March 30, 1939: Batman Debuts

March 30, 1939: Detective Comics #27, with a cover date of May 1939, is published by National Periodical Publications. Eventually, the company will adopt the name Detective Comics, or DC for short. This issue introduces a new superhero: The Bat-Man, created by writer Bob Kane and artist Bill Finger. Eventually, the hyphen is dropped, and he becomes simply "Batman."

(Note: Batman is one of the few superheroes where the definite article "The... " is optional. Some practically require it, like "The Flash" and "The Hulk." Most don't: Nobody says, "The Superman," "The Wonder Woman," or "The Spider-Man." Some people say, "The Batman," others just, "Batman." The 1943 film serial and the 1966 and 1989 films were titled simply Batman, while the most recent film, the 2022 release, was titled The Batman.)

This issue tells the story "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate." Commissioner Gordon, police boss of an as-yet-unnamed city (soon to be named "Gotham City"), tells his friend, millionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, about a murder case. Four men are partners in a chemical company. One is murdered, and his son is arrested, his motive being the money.

Another of the partners reveals that he and the murdered man had both received death threats. That 2nd partner is also killed, leaving 2. The Bat-Man manages to save the 3rd from the 4th, and -- contrary to the later establishment of his "no-kill code" -- throws the killer into a chemical pit, killing him.

The story ends with Gordon telling Wayne about the Bat-Man, and Wayne telling Gordon he doesn't believe it -- and then, after Gordon leaves, Wayne reveals himself to the reader as the Bat-Man.

The Bat-Man proved popular enough to become the main feature of Detective Comics. In 1940, he got his own series, as Batman #1 was printed. That same year, several new characters were introduced, including, along with Commissioner James Gordon, Batman's 2 main allies: Dick Grayson, who becomes Batman's sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder; and Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Batman's home, Wayne Manor.

The year 1940 also introduced Selina Kyle, a jewel thief known as Catwoman, a character that eventually plays both sides of the law, and eventually becomes Batman's main love interest; the 1st version of the villain Clayface, originally a master of disguise; Professor Hugo Strange, an evil scientist; and Batman's arch-nemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker.

Batman has perhaps the greatest "rogues gallery" in comics history: The Penguin and the Scarecrow were introduced in 1941, Two-Face in 1942, the Riddler in 1948, Mr. Freeze (originally Mr. Zero) in 1959, Poison Ivy in 1966, Ra's al Ghul in 1971, Killer Croc in 1983, the Joker's sidekick/girlfriend Harley Quinn in 1992, and Bane in 1993.

In Detective Comics #27, Batman drives an ordinary red car. Soon, it would be navy blue like his cape and cowl, although things meant to be black in comics were usually drawn as navy blue. By 1941, the car had what looked like a bat's head on the grill, a bat's wing on the trunk, and the name "Batmobile."

Batman first appeared in film in a 1943 film serial, played by Lewis Wilson, with Douglas Croft as Robin. This serial imagined Batman's base of operations as a cave underneath Wayne Manor, and the Batcave was soon introduced in the comics. The serial Batman and Robin appeared in 1949, with Robert Lowery as the Caped Crusader and Johnny Duncan as the Boy Wonder.

In 1966, ABC began airing a Batman TV series. Because it was designed to appeal more to children, it wasn't nearly as dark as the comics. This Batman, played by Adam West, and Robin, played by Burt Ward, seemed to operate in daylight as much as at night. Their Batmobile had a futuristic design, and was considerably more souped-up, with James Bond-style gadgets, apparently installed by Alan Napier's Alfred.

Adam West

And Gotham City, instead of appearing as a New York-like city gone wrong, appeared nice and clean, with establishing shots of Midtown Manhattan making it look wonderful, although most shots of the Dynamic Duo in the Batmobile showed mountains in the background, a reminder that the show was shot in and around Los Angeles.

And instead of portraying Gordon as running the Police Department in an uphill battle against its corruption, Neil Hamilton's Gordon and his Chief, Miles O'Hara, a stereotypical old Irish big-city cop played by Stafford Repp, led a department of incorruptible men who, beset by villains such as Burgess Meredith's Penguin, Frank Gorshin's Riddler and Julie Newmar's Catwoman, needed help from Batman and Robin.

The villains were a bit campier, too, including some that were created just for the show, including Vincent Price as Egghead and Victor Buono as King Tut. Cesar Romero played the Joker less as an insane killer and more as a goofy prankster. Batgirl had recently been introduced in the comics, as Barbara Gordon, a librarian and the Commissioner's daughter. Yvonne Craig was introduced as the character in the 3rd season. The show proved really popular, but expensive to produce, and was canceled in 1968 after 3 seasons.

Batman and Robin appeared in the 1973-86 Super Friends cartoon, voiced by Olan Soule and Casey Kasem, respectively. Michael Keaton played Batman in the 1989 film Batman and the 1992 film Batman Returns, both of them directed by Tim Burton.

Michael Keaton: "I'm Batman."

Val Kilmer played the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever in 1995, and George Clooney in Batman and Robin in 1997, with Chris O'Donnell as Robin in both of those films. The latter two films were directed by Joel Schumacher, although there is debate among Batfans whether the "Burtonverse" and the "Schumacherverse" should both be counted as a single "Burtonverse," as some, but not all, actors carry over as their characters.

As much as the 1970s comics tried to make Batman and his supporting characters more "grounded" than they'd been in the 1966-68 TV show, the Burton-directed Batmovies made Gotham City look, as the name suggests, Gothic, dark and foreboding, rather than as a nicer-looking New York.

Dennis O'Neil, who had a longer career at DC, writing for both Superman and Batman, came up with a great way of comparing their hometowns: "Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 100th Streets on the brightest, sunniest day of the year. Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at 11 minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November." (I'm surprised he didn't mention a light rain.)

The implication is that, above 14th Street, Manhattan has gleaming modern skyscrapers; while, below 14th Street, that's the older part of Manhattan, with more Gothic architecture, although historical research has shown that the names "Goth"/"Gothic" and "Gotham" have nothing to do with each other. 

In contrast, the Schumacher-directed films harkened back to the TV show in some ways, going overboard on color, especially neon, and raising the humor level.

Pretty much every Batshow and Batfilm since has gone with the "Dark Knight" and "Gothic Gotham" ideas. Kevin Conroy voiced Batman in the DC Animated Universe. Christian Bale played him in Christopher Nolan's film trilogy: Batman Begins in 2005, The Dark Knight in 2008, and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Ben Affleck has played him in the DC Extended Universe since the 2016 film Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Christian Bale

Because of legal issues with the films, TV shows have been unable to really show Batman. The 2002 WB series Birds of Prey, the 2019-21 CW series Batwoman, and the 2018-present HBO Max series Titans have showed a post-Batman Gotham. So will the upcoming CW series Gotham Knights. The 2014-19 CW series Gotham showed a pre-Batman Gotham.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played the Christian Bale version of Batman, with "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist, incongruously, as the Burt Ward version of Robin, against rapper-comedian Zach Sherwin as Sherlock Holmes, and Saturday Night Live castmember Kyle Mooney as Dr. John Watson.

A 2019 episode featured Nice Peter as the Joker, and Epic Lloyd as Pennywise, the monster from Stephen King's horror novel It.

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March 30, 1939 was a Thursday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Two Stanley Cup Playoff games were played that day. The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Boston Garden. Clint Smith scored the winning goal, with 2:41 left in the 1st overtime. The Bruins won the series anyway.

And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Leafs won the series anyway, but the Bruins beat them in the Stanley Cup Finals.