When Batman Was Gay

[meegbear]

Everyone is pretty whipped up about the release of The Dark Knight, which shattered Spiderman 3's record for largest first-weekend box-office draw over the weekend. Unlike Spiderman 3, The Dark Knight is actually a very entertaining film. Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise is darker, more serious, and, consequently more frightening. It also captures the psychological complexity of the titular character in a way that the more stylized vision of Tim Burton - not to mention the dreck produced by Joel Schumacher - never could.

Nolan's vision is inspired by the Golden Age Batman, who was a different breed altogether. Batman of the early 1940s, for example, shot people, tossed them off rooftops, and had few reservations about killing criminals. He menaced murderers, gangsters, and thugs, not overgrown graffiti artists. Early Gotham was a dark and scary place, the sort of place that might inspire people to, you know, dress up like a giant bat. So what happened? Why did the dark and menacing Batman of 1940s become the lame and tame Batman of the 1960s?

Much of it has to do with changing national mores and an evolving economic and social landscape. In this sense, Batman's story is a microcosm for what happened throughout the entire comic book industry during that period and, to a lesser extent, some of the changes that swept across the nation. One of the most important episodes in Batman's metamorphosis centered around the startling accusation that Batman and Robin were gay and might seed impressionable youths with homosexual fantasies. Silver Age Batman was indelibly shaped by the gendered expectations of the era and his failure to adhere to those expectations incited criticism, predictably, that called into question his sexual identity.

I always preferred Batman to Superman, largely because Batman, the central implausibility of his character aside, was psychologically interesting in a way that the bland Superman never was. Of course, my introduction to Batman was Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, a crucial revision of the Batman myth which imagined Batman as a psychologically scarred character inhabiting an increasingly savage world.

In contrast, most baby-boomers may be more likely to associate Batman with the campy, absurdist version of the late-1950s and 1960s best captured in the long-running television series. In the pages of Detective in that era, Batman traveled through time, verbally sparred with "Batmite", and foiled countless plots to deface many of Gotham City's iconic landmarks. In other words, Silver Age Batman was a glorified boyscout, patrolling against vandalism - just like Superman without the awesome powers.

Outing the Caped Crusader

The accusation that Batman was a homo, as strange as it might sound to our own ears, was taken quite seriously by government and public alike. It wasn't leveled by a marginal nut or crank, but by a world-renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Frederic Wertham.

<snip>

Click the link for the entire article. It discusses the comic book only but it covers how deep these thoughts and fears were, especially with the "comic books are corrupting the youth of America" meme of the 50s ... and some "interesting" images from the comic pages.

http://www.bilerico.com/2008/07/when_batman_was_gay.php

[kenny blankenship]

1. Gay? That's nutty - can't they see that Bruce and Dick have separate beds?

They need to be near each other, in case of emergency somewhere in the night.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. I have read some very interesting slash about Batman and Robin

From the Wikipedia

Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction, largely written by women, that focuses on the depiction of romantic (and often sexual) relationships between two or more male characters, who may not be engaged in relationships in the canon universe. While the term originally was restricted to stories in which one or more male media characters were involved in an explicit adult relationship as a primary plot element, it is currently more generally used to refer to any fan story containing a pairing between male characters. The term is also sometimes applied to fiction focusing on relationships between female characters; however, some fans distinguish femslash as a separate genre.

Batman is heterosexual in the same way that Rosie O`Donnell and Lance Bass were, for many years, heterosexual. That is to say, only straight in public.

[Chovexani]

8. ...

I so totally didn't go home and write Bruce/Harvey fic after I saw The Dark Knight.

I swear. :evilgrin:

[DarkTirade]

3. Just because something's camp doesn't mean it's gay.

And vice versa.

ALL comics back then went camp because the comic book code wouldn't allow them to deal with the any serious issues. So they all became silly fluff for a while.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

4. When did comics start challenging tradition again?

After the shift toward conservatism in the '50s, when did the pendulum shift back the other way again?

[davidinalameda]

6. during the late 60s

some titles started addressing real social issues

[galledgoblin]

5. I've always been a bit wary of the earlier Batman/Robin pairings

Dick Grayson was much too young, and it was a mentor/student pairing, which I'm always uncomfortable seeing people adding romance to.

now, LATER Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson stuff, that's interesting to read into. }(

http://www.gayleague.com/gay/characters/display.php?id=132
Apollo and Midnighter are based off Superman and Batman.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/
if you have livejournal and are at all interested in gays in comics, then I highly suggest joining scans_daily. the community is the most accepting one that's also related to comics that I know of. just be prepared to get addicted.

[romantico]

7. I want!

I want a copy of that comic book! Seriously, I just love that Jack Kirby homoerotic artwork!

[Chovexani]

9. I so can't let this thread go without linking to Superdickery, and this classic.

http://www.superdickery.com/