It was a dark, Dark Knight...

With All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween as it is more commonly known, just around the corner it's time for my own spooky themed post of the year, methinks.  This time I'm going to take a slightly different but hopefully no less spooky tack, doing my first Pinterest-inspired post in honour of my one of my favourite pop culture characters - the (sometimes) dark, Gothic, unnatural, eerie and mysterious superhero that is:

Batman, as well as having that frightening other-worldly mysteriousness about him as already mentioned, is also deeply influenced by Gothicism.  Which is probably one of the reasons he is my favourite superhero; who doesn't like a bit of Gothic symbolism in their fictional crimefighter?  I happen to like bats too (excepting the time one nearly flew into my face while I was walking down a dark Devon lane) and what is Batman other than a man dressed as a bat?  And bats are a Halloween staple!

I think another reason I'm drawn towards Batman is that mysticism surrounding the character.  He fights crime from the shadows; no-one know who he is or whether he's even human and he uses fear and surprise to overpower his enemies.  It's still good versus evil, but the contrast isn't as great (and in the case of the Joker, it could easily said to be in reverse).  That's also why Batman and Batman Begins remain my two favourite Batman films, with the superstitious and eidolic aspect being played up to great effect.  Probably a great many other Batman fans feel the same way and it is undoubtedly these characteristics, this flip-side of a traditional superhero, that has allowed Batman to endure for 75 years and remain an incredibly successful cultural icon.

The history of those 75 years is fascinating as well, with the character's origins from the 1930s and '40s (and earlier) just adding more to his appeal.

Created by the comic-book artist and writer duo of Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939 Batman's first appearance in the May 1939 Detective Comics #27 is only eleven months after Superman's debut in rival Action Comics #1 (it was the success of the latter that spurred DC on to create a superhero of their own).  The idea of the superhero had gained currency in the 1930s and Batman was clearly influenced by the first, earlier prototypes of The Shadow and The Phantom.  Going even further back, Zorro has been cited as an influence, something writers worked into Batman's origin story (it was the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks Sr. The Mark Of Zorro that the Wayne family saw before the parents were murdered outside the theatre).  Bob Kane also took themes from popular culture of his youth - films like 1926's The Bat (and the 1930 remake/sequel The Bat Whispers) and Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine in 1928's The Man Who Laughs.  (As a result of this there are some excellent vintage Batman parodies to be found on YouTube...)

In the 1940s Batman, like so many action heroes of the time, featured in a couple of movie serials - Batman in 1943 and Batman and Robin in 1949.  They're standard 1940s serial fare, very much of their time (especially the 1943 one, which features some very dubious propaganda) with pretty suspect costumes, sets etc.  I won't add them here, but they can be found easily enough on YouTube - here and here.  Again they have both inspired some excellent alternative thinking on the part of some YouTube users.

Glossing over the Sixties television series and film, which are good silly fun and set the tone for the next two decades but not the sort of Batman to feature here we arrive instead at the Tim Burton Batman films and DC Comics' attempts in the mid-1980s to return to a darker characterisation with graphic novels such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  The films Batman and Batman Returns featured this dark re-imagining to great success (and Michael Keaton remains, on balance, my favourite Batman/Bruce Wayne) but then Joel Schumacher took over - and the less said about that the better!

In the early 1990s, following the success of the first two modern Batman films, the cartoon Batman: The Animated Series appeared and this brings back many a happy memory of Saturday morning television, as well as furthering my interest in the character (the "Dark Deco" style in that series also helped!).  Then of course more life has been breathed into the character in recent years thanks to the "Nolan Trilogy" of films which culminated in last year's critically and commercially successful The Dark Knight Rises.  Thanks to these Batman's stock has never been higher - he still appears in DC Comics today, in numerous award-winning video games and fashioned onto (or into) almost anything you care to name. 

The Batman's next 75 years would seem to be assured, then, although rumblings continue over the decision to cast Ben Affleck in the role for the upcoming 2015 extravaganza that will be Batman vs. Superman.   However that turns out I'm sure the Batman will endure, continuing his adventures and forever striking a fearful and unnatural shadow over the cowardly and superstitious criminal.

*Below are the two "vintage Batman" videos mentioned earlier.  Who was your favourite Batman/Bruce Wayne?  Is Ben Affleck a good choice to play the next Caped Crusader?  Do let me know in the Comments section - and have a happy Halloween!

Phantom comics reissue keeps early masked hero alive

Phantom comics reissue keeps early masked hero alive

Some welcome recognition now for one of the earliest comic-book superheroes, as discussed in this short B.B.C. interview from a few weeks ago.

As explained Lee Falk's The Phantom, along with Walter B. Gibson's The Shadow, was among the first of the masked crime fighters to appear in comics and newspaper strips of the 1930s.  Predating Batman and Superman by several years, The Phantom in particular set the superhero standard in a number of areas.  He was the first to wear a coloured, skin-tight costume and the first to be illustrated with a mask showing only white eyes, for example.  Similar to the Batman character, introduced 3 years later, The Phantom also had no special powers and relied purely on fear and physical strength.  Their back stories also shared some similarities, with the loss of parents being the common motivating factor.

source

The 1930s was in fact the decade to which the concept of the superhero as we know him today owes its genesis.  In the dark days of the Great Depression - and particularly in America where gang crime was prevalent - the idea of empowered, costumed champions of honesty and bravery easily captured the public's imagination, aided in no small part by the incredible popularity of newspapers, radio and the cinema.  On the outbreak of the Second World War these characters' stories were frequently and unsurprisingly written with an obvious propagandist bent as the likes of Batman, Superman and The Phantom fought Nazis and Japanese villains rather than criminal gangs, if anything further cementing their place in popular culture.

While Batman and Superman have endured in the public consciousness for the last 70 years, the fortunes of trailblazers like The Phantom and The Shadow have waxed and waned in that time.  Although The Phantom comic strip has the remarkable distinction of having been in print continuously since 1936 (with Lee Falk himself still wielding the pencil right up until his death in 1999), the character's transition to other media has been less successful (for a start - and I can scarcely believe this myself - it was never serialised on the radio as The Shadow was!).  Here we take a look at some of the better-known screen adaptations of The Phantom:   



The Phantom first appeared on the big screen a mere seven years after his creation in one of Columbia Pictures' popular 15-part serials.  It proved quite a success and very nearly spawned a sequel in 1955 before copyright issues scuppered any further possibility of another serial.



Perhaps the best-known recent adaptation of The Phantom is the 1996 feature film starring Billy Zane in the lead role.  One of a triumvirate of pulp hero-based films released in the early- to mid-Nineties, along with Rocketeer (1991) and Alec Baldwin's turn as The Shadow in 1994 (all of which grace my DVD collection!), The Phantom - like the others before it - did not perform satisfactorily at the box office and for a while marked the end of major studios' interest in these early pulp characters.  It did, however, help Billy Zane land his role in the following year's blockbuster, Titanic.  And if you liked him in that, ladies, let me remind you than he worked out especially for his role as The Phantom (one that he went on record later as ranking among his favourites) and for much of the film wears the aforementioned skin-tight suit(!).  Even disregarding that fact I highly recommend it as a bit of fun, period escapism.

Like me some of you may also remember from the early 1990s the popular cartoon Phantom 2040, which successfully updated The Phantom character to the 21st century.  In 2008 a 3-hour, two-part live action television series called The Phantom was shown on the Syfy Channel, again bringing the character into the modern era.  Around the same time a new film was announced and is rumoured to still be on track.  The Phantom: Legacy will once again feature a present-day iteration of the character with various updates, so it will not hold as much interest for the likes of you and me as the period-set 1996 version,  but it promises to follow the same template as the recent Batman films which will probably translate into critical and commercial success.

So although The Phantom may not be quite as well-known as Batman or Superman the fact that the comic strip featuring his adventures continues to be published after nearly 80 years, with a number of adaptations to show for it as well, proves that this enduring character still has plenty of pull.  What with that and the news last year that new stories featuring the Rocketeer and The Shadow have been penned, perhaps a renaissance for these other early pulp heroes is simply a matter of time.

Old-time radio and comics heroes burst back onto the scene

The Shadow Exclusive Preview

Old-time radio and comics heroes burst back onto the scene

Last year I blogged about one of my favourite pulp-fiction heroes, the Rocketeer, and the news that a new series of comics featuring the character had been commissioned.  At the time I was delighted to hear of the new Rocketeer adventures and now it looks as though some more pulp heroes from the golden age of radio and comic-strips are about to get a new lease of life.



An unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce a few of the more famous pulp crimefighters resulted in a series of live-action films being made in the early 1990s, beginning with the Rocketeer in 1991 through The Shadow (starring Alec Baldwin) in 1994 and ending with The Phantom (Billy Zane) in 1996.  All part of my DVD collection, of course!  Alas cinema audiences at the time were just not in the mood for these classic characters, the films performed poorly at the box office and pulp's breakthrough into the mainstream proved abortive.  I've always said they were simply made 20 years too soon(!).

Now, as the accompanying article touches upon, the early radio and comic-strip characters are proving to be more popular again as the fashion for all things vintage continues and public affinity with the tough times of the 1930s grows.  The new Shadow strips aim to take advantage of this renewed interest and hopefully introduce a new generation to the thrills of these early superheroes.

There are some interesting thoughts and ideas put forward by the interviewees in the piece and those held by the writers and artists involved in reviving these well-known characters, as well as the new strip itself, shows that there is a very good chance of fresh success for The Shadow at least, and maybe others too.  Director of the first three Spider-Man films, Sam Raimi, has long been a fan of The Shadow and is rumoured to be working on a new Shadow film having been trying to obtain the rights to the character since the late Eighties (which resulted in him making the 1990 film Darkman, starring Liam Neeson).  The Shadow given the Spider-Man treatment?  Sounds good to me!

Last year's The Green Hornet film, while not a period film and critically unsuccessful, at least shows that Hollywood hasn't lost its appetite for classic pulp fiction.  Next year's The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp has, going by available details, received mixed reactions so far but may be one to watch (although I've never really considered The Lone Ranger as a pulp character).  The Phantom continues to appear as a comic strip, was recently adapted for television and is also mooted for a film "reboot".  Likewise a new Doc Savage picture is said to be in the pipeline too.  While only some of these have or will remain rooted in their original time periods they should all remain true to their roots and will hopefully continue the revitalisation of these classic characters.

In the meantime, this all-new Shadow comic-strip looks like a promising start.  Fans of "old-time" radio serials like those of The Shadow, Flash Gordon and the like can also listen and download a wide selection of original broadcasts from this splendid website. 

Jetman performs new aerial stunt

Jetman performs new aerial stunt

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, aka Jetman, has once again caught my attention with the testing of a refined version of his jet-pack wing. I admire M. Rossy immensely, for having the ability to create such a fantastic device (particularly so considering previous attempts at jet-packs, which barely get the user off the ground) and the skill and nerve to fly the thing at all. In these times of health and safety and reams of paperwork M. Rossy and his invention are something to marvel at in much the same way as people followed the exploits of Lindbergh, Earhart and Johnson in the '20s and '30s, I'd like to think. Long may he continue to thrill us aeronautical-minded chaps with his jet-pack designs.

To add a bit of a vintage theme to this post I'm going to use this story as an opportunity to include some clips of my other favourite "rocketmen" (albeit fictional, alas!) from down the years. I should warn you that these are classic examples of or homages to dodgy mid-fifties B-movies so if that's not your kind of thing best stop reading now!

To start us off is the 1949 Republic serial King Of The Rocketmen which introduces us to the idea of a jetpack-powered flying man in the character of Jeff King. Our hero is a scientist who, with the help of a colleague, uses an "atomic powered rocket flying suit" and sundry other inventions to battle the evil Dr Vulcan:


Three years later and Jeff "Rocketman" King has given way to Commando Cody (still, however, in the same Rocketman suit) whose first appearance was in the 12-part serial Radar Men From The Moon. In this series, the first part of which you can see below, our intrepid flying man foils evil moon ruler Retik's plan to invade the Earth!


Then, in the same year, came the brilliantly-titled Zombies Of The Stratosphere (perhaps nowadays best known for being the first film of Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy) and another change of name - now the Rocketman is Larry Martin, but who in every other respect is exactly the same as Commando Cody. This time Earth is menaced by malevolent Martians, whose devious plan is to set off an H-bomb to blow the Earth out of its orbit and put their planet in its place!


Next, and somewhat confusingly, comes the 1953 serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe which is a prequel to Radar Men From The Moon and reintroduces the character of Commando Cody. Unlike the previous Rocketman adventures each episode was an individual story in itself (although there was still a chronological order to them), as the villainous alien The Ruler attempts to take over the Earth. I can't find a clip or trailer for this one so instead I'll include this hilarious over-dub, Commando Cody and the Hatless Planet, which affectionately yet effectively sends up the series and '50 B-movies in general using clips from the serials:


For the next 30 years fictional Rocketmen became rather thin on the ground but then in 1982 the late Dave Stevens, illustrator and comics artist, came up with the character of The Rocketeer in homage to the Rocketman/Commando Cody serials and other sci-fi/fantasy films of the '30s. Rocketeer stories appeared sporadically between 1982 and 1995 and are now collated in the recently launched The Rocketeer: The Complete Collection graphic novel. However the high point came in 1991 when Disney released the film The Rocketeer:


This is by far and away one of my favourite films ever, although sadly it didn't perform well at the box office (it was unfortunately released at the same time as some piece of nonsense called Terminator 2) and the subsequent planned sequel was cancelled. I'm pleased to see that it is on Youtube in 11 parts and it is also readily available on DVD (which of course I have). Perhaps the 1990s was the wrong time for a '30s-style adventure film but now what with the sudden explosion of interest in vintage and M. Rossy's jet pack flights, perhaps we will see a Rocketman on our screens again soon...