version may seem a bit corny, his intent
was clear that Bruce Wayne’s decision to become a bat was a decision to
establish him as a symbol of fear. So
another major appeal of his character is that although he is just a mortal man,
he is more capable than anyone in Gotham City to make such an absurd idea a reality.
Frank
Miller’s version of this scene carries with it a more resonating mood of angst,
and gloom as he offers readers one possible back-story to precede the fateful
night when he decided to make the bizarre choice of becoming a bat. It comes
after Wayne’s excursion into the Gotham’s underbelly, a journey he takes
without the cape and cowl. In a
confrontation with a pimp who is abusing one of his girls, he gets slashed
across his face, and stabbed by the same girl he was attempting to protect
(Miller 12). As the scuffle begins to
escalate the police arrive and Wayne is arrested but escapes. The illustrations that follow are his car
banged up in his driveway with the door laying open in panel one. In panel two
he sits slumped over in a chair in his father’s study bleeding. The panels that
follow take the reader through his flashback of that night…the movie theater,
the alley, the armed man approaching, and the fatal shots. As the scene progresses Bruce laments: Father…I’m afraid I may have to die to tonight. I’ve tried to be patient. I’ve tried to wait. But I have to know. How, father?
How do I do it? What do I
use? What do I use to make them
afraid? The next set of
illustrations and text show Wayne’s decision to seek help from his trusted butler
Alfred just as the ominous bat flies through his window and he utters the words
“yes father I shall become a bat”
This
scene is interesting because it depicts a character who on the brink of death
decides to instead defy it for reasons that serve not only his personal desires
for vengeance, but also the needs of the multitude that want to be safe. In this decision lies the genesis of Batman’s
existence as a hero that functions in both darkness and light and whose real
battle lies in maintaining that balance.
It is this inner struggle that makes Batman such an interesting
character.
[1] The Golden Age of comics
was from 1938 to 1949.
[2] Although it stands out as
the only external quality on this list, it is vital because without it, it
nearly makes all of BM’s other assets seem obsolete. From its inception, the BM character’s wealth
has always been the engine that made all of his pursuits possible.
[3] The Justice League is a
team of Superheroes consisting of the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash
and a host of others from the DC Comics Universe. Batman joined this team later in his career
as he grew mature enough to realize that he could not save the world on his
own.
[4] In a two part graphic
novel series entitled The Widening Gyre and Cacophony written by
famed filmmaker Kevin Smith, Batman actually does this. He finally reaches the happiness and catharsis
of finding a woman that he both loves and trusts. The added bonus is that he does not have to
hide who he is to her. Further icing on
the cake is that he discovers a new hero in Gotham who is just as talented as
he is. In this story Batman does the
unthinkable. He reveals his identity and the location of the bat cave to his
new fiancé and this new hero. The results are catastrophic thus confirming the
point that a Batman without angst would not only mean the undoing of him, but
the entire Batman mythos as well.
[5] In the comic book, young
Bruce Wayne loses his parents after seeing the film “The Mark of Zorro”.
[6] There are various origins
of the Joker and they all have a unique perspective on the character’s
motives. For the sake of continuity I
will refer to Alan Moore’s version taken from the story “The Killing
Joke”. In this story he is depicted as a
former engineer who quits his job to become a comedian. After he fails at this endeavor he becomes
desperate to feed his pregnant wife and decides to help a group of gangsters
rob a business next door to his former job at a chemical plant. During the
planning of this robbery he finds out that his wife and child to be are killed,
but he is forced by the gangsters to continue with the job. Batman foils their
plan and in an attempt to escape he falls in to vat, which bleaches his skin,
turns his hair green and his lips ruby red. After this the man known as the
Joker emerges.
[7] This relationship is expertly
illustrated in Batman: Black and White, a series of vignettes written by
various writers about Batman’s experiences in Gotham. (excerpt to be included later)
[8] The character’s inner
thoughts are usually indicated by a yellow square with text, not to be confused
by the dialogue bubbles, which indicate that characters are talking to each
other.
[9] Later in his career Miller
was berated by many of his fans for his extreme and allegedly racist views
especially about the Middle East. He has
also made many inflammatory statements about the OWS protestors. Many of these statements can be found on
Miller’s blog.
[10] This issue first appeared
in June 1948. Bill Finger and Bob Kane wrote it.
[Mr. K1]Possible
thesis: How is Batman an update of the heroic ideal? Is the anti-hero more
relevant today than the hero?
[Mr. K2]Justice
League Doom
[Mr. K3]Address
the class war here. Grant Morrison’s quote.
[Mr. K4]After
this, talk about Frank Miller. It is
important to talk about the motivations of the writers to give a better
understanding of the thesis. Do this every time a writer is mentioned
especially in new chapters.
