BATMAN 51
Batman’s creators waited until
his seventh appearance, in Detective
Comics #33 (1939), before depict-
ing his origin in a short, two-page
introductory tale. Bruce Wayne is
the only child of a wealthy family in
the fi ctional American metropolis
Gotham City. During his childhood,
his parents are killed in front of
him during a mugging. Th e trau-
matic event motivates the young
boy to train his body and mind
to perfection, so that as an adult
he can wage a war on crime. One
night, a bat fl ies through Wayne’s
library window, which he takes as
an omen. He designs a costume
evocative of a bat, and, as “the Bat-
Man,” as he was originally named,
he preys upon Gotham’s criminal
underworld using his physical and
mental talents, as well as an arsenal
of hi-tech gadgetry.
Although subsequent writers
would elaborate or modify this story,
the basic origin remains unchanged
and powerful. Important additions
to the story include the Wayne
family butler, Alfred Pennyworth, who raised the young Bruce Wayne and assists him in
his eff orts as Batman; the city’s police commissioner, James Gordon, who appeared in Bat-
man’s fi rst story, but whose partnership with Batman would be developed more fully by
later writers; and Robin, Batman’s young sidekick. A number of teen and pre-teen char-
acters have served as Robin, but the most famous is the original, Dick Grayson, a young
acrobat whose parents are killed similarly to Wayne’s. Seeing himself in the boy, Wayne
adopts Grayson as his ward, and trains him as his partner. Th e brightly-garbed and wise-
cracking Robin is a foil to the darker, brooding Batman, and remains a popular character
in his own right.
Th e tones and styles of Batman’s adventures have varied greatly throughout his
publication history. Early stories—written primarily by Finger, with art by Kane and
his assistant, Jerry Robinson—are exceedingly dark: grim tales of crime and corrup-
tion, with grotesque villains, set in a Gothic environment often reminiscent of German
Expressionism. After World War II and throughout the 1950s, the tone became
Batman , issue #160, published in December 1963. DC Comics/
Photofest
