The Dark Knight, the sequel to Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman mythos arrives in Philippine theaters later this week. But before its big opening on the 17th, let me share to you some little known trivia about Batman.
1. Almost a lot of people know that Bob Kane created the Caped Crusader. He made his comics debut on Detective Comics #27 on May 1939, with the story entitled The Case of the Chemical Syndicate. What most people don’t know is The Dark Knight’s co-creator was Bill Finger. Kane was the artist and Finger was the writer.
2. Among Kane and Finger’s inspirations for the very first Batman design were Da Vinci’s ornithoper (a primitive flying machine with bat-like wings), the main character in the movie The Bat Whispers (1930), Zorro from the movie The Mask of Zorro (1920) and several pulp fiction magazine characters (including The Phantom and The Shadow).
3. There are varied stories concerning that fateful night when his parents were murdered, due to a lot of writers consistently changing/messing up/updating Batman’s origins. The most common/simplest version is that when Bruce was eight years old, his parents took him to a screening of The Mark of Zorro at a cinema in Gotham's Park Row and were held up by a thief named Joe Chill on their way home (In the wake of this tragedy, Park Row was given the nickname Crime Alley). In Batman Begins, it was shown that the Waynes were leaving an opera house showing Mefistofele at the time of the murder.
4. Batman’s initial hometown was New York. Finger changed the name to Gotham City in 1941 because they wanted everybody in any city to identify with it.
5. Robin made his comic debut on Detective Comics #38 on April 1940.
6. The Joker and Catwoman were the first super villains to be. Both first appeared in Batman #1, in 1940. The inspiration for The Joker was a photograph of actor Conrad Veidt wearing make-up for the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928). Catwoman was initially only known as The Cat. Her first appearance donning her famous skintight purple costume was in July 1946.
7. Batman’s very first official (customized) Bat-vehicle was the Batgyro, modeled after Igor Sikorsky’s helicopter. Batman’s first sedan, not yet called the Batmobile, was colored scarlet. The first official Batmobile was introduced in Batman #5 in 1941. The very famous 1966 television Batmobile was designed by George Barris from a Lincoln Futura concept car.
8. Though Batman doesn’t have any known superpowers, he makes it up by having the famous utility belt, having a large arsenal of specialized gadgets in his war against crime. His first bat-themed gadget was the batarang, his version of the boomerang.
9. During the 50’s, there has been some controversy over various sexual interpretations made between Bruce Wayne/Batman’s and Dick Grayson/Robin’s relationship. This accusation, together with comics’ depiction of violence, sex, drug use was brought up by Dr. Frederic Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. Subsequent to the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, the Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their titles.
10. Yes, Batman does have a true love. She is Catwoman, Selina Kyle. They have a daughter named Helena (Kyle), also known as The Huntress. Batman also is said to have a son, Damien, with Talia al Ghul (Ra’s al Ghul's daughter).
11. The Batusi was 60s style go-go dance invented for the Batman television series, This dance is performed by making a horizontal V-sign with one's index and middle fingers of both hands, and drawing them across in front of the eyes, one hand at a time, with the eyes roughly between the fingers. This is performed in time with the music, and is improved upon by continuing to dance with the lower half of the body, simultaneously. John Travolta and Uma Thurman’s dance routine in Pulp Fiction (1994) was based on this dance.
With these, I hope you’re ready to watch The Dark Knight. As an avid Batman fan, my fearless prediction is that this latest Batman movie will outdo Batman Begins. I tell ‘ya, Bruce Wayne and company will certainly kick ass in the box office. :)
1. Almost a lot of people know that Bob Kane created the Caped Crusader. He made his comics debut on Detective Comics #27 on May 1939, with the story entitled The Case of the Chemical Syndicate. What most people don’t know is The Dark Knight’s co-creator was Bill Finger. Kane was the artist and Finger was the writer.
2. Among Kane and Finger’s inspirations for the very first Batman design were Da Vinci’s ornithoper (a primitive flying machine with bat-like wings), the main character in the movie The Bat Whispers (1930), Zorro from the movie The Mask of Zorro (1920) and several pulp fiction magazine characters (including The Phantom and The Shadow).
3. There are varied stories concerning that fateful night when his parents were murdered, due to a lot of writers consistently changing/messing up/updating Batman’s origins. The most common/simplest version is that when Bruce was eight years old, his parents took him to a screening of The Mark of Zorro at a cinema in Gotham's Park Row and were held up by a thief named Joe Chill on their way home (In the wake of this tragedy, Park Row was given the nickname Crime Alley). In Batman Begins, it was shown that the Waynes were leaving an opera house showing Mefistofele at the time of the murder.
4. Batman’s initial hometown was New York. Finger changed the name to Gotham City in 1941 because they wanted everybody in any city to identify with it.
5. Robin made his comic debut on Detective Comics #38 on April 1940.
6. The Joker and Catwoman were the first super villains to be. Both first appeared in Batman #1, in 1940. The inspiration for The Joker was a photograph of actor Conrad Veidt wearing make-up for the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928). Catwoman was initially only known as The Cat. Her first appearance donning her famous skintight purple costume was in July 1946.
7. Batman’s very first official (customized) Bat-vehicle was the Batgyro, modeled after Igor Sikorsky’s helicopter. Batman’s first sedan, not yet called the Batmobile, was colored scarlet. The first official Batmobile was introduced in Batman #5 in 1941. The very famous 1966 television Batmobile was designed by George Barris from a Lincoln Futura concept car.
8. Though Batman doesn’t have any known superpowers, he makes it up by having the famous utility belt, having a large arsenal of specialized gadgets in his war against crime. His first bat-themed gadget was the batarang, his version of the boomerang.
9. During the 50’s, there has been some controversy over various sexual interpretations made between Bruce Wayne/Batman’s and Dick Grayson/Robin’s relationship. This accusation, together with comics’ depiction of violence, sex, drug use was brought up by Dr. Frederic Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. Subsequent to the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, the Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their titles.
10. Yes, Batman does have a true love. She is Catwoman, Selina Kyle. They have a daughter named Helena (Kyle), also known as The Huntress. Batman also is said to have a son, Damien, with Talia al Ghul (Ra’s al Ghul's daughter).
11. The Batusi was 60s style go-go dance invented for the Batman television series, This dance is performed by making a horizontal V-sign with one's index and middle fingers of both hands, and drawing them across in front of the eyes, one hand at a time, with the eyes roughly between the fingers. This is performed in time with the music, and is improved upon by continuing to dance with the lower half of the body, simultaneously. John Travolta and Uma Thurman’s dance routine in Pulp Fiction (1994) was based on this dance.
With these, I hope you’re ready to watch The Dark Knight. As an avid Batman fan, my fearless prediction is that this latest Batman movie will outdo Batman Begins. I tell ‘ya, Bruce Wayne and company will certainly kick ass in the box office. :)
Sources
Batman - The Complete History by Les Daniels
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.imdb.com
For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com
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