Seven Sexy Things about 70's Batman

Dames, demons, and Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town. That's 1978, baby. Camp is dead. Frank Miller (big fan of Springsteen too) studying under the master sensei, Denny O'Neil. Batman is in his prime thanks to combining Clint Eastwood, James Bond, and Indiana Jones (predating 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark) into the Dark Knight Detective. And here's how O'Neil, Adams, Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Marshal Rogers, Jim Aparo, Bob Haney, and company did it!






  1. Love God

Take the Billionaire out of the mansion and put him into a downtown highrise. In direct relation to Dick Grayson going away to college, Bruce got the chance to grow up a bit by finally leaving his parents' ancestral home and moving into a swanky penthouse apartment complete with an underground auxiliary Batcave. In the 70s, no longer 14 miles from Gotham like Adam West, but in the heart of a pulsating urban environment, Batman was closer to "the action" in crass terms of crime and dating.

Decades of hearing "millionaire playboy" associated with the character suddenly got a payoff when Talia and Silver St. Cloud hit the scene. Grant Morrison's on record as stating his favorite incarnation of the character is as "the hairy-chested globetrotting love god of the '70s stories" which is evident in Batman RIP's Jezebel Jet and Catwoman in Batman Incorporated.

The idea of Batman as a 30 year old virgin sounds ridiculous, but despite being the basis for Joe Casey's main character, the Saint, in the audacious comic Sex, it was apparently a mandate in the Bat offices of DC Comics back in the early 2000s according to Ed Brubaker in a recent interview...

All these girls he’d dated over the years as this playboy, he’d never slept with any of them, because having sex would somehow prevent him from being Batman. Apparently if all these women got together, they’d find out that he always had a headache, like they always thought they were the only one and it was their secret shame. “God, I couldn’t even get Bruce Wayne to sleep with me!” It was like Bruce Wayne was some quarterback ordered by his coach not to have sex the night before a big game, but the big game was his entire life. That totally cracked me up.

Read More: The Ed Brubaker Batman Interview, Part One | http://comicsalliance.com/ed-brubaker-batman-interview-part-one/?trackback=tsmclip

"All these girls he’d dated over the years as this playboy, he’d never slept with any of them, because having sex would somehow prevent him from being Batman. Apparently if all these women got together, they’d find out that he always had a headache, like they always thought they were the only one and it was their secret shame. 'God, I couldn’t even get Bruce Wayne to sleep with me!' It was like Bruce Wayne was some quarterback ordered by his coach not to have sex the night before a big game, but the big game was his entire life. That totally cracked me up"

All these girls he’d dated over the years as this playboy, he’d never slept with any of them, because having sex would somehow prevent him from being Batman. Apparently if all these women got together, they’d find out that he always had a headache, like they always thought they were the only one and it was their secret shame. “God, I couldn’t even get Bruce Wayne to sleep with me!” It was like Bruce Wayne was some quarterback ordered by his coach not to have sex the night before a big game, but the big game was his entire life. That totally cracked me up.

Read More: The Ed Brubaker Batman Interview, Part One | http://comicsalliance.com/ed-brubaker-batman-interview-part-one/?trackback=tsmclip

That's a great example for why we shouldn't take comic characters too seriously. For argument's sake I remember a Grant Morrison interview stating how as a yoga master Bruce would realize the mental and physical benefits of a healthy sex life, which explains the discreet relations he has had over the years with multiple socialites.




2. "The Greatest Trickster Character in Fiction"--Denny O'Neil

Jumping the Shark

If you take a gander through The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told the 70s lay claim to three of the best battles between Batman and his arch nemesis. The above image comes from "The Joker's Five Way Revenge" and it's hard to argue it being anything other than the greatest single issue comic featuring Batman. Personally, any story involving Batman fighting a shark is gold (see Shark Repellent Bat-Spray for further convincing), but there isn't a trace of 60s' camp in 70s' Joker. Just as I imagine Adam West's Batman waking up one day and noticing a bit of a paunch belly and realizing he should study up on this Bruce Lee guy Dick Grayson keeps raving about, I like to think Cesar Romero's Joker shaves off his painted mustache after hearing the New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis" in 1973 and goes back to killing people.

Less than a year after the Joker returns to his darker roots (always one step behind Batman in keeping up with the times) Bob Haney and Jim Aparo on "Death has the Last Laugh" have the Caped Crusader at the scene of a murdered suburban family vow to "DESTROY YOU LIKE THE MAD DOG YOU ARE!!" This is in a Bob Haney The Brave and the Bold, the zany book that partners Batman up with the likes of the Metal Men, Plastic Man, and Sgt. Rock usually.

As dark and formidable the Clown Prince of Crime is in both comics they both end with Batman apprehending and laughing at the Joker. There can be one sweeter victory over the Joker than laughing at that fool's expense.



3. Solar Plexus Mega Punch

So there was another Bruce in the 70s that captivated the international stage with his intense physical performances, and for once I'm not talking about The Boss. Bruce Lee was huge. He projected such confidence and bravado on screen which probably best exemplified the decade of the tough guy.

 Martial art exploitation films and comics saturated the market, but O'Neil and Adams actually paid attention to the "emotional content". Batman stopped punching people like John Wayne and transitioned to a graceful fighter.

Grace is something that is rarely continued in a post Frank Miller's muscles on muscles Batman approach that has been the norm. Neal Adams molded the first plausible Dark Knight that was tall, lean, and mean, but Jim Aparo was a worthy successor and put decades into the character. Aparo's renderings are what I see when I visualize how Batman and Bruce Wayne should move and posture.




4. The Supernatural

Ghosts, werewolves, Man-Bat, the Lazarus Pit, and a villain know as "Head of the Demon" are the 70s adventures I think of immediately when fans complain for realistic Batman stories. Batman and realism don't go well together. Who wants to read about the Batmobile stuck in traffic in Gotham City?







A hero that dresses like Dracula plays very well in a supernatural setting. Bill Finger knew that back in 1939 when he had Batman slay a vampire monk. I don't want to see Batman as The Wire. I want a time machine to take me back to 1999 and convince Joss Whedon to put David Boreanaz in the cape and cowl while filming Angel fighting demons with a broadsword. How awesome a Joker would Spike have been?













5. International Man of Mystery

If one needed proof that there is goodness in this world then look no further than Batman and Aquaman beating up Nazi Scuba divers! And Tom Jones goes full Thunderball. There's always been a bit of give and take with James Bond and Batman. Skyfall was practically The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Nolan has admitted Bond's influence all over his Bat trilogy, and I was quite happy to see the travelogue world outside of Gotham City in those films.


In Denny O'Neil's first Batman issue with Neal Adams, "The Secret of the Waiting Graves", the story is set in Mexico. It was the debut of a jet set Bruce Wayne up against ghosts and relying on his detective skills.


Over in the Bob Haney scripted The Brave and the Bold Batman was constantly up against drug smugglers, gangsters, war lords, and of course Nazis, despite being teamed up with Metamorpho, Green Lantern, or others previously mentioned.

You'd be forgiven by mistaking the Bob Haney books to be lighter in tone to the O'Neil/ Adams dark romantic adventures if you were going by who appears on the covers with Batman, but Haney might as well be channeling Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry in half his stories. Jim Aparo's wonderful art sells it so well. No one could draw a grimacing Batman backhanding people like Aparo. Maybe that's the biggest difference between Adams and Aparo. The former is tops at showing awe and shock through facial expressions, but the latter like The Clash, I think, "let fury have the hour, anger can be power".







6. Cycle of Violence

To paraphrase O'Neil from Batman: Knightfall, the scribe describes Batman's use of violence as a tool, although crude and blunt, it is necessary for the mission. From what I've gleaned from his activist roots in the 60s, other works, and interviews of O'Neil I believe a lot of the writer's beliefs can be read in Green Arrow obviously, but also the pacifist Leslie Thompkins, who debuted in "There is No Hope in Crime Alley".

Throw a stick and you're likely to hit one of handful of substitute dads that Bruce Wayne has surrounded himself with. From Alfred to Gordon, Lucius Fox, occasionally Ra's Al Ghul, Bruce had a lot of male influences growing up and he lived in the shadow of his dead and perfect patriarchal doctor by day, philanthropist charity donator Thomas Wayne. Martha is a great blank and ripe for interesting back stories, but Leslie Thompkins is the equal of Alfred as a parent. And if Alf is the indulgent one, Leslie doesn't let anything slide. She's not the stereotype of a demanding ethnic mom.



Since the night of the Wayne murders she was there to comfort a grieving child, but she feels guilty that she did not do enough to prevent Bruce from growing up and smacking criminals around. The bitter twist in the relationship is that Bruce is aware that it breaks her heart for her to see him in his working clothes.

My introduction to her was through the great 90s' cartoon. It's a shame Leslie isn't written in enough stories nowadays, and although a version of her appears on Gotham, the beautiful and talented Morena Baccarin has no scenes with Bruce Wayne! Why cast an actress of her caliber on that tonal mess of show and not attempt to do the character justice?

7. "69 Chevy with a 396, Fuelie Heads and a Hurst on the floor"-- Bruce Springsteen

Muscle cars are pure Americana. Yeah, they're big, bloated, and bad on gas mileage, but it's called escapism, not therapy. It's in the DNA of our myths and folk tales. The cowboy, James Dean in a Mercury 49, Mad Max, and Bruce Springsteen's Caddilacs and "burned out Chevrolets" on "Thunder Road.

I love the low tech, subtle look of the 70s muscle car Batmobile, although I don't know how I can say subtle when there's a spray painted Bat head on the hood.

The car is usually touted as Batman or Bond's greatest gadget. The utility belt sort of fell by the wayside since it was exploited to death by the 60s show and later writers knew of its overuse as a Deus Ex Machina. Since Tim Burton's Batman and the 90s' animated series, the grappling hook has been the default escape from death device.




Here are the best of That 70s Batman:

Batman: Tales of the Demon
Batman in the Seventies
Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1-3
Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol 3
Batman: Strange Apparitions