Skip to main content

Happy Birthday Batman!!

Photo by Marcin Lukasik on Unsplash

 His (Special) Take:

 Back in 1939, a comic book hit newsstands, and magazine racks everywhere that would change the world, DC Comics was flying high (no pun intended) on the success of Superman, who was introduced to the world 2 years earlier. They hired cartoonists Bob Kane and Bill Finger to create a superhero in the hopes of doubling down on the popularity of Superman. Kane borrowed from a lot of places when thinking up Batman. Films, novels, even a Leonardo DaVinci drawing. Finger then put the finishing touches on the look of the character, making him the Caped Crusader that we all know and love. 
Batman was pretty much an instant hit, although Superman had movie serials and cartoons in less time than Batman, Batman wasn’t trailing too close behind. But Batman plugged along, enjoying pretty good sales, but he was yet to really explode into the phenom that we know and love today. In the comics he evolved from a crimefighter that battled mobsters and murderers to “space Batman” in the 1950’s, battling aliens and men from other planets.

Then 1966 happened. ABC premiered a prime time, live action Batman television series. That show blew the roof off country. It was so successful that ABC began airing it twice a week, something that had never been done for a show that wasn’t the nightly news. And film and television stars lined up to be able to play a villain on the show. Or to be someone who hung out the window as Batman and Robin climbed up a building in a popular scene that showed up in most episodes. Batman was on everything from breakfast cereal to bread bags. The show even spawned a big screen movie starring the television cast. 
Eventually the show lost popularity and was canceled and Batman went away from the public eye and back to comics. After Superman the Movie was released and became a hit, work began on a Batman film. But nobody quite knew what to do with him, so the movie kind of faded away into development hell. Rumors cast actors Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy as Batman & Robin in what would’ve been a very comedic take on the characters. Then Tim Burton came along and wondered what would happen if he made a movie that was closer in tone to the comics of the 70’s and 80’s. 

In 1989 Batman hit theaters and the nation went wild. You couldn’t walk down the street without seeing people wearing Batman shirts, earrings, shoes, and frighteningly, spandex shorts. The movie made tons of money, spawned three sequels, and started the comic boom of the 90’s. 
On March 30th, we celebrate Batman’s 80th birthday and the party lasts all summer long. I totally encourage you to look online at www.comicbookshoplocatorservice.com to find your local comic shop and see what they have going on this summer. Spoiler Alert: It’s gonna be pretty awesome. 

I could write another 400 pages on Batman. He’s a fantastic character because he’s a character that can constantly be redesigned and reimagined. You can put him in any setting and he works, he’s THAT adaptable. So, Happy Birthday Batman!! And thanks for 80 years of comics, movies, cartoons, tv shows, clothes, toys, ect. I can’t wait to celebrate the Batman Centennial in 2039!!!

This post will continue on September 15th, Batman Day, when a huge announcement will be made exclusively here, on The Two Takes!!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Something Positive

Her Take: The scene that follows describes me embroiled in a confrontation with my arch-enemy.  This is a very dramatic scene, so please read it that way. If you feel the urge to exclaim something suitable for this mood or draw the back of your hand to your forehead in a gesture of utter dismay, feel free to do so. Just don’t bite your fingernails, that’s gross.  I knew at the beginning of last week I was going to have to write something positive for this blog entry, and now here I sit. Laptop open, fingers paused mid-word, essentially useless.  Enemy mine, I confront you.  I even told myself and my co-blogger that sure, I wasn’t feeling too many warm and fuzzy things yet but if something didn’t come to mind, I would just have to create something positive to talk about. Admittedly, up to that point, I had been spending most of my free time wallowing in self pity. (Hey, that’s not a one-and-done kind of thing, you really have to set aside time to rumi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Four Things That Will Change the World

It turns out, much to our chagrin, that we are  "Kids these days"-years-old.  Yes, we have a lot of thoughts on what's wrong with the world, but instead of just griping about them to each other, this week we're happy to present our ideas on what we could all do to make the world better.  His Take:  Fixing the world seems hard, but I have it nailed down to just 4 easy steps. Why 4? 'Cause that’s the number that Sue told me I had. Challenge accepted!!  #1)Social Media Wipeout- Social Media is VERY useful. You can catch up with old friends or new friends, you can see what’s going on in their lives, you can check out movie or book reviews from people that aren’t “professional” reviewers. The possibilities are endless. The problem is..the possibilities are endless. For every person that says “Hey, that’s a great new car you got!” there’s one that says “I can’t believe you bought that piece of dogshit!”. Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning. I’m not ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Her Take, October 2020

Ok, here’s the deal: we started this blog because we like to write. No, wait, it’s more than that. we need to write. Not in a melodramatic-tortured-artist kind of way (I wish) but in a we-decided-that-we-both-needed-to-address-our-mental-health kind of way. It’s the challenge, the honesty, and the ability to say what we want to say when we want to say it that keeps bringing us back to write more. And when we walk away, in no small part because you come here and read it, we feel better. Healthier.  And we did a good job of it for a long time. Sure, one of us (Me) was constantly late with their blog and one of us (also me) will suggest a topic and then get mad and throw a fit about how stupid the topic is. Hey, we know that we (I) have our issues to work out. But it’s good, right? We write a thing, you read a thing and.. Hey, with all of the love in the world, we started writing before anyone was reading so I there’s a chance we’d keep going if you stopped.  Well, I thought so a...
Post a Comment
Read more