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Grey, Blue, and Yellow at the Center of a Bloody Universe
By DoctorDown
Batman is a character known worldwide. His iconic chevron of a black bat
silhouette against an oval of yellow can be seen on t-shirts and lunchboxes all over
the world. For the past 70+ years, The Caped Crusader has risen to high fame
fighting his rogues gallery of nemeses page after page, cover to cover. It is these
villains of his, this colorful band of conniving killers, which truly make Batmans
panels shine. It is not just their colorful schemes and quirked personality traits, but
their commonalities to our hero, that keep us intrigued. Bend Batman just one
fraction of a degree, and you will see the mirror image of those whom he fights.
As with any long running series, things change drastically over time.
Characters, writers, artists, histories; everything is modified, altered, and rewritten
by the pen that draws that issues lines. The Batman series is no stranger to this. All
things, even down to the very nature and personality of the protagonist, have ridden
a full spectrum of difference.
At his inception in 1939 (Detective Comics #27), Batman was based of the
serial, noir pulp fictions of the time, creating a Bogart double with a mask and a
utility belt. He solved crime and savagely beat, maimed, and killed criminals in the
name of justice with little remorse. It wasnt a SAWfilm, but it certainly wasnt
Superman either. Batman was a hero penned in the vein of pulp characters like Doc
Savage and The Shadow.
By the time Batman received his own series outside ofDetective Comics, his
persona had changed. He had gained his kid sidekick, Robin, and had vowed not to
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kill or use a gun. By the end of WWII, Batman had adopted a postwar editorial
direction that increasingly de-emphasized social commentary in favor of
lighthearted juvenile fantasy. (Wright, p. 59) This was the beginning of an era that
would last into the 70s, ending with the fall of the Batman television show staring
Adam West.
In the 70s and early 80s, many changes were made in an attempt to bring
The Dark Knight back to his pulp roots. His costume had desaturated in color, he
gained the dim, yellow oval behind his bat silhouette chevron, and his cases left the
odd and strayed back to the path of detective stories. Still, the Batman series was
failing, and would continue to do so until Frank Miller created the five-month series
The Dark Knight Returns in 1986. It was in this year that long time series writer
Dennis ONeil was promoted to the position of editor for the Batman comics.
With the release ofThe Dark Knight Returns and Dennis ONeil in charge,
Batman was revived. Within the next two years, most of the Batman series staples
would be printed, of which include Year One, The Killing Joke, and the death of the
2nd Robin character inA Death in the Family. This established a grittier Batman that
would be pushed, not just physically, but psychologically, to the very brink of his
being. It stirred audiences, created some of the most acclaimed pieces in superhero
comic literature, and established the Batman of modern day.
Since its revival, Batman has encountered far more mental traumas than
ever before that. Pre-Miller, Batmans greatest worries were mainly physical ones.
Often times, it was simply a matter of escaping a trap or restraints and knocking out
the outlandishly costumed villain with a well placed POW or WAM. If anything,
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the television show of the late 60s is the epitome of that. A bright color palette with
comically sized bombs, moneybags with dollar signs on them, and a ridiculous catch
phrase formula of Holy [current conversation subject]!, was the pathway to a low-
grade version of a highly touted detective. The Batman and his medley of
adversaries were one-dimensional; shallow shadows of some of the rich histories
given since.
Between the late 80s pieces and the highly acclaimed, award winning, 1990s
cartoon series, Batman: The Animated Series, the Batman Universe gained the level
of depth it had been lacking for so long. Characters like Harley Quinn, the Jokers
answer to Robin, were created, and early villains such as Mr. Freeze donned new
looks, backgrounds, and personas. This gave a soul to the series and The Caped
Crusader as well.
With that soul, came enough psychological disorders to make Freud blush.
The Batman series has received attention and analytical study from a mass of
professionals with expensive degrees and long-winded doctorates, at the very least
because every villain ends up in a mental ward instead of a prison. Batman has
become as much about psychology at it started about sleuthing. With Superman, his
strength, wit, and versatility will win the day, but with Batman, its something
different. With Batman, a reader isnt there to watch the radiation infused boxing
match, they are there to witness the Worlds Greatest Detective beat the foe with
his mind.
So what is it that gives Batman that depth? How is it that when a villain such
as the Joker or Catwoman approaches the panel, greater adrenaline is pumped than
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when Lex Luthor or Sinestro do? Its because Batmans villains play on a different
level of psyche than kill with robotsor smash with magic hammer. The foes of
the Batman series rattle Batman (and the reader) because they are a version of
Batman. In almost every major villain Batman has, there is a piece of him. They are
mirror shards of himself, and they would show themselves if Batman were ever to
waver in his self-discipline only to a degree or two.
Bruce Wayne grew up wealthy. Born into a family of great fortune to begin
with, his father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, was an extremely gifted surgeon who
embedded positive moral values within his son through philanthropic deeds. If he
were to have grown up with out the trauma of his parent drying tragically, perhaps
Bruce would have continued along that path more confidently, but the trauma did
occur. It could easily have been that after playing witness to his parents murder,
Bruce Waynes emotions could have gotten the better of him. With a great deal of
monetary fortune, he could have easily spent his days as his playboy bachelor faade
would suggest. The Penguin is this shard of the mirror.
The Penguin, born Oswald Cobblepot, is a villain based off of a nefarious
aristocrat archetype. His signature appearance is usually a tuxedo, complete with a
top hat, monocle, umbrella, and often a cigarette or cigar in his mouth. He sees
himself as of the highest class and a superior in the human race. In ironic fashion, he
is often deformed, or depicted with ugly and stout features, at the very least. He is
short, fat to the point of round, bald or balding, and has a nose that sticks out a great
length (all the better to stick up, I assume). In Tim Burtons BatmanReturns (1992),
his deformity goes as far as to give him flippers for hands.
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He is a view of what Bruce could have been. As a young man, Bruce had a
great amount of money and a emotional burden to throw money at. He may not
have had any deformities, but the wealth could have made Bruce ugly, it could have
turned him into a high aristocrat that would have given Cobblepot a run for his
money (pun intended).
However, the Penguin, though one of the first, is not a very large Batman
nemesis. His actions have led to murder, but it more often than not leads to crimes
ranking in theft. In current chronology, he even assists Batman with underground
information and runs a shady club more or less for the criminal world. As well as all
that, he is probably the sanest of all Batmans foes. He may be deformed and suffer
from severe megalomania, but he is in complete control and exerts a modicum of
ration behavior unseen in most other villains.
Carl Jung coined the phrase The Shadow Aspect or Shadow Self. He
describes it as thus (Jung, Psychology):
We carry our past with us, to wit, the primitive and inferior man with his desires
and emotions, and it is only with an enormous effort that we can detach ourselves
from this burden. If it comes to a neurosis, we invariably have to deal with a
considerably intensified shadow. And if such a person wants to be cured it is
necessary to find a way in which his conscious personality and his shadow can live
together.
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If anything, Bruce Wayne has taken his shadow self, the primitive response
to his desires and emotion, and has created Batman. He has found his cure
through living with it; creating a purpose and a way to enact that purpose. This
alter ego, this twin, this double, is Bruce Waynes way of dealing with the trauma of
his parent being murdered right in front of him. Batman is a physical manifestation
of this shadow self, and just as Bruce has done, so has Harvey (Smith, Batman).
Two-Face could be described as having a dissociative disorder; a person who
literally is giving you two personalities. When someone begins to truly develop an
alternative identity, or a true alter ego, we move from what may be the normal to
something much darker; much more pathological. In fact, ultimately, quite
psychotic.
This is Dr. Robert T.M. Philips, a forensic consultant, discussing the
definitional sanity of the Batman villain known as Two-Face, a man who is literally
two different entities split down the center of his body. Based upon Year One, The
Long Halloween, and a few other pieces, he started out as Assistant District Attorney
Harvey Dent. He, Commissioner Gordon (Captain at the time), and Batman formed
an alliance to bring down Gotham Citys crime. While prosecuting a criminal in
court, Harvey is attacked by said criminal with acid, scarring his face permanently.
This trauma is what creates Two-Face, a crime lord who decides his decisions based
upon the flip of a scarred coin he received from his abusive father.
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The quote from Dr. Philips above describes Harvey Dent/Two-Face to the
T. He is a split (literally) personality with an alternative identity which is a
darker, psychotic being. Though he is primarily Two-Face, Harvey has been known
to emerge as well. Alternatively, Harvey can be seen battling himself as Two-Face
over various problems in multiple runs of the series. He is a character at ends with
his mental being, and because of the severe trauma that is beyond comprehension,
he has created a second half of himself to fall into.
Take one more look at the quote from Dr. Philips on more time. Please,
remove Two-Face and replace it with Bruce Wayne. They are interchangeable.
In order to deal with severe trauma, Bruce Wayne created Batman. Batman is his
alter ego. The question of Which is the true identity? could be easily brought up.
Bruce Wayne anxiously awaits being Batman. It could be said that Bruce Wayne
was lost as a child the night his parents were shot, and that he has been building
Batman ever since. In issue #33 ofDetective Comics, the origin of Batman is first
revealed and as a child, Bruce Wayne steps up to his parents graves and proclaims
by the spirits of my parents [I will] avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my
life warring on all criminals. Without it even having a name, Bruce Wayne had
birthed The Batman.
How close is Batman to Two-Face then? In very obvious terms, Batman
fights criminals, and Two-Face is a criminal. But, Batman is on the edge; he is
teetering. At a time of incredible stress or further trauma, could he become a Two-
Face of Batman?
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In the recent series Batman R.I.P, Bruce Waynes mind is crushed by the
weight that his father may still possibly be alive and running an advanced criminal
organization. He is attacked by the organization and buried alive in a coffin. He
finally makes his way out, but not as Bruce Wayne, as Batman. He has lost all of his
memories as Bruce Wayne, leaving him without an identity. All he knows is his
training as Batman.
One of DC Comics current co-Publishers, Dan Di Dio, has said, The reality is
that the Batman persona is the true persona, in our opinion [] Bruce Wayne is the
mask. Does that make it true? Has Bruce Wayne been swallowed whole by his
alter-ego, leaving only a mask? Rabbi Cary A. Friedman, author of a book of life
philosophy from Batman comics called Wisdom from the Batcave, has a retort to Dan
Di Dio (Smith, Batman):
Which is the real identity? Is it Bruce, or is it Batman? And I think the really
cool answer would be to say Oh, its Batman!, but I think that misses the point.
What defines the character is the essential humanity that Bruce Wayne possesses.
Possessing this humanity is what separates Bruce Wayne from Two-Face.
Whereas Two-Face has discarded his Harvey Dent humanity for the remorseless
murderer, Bruce Wayne has drawn the hard line and separated his two states of
being. He cant help but stay Bruce Wayne because even though Batman may be the
avenger of his parents, Bruce is still the one who lost them. Bruce Wayne is whom
Batman wants to retire and be. He is the one who asks advice from Alfred and
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allows another Robin into his family. In Alan Moores Batman one-shot, The Killing
Joke, Barbara Gordon (the then-current Batgirl) is shot and paralyzed from the waist
down by the Joker. Batman goes to the hospital to see her, but when he calls out to
her, he does not tell her its Batman, he whispers paternally, Barbara, can you hear
me? Its me. Its Bruce.
Batmans gallery of rogues is extensive. Throughout the chronicles of the
worlds greatest detective and his stories, villains have been weaved in and out
drastically. Mr. Freeze was originally a nothing more than a mad scientist who
received his Ph. D. in freeze rays from Oxford, but when Batman: The Animated
Series aired, he was changed. His back-story earned the show an Emmy. It is one of
a man, Dr. Victor Fries, sent over the edge by love and heartbreak. He froze his
dying wife to save her, but accidentally shattered her in the process and grew insane
because of it. His objective thereafter was to kill everyone he considered to be the
cause, and wouldnt you know it, the project was funded by Wayne enterprises.
The similarities are extreme in this case: both Bruce and Victor have lost love
ones and have sent themselves on a mission to take down the evil they believe
caused it with their alter egos. It rings the bell harder when you consider what
Jeffery Lieberman M.D. says concerning child Bruce Waynes guilt over his parents
(Smith, Batman): Kids, even if they arent directly responsible for the event,
generally personalize and take responsibility for the event. Both Bruce and Victor,
in their minds at the very least, believe they are responsible for the deaths of the
loved ones.
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Catwoman is another example. The difficult home life under a suicidal
mother and an alcoholic father who hates that she reminds him of his wife leads to
Selina Kyles running away. She gets caught up with prostitution and thievery, but
once the thievery becomes more lucrative, she turns into a slightly Robin Hood-
esque figure. Having murdered and being a thief in general, shes willing to cross
lines that Batman will not, yet Batman rarely treats her as a villain. He sees himself
in her. How similar they are is what leads to their emotional and sexual
entanglements.
As previously mentioned, Batmans list of adversaries runs quite long.
However, there is one figure that goes beyond what all of the others can achieve or
fathom. A figure that is pure demon. A nightmare made real, just for Bruce. This
iconic foe is loathed vehemently by Batman, and made to be enraptured by him all at
the same time.
The Joker is a villain beyond villain. He is anonymous chaos. Loki in human
form. He was established as the baddest of the bad in something so good, it could
only have been penned by Alan Moore, The Killing Joke. The Joker had been around
long before this one-shot graphic novel, but it was this piece that truly set the bar.
The Joker had started out in the early issues ofBatman, indeed, as a homicidal
maniac. He committed murder and pranks, and often ended the issues with him in a
situation where he surely must be dead, yet some how makes it out. In the Silver
Age 60s, The Joker lost a lot of his gumpsh. He became less of a murderous lunatic
and more of a prankster. The characters usage was lessened quite a bit until the
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mid 70s when Dennis ONeil and Neal Adams revived him back a the killer he used
to be.
It wasnt until The Killing Joke was created that there had ever been a reason
to look at the Joker beyond that he enjoys killing people. The Killing Joke brought
Batmans struggle with The Joker to light. It was less of Batman, and instead, it
seemed more like Bruce Wayne in Batman attire. His defenses were lowered; he
seemed defeated by The Jokers existence. The opening of the novel is Batman
walking into Arkham Asylum to practically bargain with The Joker. The Joker has
left a double in his place, and while Batman is talking reason into the fake, the real
Clown Prince is out in the world.
Unlike The Joker before this, he is not off in Gotham, killing at random. No,
this is an instance of pure evil. It goes beyond crime because the Joker is targeting
Batman; making it personal. He shoots Batmans partner, Barbara Gordon a.k.a
Batgirl (albeit, probably without knowing), and kidnaps her father, Commissioner
Gordon. Joker has his henchmen strip Gordon, and sends him through a torturous
carnival ride when pictures off his naked daughter Barbara, as she lies with a
gunshot wound on the floor of his home.
The Joker makes it extremely clear that his intention is to show that anyone
can be as insane as he is. Once Batman arrives, he saves Gordon who pleads with
him to capture Joker by the book, because We have to show him that our way
works! Batman finds the clown and begins beating on him, but hes also in the
same, pleading dialogue as the beginning of the book. Hes asking Joker to let it end
because if it doesnt end by choice, they will both end up killing each other. In a rare
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Batman says: Philosophically, we can acknowledge an imperfect world, we
can acknowledge that we have to step outside the social norms, but that doesnt
make the social norms meaningless.
The Joker says: The presence of random injustice means that there is no
justice. The fact that you can destroy innocence means there is no innocence. So,
your lifeis a joke.
[] The Joker isnt just threatening him physically, hes threatening
Batmans existence.
The first part ofthe statement is literally Batmans motto. Batman is under
the belief that even though this world they live in is wrought with crime, criminals,
and crazies, that doesnt make it unsalvageable. In Batmans mind, he must keep the
mentality that all he does is for a purpose.
The Jokers part in this statement is not the opposite of Batmans, it is simply
the neutralization of it. He takes the exact formula Batman just used in his logic, and
decimates his motto. Joker takes away from Batman that which makes him Batman,
his resolution, hence the last part.
By threatening Batmans existence, Fingeroth isnt talking about his life,
hes talking about his purpose. Batman is Bruce Waynes purpose for living. Bruce
believes he can use the tool that is Batman to save others from the traumas that
haunted him as a child. It is this sentiment, this mindset, that has kept Batman alive
all these years. Without that, what is Batman? This is Jokers purpose. He is there
to challenge Batman beyond physical, beyond mental, beyond fear, or money, or
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fame, or badges. The Joker is there to make sure that Batman stays in as much
continuous trauma as possible, just as he is. That is where they are homogonous, for
if The Jokers trauma were to end, he would be stop his murderous and criminal
sprees, and his life would normal. If Bruce Wayne were to lose his trauma, then he
would lose his greatest support; Bruce Wayne would lose Batman.
Batman is a deeply methodical series. Though it has changed writers several
times, itis the stories penned at the beginning of the Dennis ONeil editorial era that
have created such richness. Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Jim Starlin, and all of the
pencilers, colorists, and letterists in between are the one who created the base for
this rich lore. A realm where a man with no super powers has pushed himself
beyond super simply to block others from the pain thathe felt as a child. While
Green Lantern comics tout space tours and alien races, while Superman comics
concern the wish for a larger-than-life hero to simply be normal, Batman is busy
fighting for the cause hes chosen; battling forever against demons in his mind,
personified out in the land, even if he is a mentally ill being, he paves the road for a
salubrious haven.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works Cited
Batman Unmasked. Dir. Steven Smith. History Channel, 2008. DVD.
Daniels, Les.Batman: the Complete History. London: Titan, 1999. Print.
Jung, C. G. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung / [v.11] Psychology and Religion :West and East.
New York: Pantheon, 1958. Print.
Moore, Alan, Brian Bolland, and Richard Starkings.Batman: The Killing Joke. New York: DC
Comics, 2008. Print.
Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation: the Transformation of Youth Culture in America.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003. Print.
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