"Why do we fall down? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again."
- Alfred Pennyworth - Batman Begins (2005)

"Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in where a man dress up like a BAT gets all of my free press?"
- The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in Batman (1989)

"Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night... black... terrible. I shall become a bat. "
- Bruce Wayne, as written by Bob Kane in Detective Comics #33 (1939)

"Morality clause? He kept a boy in a cave!"
- Drew Carey in his "Batmobile" episode right after he "soiled the Batmobile" with his girl friend.

November 4th, 2005

Batman. Batman. Batman. Na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN! Remember that?

It was a funny, campy, show, full of celebrities, and surrealism that would make Salvadore Dali head for a bottle of asprins. Batman is a light hearted superhero who romps through Gotham City with his youthful ward, Dick Grayson, aka Robin.

Batman can be contacted via the red PLAR* batphone - one end located in Commissioner Gordon's office and the other end located in Bruce Wayne's private study. If Commissioner Gordon should be faced with one of Batman's arch villians, Batman will drive out in Gotham City during the daylight hours and find a convieniently vacant parking space available to him. And why not, Batman has met many celebrities usually while scaling a building wall (also in broad daylight). Each celebrity will lose no time telling Batman that he is truly a paragon of virtue and light.

And remember, when Bruce Wayne is not being Batman, he gets to spend hours on end tutoring his youthful ward in such things a bird watching and bird call imitations under the supervision of his loving Aunt Harriet.

(Sound effect inserted here of a needle abruptly dragged across a record.)

Okay, enough of that nonsense. All of that crap can be left to Joel Schumacher and his insane ideas of what he thinks Batman should be all about. Now, let's talk about the real Batman. You know... the Dark Knight.

This is the Batman that people spend their hard earned cash to see in the movie theatres. This is the Batman that Joel Schumacher failed to see when he created the celluloid abortions known as Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. This is the Batman that was successfully portrayed by Michael Keaton in 1989's Batman and again in Batman Returns by Tim Burton. This is the Batman seen in Batman - the Animated Series, Batman & Superman, Batman Beyond, and The Justice League. Please do not confuse this Batman with the one that was in The Superfriends. One was written by someone who knew the character and the other was written by someone on acid.

This is the Batman as he's written in the comic books after 1986.

Let us also not leave out the most recent incarnation of Batman Begins. Please, let's not leave out this awesome, kick-ass, insanely loyal to the legend version of the character. Let's not leave that out. If you have a chance to pick up the DVD or, at the very least, rent it, DO IT. It is two hours of your life well spent.

As you can probably tell, I am a huge Batman fan. Batman, to me, is a real hero. I know that sounds ridiculous but let's think about that. Batman has no superpowers. If he gets shot in the head, game over. He dies just like you or I. And because of those human vulnerabilities, he is a master tactician and is prepared for almost every contingency (Why do you think it's called a "utility belt"?) If we were to look at Batman's real abilities we'd discover that they are attainable provided a person had the time, resources, and dedication.

Batman, if anything, is the possibility of what a person can be.

One of the books in my personal library is The Batman Handbook, The Ultimate Training Manual by Scott Beatty. It's a small "Worst Case Scenario" sized book based on that theme. In this book, it describes everything you'd need to know if you were to become a vigilante of the night and what you'd need to study.

Here's an abridged list:

• Making a solemn pledge (Something like bringing your parents' murderer to justice).
• Learn everything you can in every discipline, no matter how obscure:
  • Forensics
  • Criminology
  • Law
  • Forensic Accounting
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Geology
  • History (especially the local background of your protectorate)
  • Computer Science
  • Foreign Languages (especially Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish)
  • Tracking Skills (from bounty hunters)
• Training your body.
• Training your instincts.
• Make a Batsuit (battle suit)
• Make non leathal weapons ("As the gun is the weopon of the enemy. Our weapons are silent and swift." - Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns).

Let's just also mention other little things like riddle solving, yoga, automotive mechanics (it's not like you can take the Batmobile to a garage for maintenance), and meditation.

He is a modern day knight with a mission and a quest. His quest is to take back Gotham from the criminal elements and politically corrupt local government. His mission is to ensure that the tragedy that happened to him (ie - the murder of his parents) never happens to anyone else.

I say this as I am currently reading a 400 year old classic, Don Quixote by Cervantes. This book has stood to be a guide of a concept called chivalry. As a "dark knight", Batman does not go by that code but he does have a code. He will not take a life and he will not use a gun for lethal use. He has made that the difference between who he is and who he hunts.

Ever vigilant of how he was to evolve his character, Bob Kane, the man who created Batman, gave Batman's alter ego a knight-like name: Bruce Wayne. He took it from "Wayne, the Bruce". Kane also got a lot of ideas from the silent film entitled, The Bat. This was about a master criminal terrorizing the city wearing a fearsome bat costume. Kane, was an avid silent film fan and was inspired in creating not only Batman from that film but also created the Joker from the silent film, The Man Who Laughs.

To truly understand the psychology of Batman is to understand the dichotomy of Batman and Bruce Wayne. The important point is this - Bruce Wayne does not exist. You heard me. He doesn't exist.

The personality of Bruce Wayne died when his parents lay bleeding in Crime Alley (formerly Park Row). When Bruce Wayne witnessed the death of his parents, the true personality of the Batman was born and the boy that was the millionaire's son was no more. The true disguise of Batman is not the cowl and the bat-mask. No, the mask shows his real face. The disguise is the incompetent playboy who is a notoriously bad golfer and whom women find incredibly shallow and boring. This personality split is reminiscent of the Don Diego/Zorro alter ego. One personality being the hero and the other being the incompetent clown.

The dichotomy between the two characters is carefully manufactured and balanced. Even as the Batman speaks he lowers his voice an octave. The ironic part is that it is the Bruce Wayne humanity that tempers the obsessively destructive Batman from killing the criminals he hunts. His personality split is not as extreme as his enemy, Two-Face, but it is one that borders on mental illness. The obsessive manhunter is balanced by the humane knight. It is a line that he will not cross. And I believe it was best put in the Batman Begins movie, "It's the difference between who I am and the enemy."**

There are other dichotomies in the Batman legend perhaps the three best (that I can think of) is between Batman and Superman, between Batman and The Joker, and between Batman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan).

Perhaps some of the best written stories are those with the team up of Batman and Superman. Superman, who is a character that is full of optimism, wearing bright primary colors and truly believing the best of humanity, is vastly different from the dark, monochromaticly, dark, pessimistic, dark, moody, Nietzche-reading Batman (did I mention dark?). Superman, who is essentially invulnerable to most attacks has a tendency to rush into battle situations where Batman would analyze the situation and form a battle plan. In today's stories, the characters are not friends but more allies who respect one another enormously.

The "World's Finest" team ups (The Batman/Superman team), which have made a very popular comeback, are really well done. As one reads the private thoughts of the protagonists, the reader is reminded how different both the characters are. The following takes place shortly after Superman has been shot with a kryptonite bullet by Metallo and has been buried alive with Batman in a Gotham City graveyard.

Here's what goes through the head of each of the heroes:

The preceding came from the Superman/Batman graphic novel, "Public Enemies" written by Jeph Loeb and well illustrated by Ed McGuinness. It's a good read and I recommend as I recommend all of the books written by Loeb. Loeb is also responsible for the following Batman graphic novels: Hush, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Haunted Knight.

You'll notice that Batman's concerns are of the situation and what needs to be done. Superman, who is really not used to being in mortal danger, has to relate to an earlier life threatening situation. He's almost nostalgic in his concern. As Batman has faced death more frequently than his partner has, he has a better, more active approach in how he deals with the situation. He will use everything at his disposal, including Superman's own body as a shield, as a tool to aid in his survival.

And what aids Batman in this situation? It is his knowledge in almost a Sun Tzu like approach. He assesses his resources. He knows the lay of the land (that the Gotham Cemetary is over the Gotham Sewer System and close to an entrance to the Batcave). The reality that even that an immobile Superman is still good as an invulnerable human shield and that he has to do something quick before he loses conciousness from lack of air. He also has weighed his options. They can't go back up where the enemy is waiting for them, so there is only down. He has also come prepared with a charge from his utility belt. Everything he did could be done by a normal human being with his wits about him.

That's what makes this character enduring.

The cerebral, logical, Batman is normally at odds with the insane, chaotic, insane, evil, Joker. Batman, as one of the good guys, won't take a life. The Joker will take a life on a whim. The Batman uses logic and reason to hunt criminals. The Joker acts without reason making him almost impossible to predict. Ironically, after all of the years Batman has been fighting the Joker, the great detective knows nothing about his arch enemy's origin - not even his true name. But that should be no surprise. The Joker does not truly know anything about himself either. As chronicled in the Alan Moore graphic novel, The Killing Joke, (illustrated masterfully by Brian Bolland), the Joker seems to go through his own origin and seems to reveal very much of himself to the reader. This is then offset by him saying that he remembers it differently almost everytime he thinks about it. (Note to reader: I am speaking of how the Joker is portrayed in the comic books. If one is going by either the WB animated series or by the Tim Burton, Batman, movie, it is revealed that the Joker was a low level enforcer named Jack Napier, who fell into a vat of chemicals and became quite unhinged by his physical transformation into a man with chalk white skin, ruby red lips, and green hair. With the exception of the actual accident of falling into the vat chemicals, there is no other similarity to his origin.)

The Joker's deeds have been so heinous lately, the Batman has had to rethink his stand on killing the Joker. The Joker, after all, has been responsible for the following: The apparent death of Jason Todd (the second boy to assume the role of Robin) - The Joker beat Jason Todd to near death with a crowbar and left him in a locked warehouse that was about to explode. Jason never made it out alive.; The crippling of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle - The Joker went to the Gordon household and Barbara, upon opening the door, was shot by the Joker through the spine. He then undressed Barbara Gordon and took pictures of her naked to torture her father, Commissioner Gordon.; And the shooting of Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Lt. Sarah Essen, who gave her the choice of catching an infant or shooting the Joker (and the Joker subsequently dropping the infant). He threw her the baby and shot Lt. Essen in the head.

It has often been said that Batman's most insane action has been to not kill the Joker. Through Batman's inaction of doing nothing people have lost their lives. Batman has morals. The Joker has none.

The third dichotomy is between Batman and Earth's Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.

Okay, now I have to take you into a world of comic geekdom. The Green Lantern Corp (yes, there is more than one of them) are selected by two criteria. The Green Lantern must be fearless and must be honest (implied in that is also morally good). The reason for this has to do with the "yellow" impurity in the central lantern battery which powers his ring. The "yellow" represents fear. Hence, the ring will not work unless the candidate has suffient bravery and will power. Hal Jordan is a test pilot in his civilian guise. He was born without fear.

As we look at that character, we also look at the Batman. The Batman uses fear to carry out his crusade. Batman has used the philosophy that "criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot" uses the image of a bat to frighten his enemies. He in essence is a disciple of the concept of fear. This being the case, there is a natural animosity between the two characters. After all, when you take aware the fear factor from Batman, he's just a guy in a mask and cape with a whole bunch of gadgets. To those of you who wish to read of this animosity, I refer you to the graphic novel, Green Lantern: Rebirth in stores now.

The use of fear in Batman's crusade has been well illustrated in the Batman Begins movie. The scene that comes to mind is when he is scaring information out of the corrupt Lt. Flass. Batman uses the superstitious fear of bats in conjunction with bungie dropping Flass from a roof until he gets his answers. This is not a far cry from how he does it in the comic books.

It is a touch Machievellian. To Batman, the ends justify the means.

Batman has his share of enemies. I spoke of the Joker earlier but there are plenty more. Most of Batman's enemies have been diagnosed as insane for one reason or another. It seems to be a common theme that anyone who would go up against the dark knight could not possibly have all of his marbles. Each one of his enemies challenge an aspect of his character.

I could go further, but I'm sure you get the idea. Each of his enemies represents a challenge to either his abilities or his mission.

Along the way to help him in his mission, Batman has acquired many allies. We all have to remember the first before Robin is Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred is not only Bruce Wayne's butler but also the closest thing that Bruce Wayne has to a father figure. It was Alfred and Dr. Leslie Thomkins who raised Bruce after his parents were killed. What's more, it was Alfred, who before joining the Wayne household, was a stage actor who schooled the young Bruce Wayne in the art of disguise and impersonation. Alfred is the one who puts the Batman back together after he's injured in battle with his medical skills and it is Alfred who runs Wayne Manor when Bruce Wayne is out. If it were not for Alfred's loyalty and skills, Batman's quest would not last long. He is the one ally that Batman can depend on when everything goes to hell.

Alfred, as I mentioned before, had help raising Bruce Wayne. Dr. Leslie Thomkins, a medical doctor and social worker who was first at the scene of the Wayne murder in crime alley to pick up the pieces of the shattered Bruce Wayne. Dr. Thomkins played the role of surrogate mother to Bruce Wayne. She was one of Batman's most trusted allies until she became directly responsible for the death of Stephanie Brown, the fourth person to hold the mantle of Robin. Batman hunted her down and let her know that if she were to ever practice medicine again or return to the United States, he would see her brought to justice.

The first boy to hold the mantle of Robin was Richard "Dick" Grayson. After seeing Grayson's parents murdered in front of the young circus trapese artist, Batman took Dick on as his ward and trained him personally in crime fighting. Sharing this bond of a violent past worked well until Batman "fired" Robin the first time. Since then the relationship between the two was somewhat strained albeit loyal. As Robin became more a member of the group, the Teen Titans (a group of young sidekicks of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Arrow, and Aquaman - Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad, respectively), Batman fired Robin again as he thought he should be exclusively his partner and not divide his time to any other cause than his crusade. Grayson left and created the identity of Nightwing. Nightwing having the fighting expertise and detective skills of his mentor, is not as dark. He is loyal to his mentor and provides an anchor for his mentor. Despite all their bad history together, Nightwing will always be at Batman's side should he need him.

The second boy to hold the mantle of Robin was Jason Todd. Batman caught Jason Todd attempting to steal the hubcaps off of the Batmobile. Being an orphan, Jason was adopted by Bruce Wayne and eventually trained to be Dick Grayson's replacement as Robin. Jason had faults though. He was careless and, at times, somewhat arrogant. A cardinal rule to being Robin is that you have a "one strike" rule and if you can't follow orders, you'll be fired. Jason was fired after being too careless. However, this did not stop Jason from searching for his biological mother. Upon using a credit card given to him by Bruce Wayne, he tracked his real mother, Dr. Sheila Haywood, to Ethiopia. Dr. Haywood, unfortunately became entangled with the Joker in a scheme to rebuild his finances and discovered Jason as Robin. The Joker beat Jason to an inch of his life with a crowbar and left him locked with a live bomb in a warehouse. The Batman found his body (miraculously found in one piece) and thought Jason buried. This death haunted Batman as his greatest failure and he kept a replica of Robin's costume as a memorial to young Jason. Aparently, this was not the end of Mr. Todd. Recently, Jason was found to be the latest incarnation of The Red Hood. The erstwhile Robin, by persons unknown, was placed in a Lazarus Pit and never buried. Jason has taken the war on crime to a new violent level - killing the criminals that Batman won't.

The third and current boy to hold the mantle of Robin is 15 year old Tim Drake. Tim, who reasoned by amateur deductive skill the identity of the first Robin, Dick Grayson, was able to logically deduce the identity of Batman. What's more, he reasoned that as Batman's crusade has become more and more brutal and that the frequency of Batman's personal injuries became higher - Batman needed a Robin. Without a Robin by Batman's side, Batman became more careless. If Batman had to care extra about another in his fight, he would be a bit more cautious before taking action. Tim Drake has proven to be the smartest of the Robins as well as being the most strategic in his planning. Currently, Tim is the leader of the Teen Titans and has been allowed to operate in that capacity by his mentor. At this point, Tim has no desire to succeed Batman in his mantle, he's just happy to fill this role for now. Whether this truly becomes the direction his life will take remains to be seen.

The fourth person to hold the mantle of Robin was Stephanie Brown - aka The Spoiler. Stephanie, the daughter of one of Batman's enemies, The Cluemaster, wanted to make up for her father's crimes. As the Cluemaster would perpetuate each crime (The Cluemaster's modus operandi was similar to that of the Riddler. He left clues to his next crime and Batman would have to solve the clue before he caught him.), The Spoiler would leave more clues behind to ensure that her father was captured. She eventually learned to enjoy crime fighting and became an unsanctioned vigilante (to operate as a crime fighter in Gotham, Batman has to sanction you else you run the risk of being arrested by the Gotham PD.) Eventually, Batman took Stephanie on to train her as a crime fighter but eventually got fired and was told to never return to the Batcave. Stephanie, later on, was taken on again after Tim Drake left the role of Robin to spend more time with his own father (who had discovered his dual identity). After disobeying Batman's orders to not interfere in a battle and to monitor the action remotely, Batman fired her as Robin. Stephanie decided that to win back her graces with Batman, she'd attempt to execute one of Batman's long range plans to stop the gangs of Gotham. This inadvertently started a city wide gang war and ended with Stephanie tortured by Batman's enemy, The Black Mask. She was taken to the hospital severely injured and passed away beside Batman. This was after she was denied vital treatment by Dr. Leslie Thomkins who wished to stop Batman in his crusade by allowing one of his partners to fall.

The first girl to have the identity of Batgirl was Police Commissioner James Gordon's daughter Barbara. During a maskerade party Barbara Gordon made a Batman-like costume and kept the mask on so she would not be recognised by her father. During the party, The Killer Moth, one of Batman's lesser enemies crashed the party in order to build funds for his own goals attempted to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Barbara took it upon herself to stop the crime and rescue him. Batgirl was later sanctioned to work in Gotham as a crime fighter. Being highly intelligent and computer literate, she became a great ally in Batman's crusade. Later, after being shot by the Joker (as Barbara Gordon - not as Batgirl), she resumed her role in crimefighting as the wheelchaired Oracle. Oracle became the information broker for all of the costumed heroes for any and all information they'd need. She's still very much used by Batman for his intel.

The black sheep of the Batman Family is the heroine vigilante known as the Huntress. Originally (pre-retconn), the Huntress was the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle (Catwoman). She took up crime fighting after being trained by her father and mother. Her story was latered rewritten to be the daughter of the Bertinelli crime family. After she witnessed her family wiped out by an assassin, she became a crossbow wielding vigilante. She has repeatedly tried to become one of the Batman's allys but remains barred due to her inability to follow orders and because of her inability to not take lives. The latest attempt came when she took the mantle of Batgirl and helped Batman in taking back Gotham City in the "No Man's Land" era of Gotham after it had been abandoned under martial law. Still being unable to measure up to Batman's standards, she was forced to abandon the identity. She remains unsanctioned.

The third and current girl to take up the mantle of Batgirl is Cassandra Cain. Cassandra Cain was raised by the mysterious assassin known as Cain. Cain has the distinction of training Batman when he was learning all of his fighting styles. Through means unknown, Cassandra was denied the use of language and taught fighting skills instead. Thereby the language centers of her brain would be able to learn and assimilate any fighting style she was show as easily as learning a new word. She became the deadliest fighter alive and continues to be Batman's most skilled fighter, now using only non lethal combat. No longer silent and learning to use the language centers of her brain at last, she remains as deadly as ever.

Batman's most important ally has been Commissioner James Gordon. Jim Gordon is Batman's unofficial partner in his battle against the forces against Gotham and perhaps his only real friend. Forever providing Batman with the cover of operating with Gotham City, he is an important resource in gathering official evidence and clues on Gotham's criminal community. When Gordon started his career with the Gotham police force there was endless corruption and the young lieutenant was attacked by fellow officers for his stand against graft. Able to fight well enough on his own, Commissioner Gordon has the respect of the dark knight. The best running gag between him and Batman is when the Batman leaves a conversation without Gordon knowing he's left. Gordon is usually found saying, "I hate it when he does that."

The DC Comic Book comany, subsidiary of Warner Bros, has found enduring success with the Batman comic line. Batman has been published in Detective Comics, Batman, Legend of the Dark Knight, Batman: Gotham Knights, Superman and Batman, The JLA, and Nightwing and are still huge money makers. When a character can keep that kind of record for over 65 years and perpetuate TV show after TV show, it becomes more than a comic book character.

It becomes part of a mythology.