The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture follows the same template Glen Weldon used in his Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. After some general remarks, Weldon takes a chronological approach to the evolution of Batman. Initially, the focus is on Bob Kane and Bill Finger producing a character that is a direct rip-off of The Shadow. But, over time, Batman changes into something other than an a vigilante. Robin, The Boy Wonder, is added (the first comic side-kick, according to Weldon). The comic book industry goes through turmoil in the 1950s and Batman changes again. Weldon spends a whole chapter on the Batman TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward (Weldon’s first exposure to Batman). After the campy series goes into reruns, it continues to hold a fan base. But the Seventies finds Batman going to the Dark Side. Weldon documents the change from a detective to an avenger with a violent streak. This new, more ruthless Batman shows up in the movies of the Nineties. The new millennium brings the Christian Bale Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan. And, now we have to contend with Ben Aflick as Batman. If you’re a Batman fan, you’ll love The Caped Crusade. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Batman, Nerd
1. Origin and Growing Pains (1939-1949)
2. Panic and Aftermath (1948-1964)
3. Same Bat-Time (1965-1969)
4. Back to the Shadows (1969-1985)
5. Bat-Noir (1986-1988)
6. The Goth of Gotham (1989-1996)
7. The Caped Crusade (1992-20003)
8. Trilogy of Terror (2005-2012)
9. The Unified Theory (2004- )
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX
IMAGE CREDITS
I don;t really know enough about the details of the comic, though I used to read it a lot in the 80s – sounds really fascinating – thanks George, just might look to see if this can be had on my side of the pond for a reasonable sum!
Sergio, THE CAPED CRUSADE tells the entire Batman story with plenty of details new to me. It’s a book worth seeking out.
I miss the old days.
Bill, I miss reading those great DC comics with Batman and Robin fighting the Joker and the Riddler.
It may be heresy but I’ve just never been that into Batman.
Jeff, my favorite DC superhero was The Flash. I also liked Green Lantern a lot, too. But the first comics I read were Batman and Blackhawks.
I’ve been reading a lot of Batman graphic novels and collections lately, George, and I’m really getting into him. That said, he was my LEAST favorite comic book character whn i was a kid (even lower than Wonder Woman IMthenHO) and I was completely bored by the Christopher Nolan films.
Jerry, I grew up in the Fifties reading Batman comics. I liked the “detective” and SF stories best. The TV show in the Sixties showed a different Batman than I was used to.
The Nolan films are ponderous bores. With luck, the next films will be as entertaining as the best of the Warner animations over the last two decades, such as THE MASK OF THE PHANTASM and the better episodes of the 1990s tv series.
Not letting clowns such as Nolan, Snyder and Schumacher indulge themselves with the franchise will help. The not bad but hardly brilliant BATMAN RETURNS remains the best of the “live-action” films…though the 1966 film suffers only a little from lack of Julie Newmar.
Batman was my favorite of the sustained characters of the early ’70s, my great first period of comics reading (and certainly of hero comics, though horror comics even more even then), though I liked the Spectre and Challengers of the Unknown (more horror-oriented, natch) from DC better and Marvel’s Werewolf-by-Night as much. And I dug the Fawcett/classic Capt. Marvel & co.
When I was young Superman was fantastic in a way – I dreamed about being able to fly too …
But later I found all those super-persons really boring and the stories uninteresting – compared to science fiction …
That really took over my brain and my heart!
Probably it was because I was a science guy, doing experiments in Chemistry with a friend and then in electronics – valves and later transistors. I still remember when I built a small AM transmitter with just one transistor ( based on an experimental design I had seen, those things were expensive …) transmitting the Rock&Roll I had on my tape recorder out into the garden where I could listen to it on the headphones connected to my transistor radio …
Wolf, transistor radios were just becoming popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I listened to rock&roll music and fell in love with Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To”). Later that decade, radio listening was replaced by TV watching especially when my family bought its first color TV!
Now we’re getting even more OT, but still …
The first one in my family to buy a TV at all was my grandmother who lived in a little house with a large garden a few kms away – but still in walking distance.
So I helped her regularly with the garden and then I could spend the evening (and the night) in her house and watch TV! I was around 12 years old then, soon after my parents built a house, where my grandmother also moved in – with the TV …
Btw the German TV program ended (except on Fridays and Saturdays) with the news around half past then – and then after the National Anthem the screen went dark …
And there was only one TV channel/program, the second channel (ZDF) came only in 163 when I was at university, but without a TV …
Only sometimes on weekends …
I was never a fan of boy companions, but the book looks interesting!
Bob, if you want to know about the history of Batman, THE CAPED CRUSADE is a dandy book! I’m sure your local public library has a copy like mine did.
I hope so! I looked on line and didn’t like the prices!