Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is my look back at how I became a Batman fan.
I was six years old when the Batman TV show debuted in 1966. I never grew out of Batmania, and I'm confident that I never will. I still buy the comic books (Batman, Detective Comics, and Batman The Adventures Continue), and I'm looking forward to seeing Robert Pattinson star in The Batman in 2022. I remain a fan. I will always be a fan.
Although that fandom began with the campy television series, it expanded considerably in the early '70s, when DC Comics tried to distance the character from the BIFF! BAM! POW! intentional absurdity of the TV show, and to reestablish The Batman's noirish Dark Knight image from the late '30s and early '40s. I wrote about that dichotomy in a piece called "My Two Batmen," and celebrated both sides in my obituaries for actor Adam West and writer Dennis O'Neil.
I really wanted to write Batman comic books. My horrifyingly inept teen attempts to accomplish that were part of my many failed DC Comics submissions. Even in college, I still had an unrealized ambition to write Batman, as detailed in two entries from the writing journal I kept for my science-fiction and fantasy class in 1979 (Batman Part 1 and Batman Part 2). As my writing improved--and I swear, it did improve, honest!--I wrote what I think is a pretty decent Batman fanfic short story called "The Undersea World Of Mr. Freeze." That story also featured Aquaman, and I started writing a sequel, "Paradise Does Not Believe In Tears," which would have guest-starred Wonder Woman if I hadn't stopped writing before I got to her. Even though I didn't keep writing it, I sketched out how those could have been the first two chapters in a twelve-part serial, a plan discussed in two blog pieces, here and then here.
When Adam West passed away in 2017, I wrote about his impact. It's worth repeating here:
TV heroes aren't real; we all know this. The fantastic champions we see on the tube, as well as in the movies, and in the pages of comic books and pulp novels alike, are mere flights of fancy, flickers of imagination, capable of diversion and amusement, but no more bona fide a savior than the Tooth Fairy or the Great Pumpkin. Parents and teachers are real heroes. The men and women of our armed forces, law enforcement, emergency service providers, friends and neighbors and even total strangers who lend a helping hand in a time of need...those are heroes, all of 'em.
The above is true. And it misses the point.
Because the dreams we dream--the legends we cherish, the folklore we hold dear--help to define the best within us. If we can conjure visions of heroism in our minds--if we believe in ideals--we can aspire to be better. Whether a cartoon crusader to amuse children or an archetype to thrill the inner child within an adult form, our heroes inspire us. Our heroes matter.
Adam West was an actor who played a comic book hero on TV and in a movie, who voiced him in cartoons, and appeared as him in person at car shows and conventions. The character he played was my hero; for playing Batman, West was my hero, too. Still. Always. The Batman series led me to superheroes, and to comic books; exposure to Superman and Flash Gordon predated my discovery of Batman on ABC-TV in 1966, but it was the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin that transformed hero worship into a prevailing passion. I would never have wanted to write if not for the spark that Batman ignited within my young soul. If not for Batman, my life would be completely different--and poorer, I think. I am so grateful for all that Batman has meant to me.
The character of Batman predates West's portrayal, of course; Batman debuted in 1939, the creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Batman was played by actors Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery in 1940s movie serials (and on radio by Gary Merrill), and the role has been taken over by many others since West retired his cape and cowl. The comics have never stopped, published continuously for more than 75 years, reflecting varying interpretations of a durable character. The campy crusader played by West fell into disfavor, but was eventually rediscovered and embraced.
West struggled with the typecasting caused by his most famous role. He was a talented and amiable personality, but his career suffered from his success as Batman. I'm happy that he seemed to have come to terms with it in later years. Because the role that cast such a large bat-shaped shadow across his life also made him immortal, in ways few of us will ever be able to fully understand. He wasn't really Batman. Except that he was. And he was my hero. Thank you so much, Mr. West. This citizen salutes you.
The salute is ongoing, the gratitude unending. The not-so-secret origin of my life as a Batfan is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
No comments:
Post a Comment