Artwork by the amazing Jim Lee. Copyright, DCCOMICS.
When it comes to admiring my heroes, I’m not shy. I’ve loved Batman (the serious Batman, not the goofy 1960s one) since around 1970 or so, back when my maternal grandparents bought me a Batman coloring book. Batman vs. the Frogman. Loved it.
And, I have a rather serious collection of Batman comics dating back to the mid 1970s. I consider him to be a rather traditional western hero.
If you’re interested, here are my various articles on Batman at The Imaginative Conservative:
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2013/08/batman.html
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/07/happy-birthday-batman.html
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2011/11/from-aeneas-to-batman-myth-and-history.html
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/11/gotham-drama-at-its-best.html
Happy 76th, Batman!
My kids and I agree that you should watch “The Dark Knight” again! The focus on the Joker only serves, in the end, to emphasize that Batman and Gordon are the real heroes (and also the people on the boats, who ultimately make the right choice). Just a thought.
Right on! The Kevin Conroy Batman of the animated series–even the movies like Sub Zero and Mask of the Phantasm–is by far the best. His behavior is actually BETTER than the knights of King Arthur’s court (saving Sir Galahad) in that his behavior is selfless, not driven by philotimia (at least the love of public honor, he keeps his udentity secret), and non lethal in his canonical form (he actually quits in the Batman Beyond story arc because he had to use s gun in his aged infirmity). He actually mirrors at least one saint in pretending to be a terrible sinner, playboy, while in fact doing a duty of self sacrifice. I have to admit that more of my moral formation might have come from Batman the Animated Series and Richard Greene’s Robin Hood. I would love to read a serious study on the ethos of Batman. He taps the beautiful fact Chesterton pointed out: children love moral tales. Fairytales are full of them.
I love Bruce Timm!