Weekly Question 06/25/14 #LBHQuery
This week’s question involves possibly the most popular comic book character, the most recognizable of them all: BATMAN!
Batman has been around for 75 years (big celebration coming from DC Comics next month) and outside of some film serials from the 40’s, for the longest time, the above visage of Adam West as the Caped Crusader was all most people knew of Batman.
All that changed this week 25 years ago.
Perhaps inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the first outside of comics media appearance of Batman starred Michael Keaton as the aforementioned Dark Knight and the scene stealing performance by Jack Nicholson as the Joker.
From there, the blitz began. Batman was EVERYWHERE! Toys, cups, shirts, even haircuts and the roll has not stopped since.
Batman has gone onto star in multiple movies and animated series as well. Some would argue that Batman’s appearances in the recent “Arkham” video games is his most successful and popular portrayal.
But our question to you, gentle listener/reader, is OUTSIDE of comics, what is your favorite take on Batman in popular media?
Just tweet us with your answer using the hash tag #LBHQuery. Don’t like or have Twitter? Need more room to explain your choice? Just leave a comment on this post!
We’ll compile up all the answers and talk about them on next week’s show!
I’m gonna go with some Batman novels. Joe R. Lansdale wrote a weird Batman novel that I enjoyed, called CAPTURED BY THE ENGINES. I also enjoyed Andrew Vachss’ Batman novel, BATMAN: THE ULTIMATE EVIL, which is a dark and gritty Batman tale dealing with human trafficking and child slavery. Greg Rucka’s Batman novel BATMAN: NO MAN’S LAND is really good and deals with that earthquake that hit Gotham in the ’90s, and what happens when the Bat isn’t around to pick all the pieces.
The only acceptable answer is the DCAU Batman, right?
It’s certainly the front runner. Someone over on TWITTAH picked the right one. MAYBE…
Lewis Wilson in the 1943 Batman serial. He really captures the spirit of the early Batman comics.
I have to go with the Dark Knight movie from 2008. Christian Bale was good but Heath Ledger brought out the best performance by far in all the series. It was dark, disturbing, and mass chaos
BTAS