Fan Phenomena: Batman

Description

From his debut in a six-page comic in 1939 to his most recent portrayal by Christian Bale in the blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, Batman is perhaps the world’s most popular superhero. The continued relevance of the caped crusader could be attributed to his complex character, his dual identity or his commitment to justice. But, as the contributors to this collection argue, it is the fans who, with the patience of Alfred, the loyalty of Commissioner Gordon and the unbridled enthusiasm of Robin, have kept Batman at the forefront of popular culture for more than seven decades. 

 

Fan Phenomena: Batman explores the worldwide devotion to the Dark Knight, from his inauspicious beginnings on the comic book page to the cult television series of the 1960s and the critically acclaimed films and video games of today. Considering everything from convention cosplay to fan fiction that imagines the Joker as a romantic lead, the essays here acknowledge and celebrate fan responses that go far beyond the scope of the source material. As the gatekeepers of Gotham, fans have stood vigil over a seventy year mythos, ensuring their icon has become more than a comic book character, cartoon hero or big-screen star. As this collection will demonstrate, through the enthusiasm of fans Batman has become what Ra’s al Ghul predicted in Batman Begins: a legend.

 

Packed with revealing interviews from all corners of the fan spectrum including Paul Levitz, who rose through the ranks of fan culture to become the president of DC Comics, and Michael E. Uslan, who has executive produced every Batman adaptation since Tim Burton's blockbuster in 1989, as well as film reviewers, academics, movie buffs, comic store clerks and costume-clad convention attendees, this book is sure to be a bestseller in Gotham City, as well as everywhere Bruce Wayne's alter-ego continues to intrigue and inspire.

Foreword – Will Brooker

Introduction – Liam Burke

A Fan's History – Liam Burke

FAN APPRECIATION (INTERVIEWS)

Paul Levitz

E.Paul Zehr

Josh Hook and Kendal Coombs

Dennis and Elijah Vasquez

Travis Langley

Seamus Keane

Kim Newman

Michael E. Uslan

PART 1: BEING BATMAN

Dark Hero Rising: How Online Badman Fandom Helped Create a Cultural Archetype – Jennifer Dondero

Heroes with Issues: Fan identification with Batman – Anna-Maria Covich

Being Batman: From Board Games to Computer Platforms – Robert Dean

PART 2: EMBRACING THE KNIGHT

The Passive Case: How Warner Bros. Employed Viral Marketing and Alternate Reality Gaming to Bring Fandom Back into the Culture Industry – Margaret Rossman

Canonizing The Dark Knight: A Digital Fandom Response – Tim Posada

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know: The Nolan/Ledger Joker, Morality, and the Hetero-Fictional Fan Impulse – Leslie McMurtry

PART 3: REPRESENTATIONS OF FANDOM

Inspired, Obsessive and Nostalgic: The Facets of Fandom in 'Beware the Gray Ghost' – Joseph Darowski

Villainous Adoration: The Role of Foe as Fan in Batman Narratives – Tony W. Garland

PART 4: INSPIRATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS

"Elementary, My Dear Robin!": Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and Detective Fan Fiction – Marc Napolitano

Dark Knight Triumphant: Fandom, Hegemony and the Rebirth of Batman on Film – William Proctor

Sujets

• Social Science
• Popular Culture
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Comics
• Graphic novel
• Comic book
• Cultural Studies
• Roman graphique
• Electronic
• Digital
• Comic

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783200931
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

BATMAN

EDITED BY LIAM BURKE
First Published in the UK in 2013 by Intellect Books, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First Published in the USA in 2013 by Intellect Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2013 Intellect Ltd
Editor: Liam Burke
Series Editor and Art Direction: Gabriel Solomons
Copy Editor: Michael Eckhardt
Inside front cover image: Dennis and Elijah Vasquez Inside back cover image: Seamus Keane and Alison Brown
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written consent.
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Fan Phenomena Series ISSN: 2051-4468 eISSN: 2051-4476
Fan Phenomena: Batman ISBN: 978-1-78320-017-7 ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-094-8 ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-093-1
Printed and bound by Bell Bain Limited, Glasgow
intellect
Contents
Foreword
WILL BROOKER
Introduction
LIAM BURKE
A Fan's History
LIAM BURKE
FAN APPRECIATION (INTERVIEWS)
Paul Levitz
E. Paul Zehr
Josh Hook and Kendal Coombs
Dennis and Elijah Vasquez
Travis Langley
Seamus Keane
Kim Newman
Michael E. Uslan
Contributor Biographies
Image Credits
Part 1 :
BEING BATMAN
Dark Hero Rising: How Online Batman Fandom Helped Create a Cultural Archetype
JENNIFER DONDERO
Heroes with Issues: Fan identification with Batman
ANNA-MARIA COVICH
Being Batman: From Board Games to Computer Platforms
ROBERT DEAN
Part 2:
EMBRACING THE KNIGHT
The Passive Case: How Warner Bros. Employed Viral Marketing and Alternate Reality Gaming to Bring Fandom Back into the Culture Industry
MARGARET ROSSMAN
Canonizing The Dark Knight : A Digital Fandom Response
TIM POSADA
Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know: The Nolan/Ledger Joker, Morality, and the Hetero-Fictional Fan Impulse
LESLIE MCMURTRY
Part 3:
REPRESENTATIONS OF FANDOM
Inspired, Obsessive and Nostalgic: The Facets of Fandom in Beware the Gray Ghost
JOSEPH DAROWSKI
Villainous Adoration: The Role of Foe as Fan in Batman Narratives
TONY W. GARLAND
Part 4:
INSPIRATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS
Elementary, My Dear Robin! : Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and Detective Fiction Fandom
MARC NAPOLITANO
Dark Knight Triumphant: Fandom, Hegemony and the Rebirth of Batman on Film
WILLIAM PROCTOR
Acknowledgements
The editor would like to thank the dozens of scholars who submitted proposals for this collection - the level of interest testifies to the enthusiasm that surrounds this topic. Particular acknowledgment should go to the final contributors, whose passion and 00 expertise is evident in each chapter.
Special thanks must also be paid to Will Brooker for providing the collection s foreword. His many publications on pop culture audiences have been rightly celebrated, and his work on Batman has informed much of this collection. Fan Phenomena: Batman is also fortunate to feature interviews with a wide variety of fans from cosplay enthusiasts to the former president of DC Comics, and the editor would like to thank all those who shared their experiences.
The editor would also like to acknowledge Gar O Brien for reviewing drafts; his many suggestions could fill another dozen collections. Without the careful guidance of series editor Gabriel Solomons this collection would not exist, and for that the editor is very grateful. A heartfelt thanks to Helen Walsh, who caught every misplaced Bat-prefix and incorrectly spelt Ra s al Ghul over hours of careful proofreading.
Finally, this collection is indebted to the many fans who have kept Batman at the forefront of popular culture since 1939.
Liam Burke, Editor
Foreword Will Brooker
From the legions of keyboard warriors who attacked Joel Schumacher s 1997 movie Batman Robin until they sabotaged a major film franchise, to the armies of teenagers in Joker makeup who followed the viral marketing trail of Nolan s The Dark Knight , ten years later; from the fan-fic authors who write entire novellas about Rachel Dawes to the Arkham Asylum gamers who spend weekends controlling a Batman avatar... in addition to his wealth, his intelligence, martial artistry and gadgets, Bruce Wayne can count his millions of fans as one of his most powerful assets.
The heart of Batman s appeal has always been his humanity; his lack of any super-powers, and the fact that this cultural icon who walks with gods - a Kryptonian, an Amazon, a Martian Manhunter, the fastest man alive and the bearer of the most powerful weapon in the universe - is no more magical than the rest of us. Batman lets us believe David Bowie s promise that we could all be heroes - or at least, that we could all be Batman.
Or if not The Batman, then a Batman. That s the continuing attraction of Robin, despite those who protest that he lightens the mood and cheapens the tone; since 1940, he s been our route, as readers, into a life as Batman s companion and sidekick, with a strong possibility of promotion. As Nolan s The Dark Knight Rises (2012) shows, a Robin - Robin John Blake, to give his full name - can himself take on the mantle of the bat; and the cape and cowl had already been passed on temporarily to Dick Grayson in Grant Morrison s Batman and Robin series of 2009-2011.
And that, surely, is the attraction of Morrison s ongoing title Batman Incorporated , based on a 1955 story about Batman variants in nations across the world. Like the 1950s story, the modern Batman Incorporated is essentially about a fan-club - they even call themselves the Club of Heroes - whose dreams come true. The Legionary, The Musketeer, the Native American Man-of-Bats and the Australian Dark Ranger are all Batman fans, invited into the official brand through a ceremony that mixes the religious with the corporate. The concept of Batman as a global organisation, rather than a single figure, enables various spin-offs and side-kicks - Blackbat of Japan, Nightrunner of Paris, Batwing of Africa - to share the title. Wayne s capitalist ownership may insist that there s only one Batman at any one time - although even that isn t certain, and he encourages the ambiguity - but there s room, across the world, for various sub-brands and subsidiaries.
Batman Incorporated functions as a fantasy articulation of a real possibility: the longstanding promise that some fans, through a combination of luck and talent, can cross over into the mainstream and become producers of official, rather than amateur content. Several online critics and lettercolumn regulars have made that transition since the rise of fandom in the 1960s - their success stories encouraging others, even though few can survive the climb and make it big - and the viral marketing for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises holds out that invitation to a broader group. By photographing themselves in Joker make-up, fans could appear on the official movie website and become incorporated into the online simulation of Gotham City; by recording themselves reciting an enigmatic mantra, visitors to an early The Dark Knight Rises website had their voices added to the chant of Bane s soundtrack theme. Just prior to the film s release, online devotees were encouraged to photograph chalked-up Bat-graffiti around the world and submit it to the website, to reveal a new trailer. These fans may not be named and famous, but they have, in a small way, crossed over into Batman s fiction.
Why does the Dark Knight inspire such devotion? As with Batman s branding, one answer lies in the parallels between the real world and the textual mythos. Batman Incor porated , the comic, was launched at the same time that Bruce Wayne launched Batman Incorporated , his global enterprise, within the comic. Every time a new Robin strikes out on his own, he earns a new monthly title. As Batwing, the first Black Batman, was initiated into the group, Batwing #1 hit the comic stands. Just as Coca-Cola can encourage distinctions within its empire such as Diet and Cherry Coke, so Wayne Enterprises can finance sub-franchises such as Red Robin and Batgirl, and the Batman line of comic book titles can embrace a whole family of related titles. Developments in our world are echoed and confirmed, in stylised form, within Batman s parallel universe.
So the army of Jokers who followed viral marketing clues are a real-world equivalent of the Batman look-alikes in The Dark Knight , the Sons of the Batman in The Dark Knight Returns and the Jokerz gang from Batman Beyond . The chorus of voices chanting Bane s theme were visualised in The Dark Knight Rises as the league of thugs and mercenaries facing the Gotham City Police Department. The fans who tracked down chalk traces of the Bat-symbol in London, New York and Sydney found their own activity echoed in The Dark Knight Rises , as the same markings decorated the walls and benches of Batman s imaginary city.
But the parallels go deeper, and perhaps darker. Joker is Batman s greatest antagonist, but also his most adoring fan - you complete me , as Heath Ledger quips, recalling the decades of comic book continuity in which Joker fashioned utility belts, customised cars and even helicopters in a loving parody of Batman s style. Joker has his own fan-girl in Harley Quinn, just as Batman has his followers. Batman, we learn in one episode of The Animated Series , modelled his career on an earlier icon, the Gray Ghost (voiced, in the show, by 1960s Batman Adam West); we know, too, that he idolises Sherlock Holmes.
And finally, Batman would not have been created without fandom - in our world, of course, but also in his. Why did Bruce Wayne pester his parents to go to the cinema that fateful night? Because he was a fan of Tyrone Power, the actor in The Mark of Zorro . You loved it so much, he reminds himself in The Dark Knight Returns . You jumped and danced