Batman: goofball held up for ridicule among non-readers vs. mean Ninja guy

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when I was a pre-teen/ teenager, the late '60s tv show (is there a comprehensive DVD collection?) was fresh in everyone's mind: mega-campy, "holy this and that," exhibit A in the "hollywood condescending to comic books" debate, and thus something for a certain generation of spandex fans to be defensive about. Obv, as a kid watching the show in reruns, the comedic qualities flew right over my head, but once I hit 9 or 10, I was aware that it was the main reference point for most non-readers that comics were "immature" and so on…" Batman was considered a joke…

Recently, tho, I've been struck by the character's rehabilitation. I know a guy some 15 years my junior (I'm 36), and the only Batman he knows is a tough guy. I understand that the All-Star "goddamn" iteration of the character is so hostile that its as absurd as the Adam West iteration—but at the opposite extreme …

Do y'all think Dark Knight was the pivot point? or Burton's film?

― Veronica Moser, Friday, 18 May 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)

DARK KNIGHT (& YEAR ONE) FTW by far. Burton's film is goth camp.

― David R., Friday, 18 May 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

Awkward goth camp, that is.

― David R., Friday, 18 May 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

I have heard that Batman comics went all serious in the 1970s, having been essentially like the TV series in the 1960s. So maybe that is the change point.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Friday, 18 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

Wasn't Batman in the 60s always flying off to other planets for weirdo adventures?

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Friday, 18 May 2007 16:08 (eighteen years ago)

He had multicoloured suits.

― chap, Friday, 18 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

in the 1950s and early 60s he was fightin' aliens…but when Julie Schwartz became editor, he put the brakes on that shit… still, mid 60s Batman was typical DC silver age goodness, which inspired the show.

The batman program basically ignited a craze for comics that exceeded anything Marvel had done…and the Bat-books indeed went even campier, as did virtually all DC books. but when the show was canceled, the boom done went bust.

Shortly afterwards, Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams made Batman "the grim avenger of the night," which comic fans dug, but was completetly unnoticed by non-fans. But when TV and movies support a change, that's another thing, obv.

― Veronica Moser, Friday, 18 May 2007 17:23 (eighteen years ago)

when I was a pre-teen/ teenager, the late '60s tv show (is there a comprehensive DVD collection?)

NO ;_; but you can get the movie, complete with freakishly long Edith Piaff moment and bomb running.

Burton's films are camp, sure, but also pretty invested in making Batman tough and mysterious and not at all like the fatherly Adam West figure the 60's show had him as; I'd say they, together with the 90's animated show, are mostly responsible for cementing him as a badass in the general popcult imagination. Of course "The Dark Knight Returns" made all those possible in the first place.

Is 70's serious Batman present in other pop culture at all? "Super Friends" clearly still uses a tweaked Adam West...

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 18 May 2007 23:37 (eighteen years ago)

Burton's film is goth camp.

On a tangential note, it always pisses me off when people describe Burton's films as 'dark'. They're not sodding dark, they just have cosmetic gothic trappings. In fact they're generally kind of sweet.

p.s. I love a couple of his films, namely Ed Wood and Edward Siccorhands. They're not dark though.

― chap, Saturday, 19 May 2007 02:29 (eighteen years ago)

(is there a comprehensive DVD collection?)

Hi, kids! It's your old pal, Rights Issues!

― energy flash gordon, Saturday, 19 May 2007 08:31 (eighteen years ago)

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