Book review: tracking the many meanings of Batman as an icon of popular culture
The actor beneath the cowl isn’t the only thing that’s changed about Bruce Wayne and his pointy-eared alter ego over the years
The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture
by Glen Weldon
Simon & Schuster
3.5/5 stars
Batman is a brooding night stalker, grim and remorseless. Also, he’s a guy who might break out into a “Batusi” on the dance floor.
While Superman has barely veered off his flight path over the decades, Batman’s image has swung back and forth like a pendulum since the superhero’s creation in 1939. The night detective of early comics was soon brightened up with the addition of a young sidekick, Robin. By the 1960s, Batman became a camp icon thanks to a hit TV show where he got to show off his dance moves and gravely intone ridiculous lines such as: “Well, well. We’ve come a long way from the prime minister’s exploding cake … or have we?”