Celebrating 80 Years of Batman: Caped Crusader to Dark Knight

Tim Burton was drawn to "Batman" because of the depth of the characters. Actor Michael Keaton describes how he and Burton would adjust and build upon each performance and scene.

Author Matt Yockey argues that the series served as a safe space for viewers to engage with changing attitudes about consumerism, politics, the Vietnam war, celebrity, race, and gender during a period when social meaning was increasingly contested in America.

Batman or Superman? Which of these heroic figures is morally superior? Which is more dramatically effective? More democratic? Which shows us the better way to fight crime? In this book, 26 philosophers evaluate Superman vs. Batman in order to decide which of them “wins” by various criteria.

Explores the unlikely devotion to the Dark Knight, from his inauspicious beginnings on the comic book page to the cult television series of the 1960s and on to critically-acclaimed films and video games of today.

Explores Batman's twenty-first century incarnations.

How the comics genre and language were used to create Batman, and how that character's longevity is largely due to the medium's unique formal qualities. Argues that Batman's core appeal is his mythic nature which allows him to transcend changes in reader tastes, the vicissitudes of the comics industry, and the changing media landscape.

See Chapter 1: Batman as Terrorist, Technocrat, and Feudal Lord