The Many Lives of the Batman by Roberta E. Pearson
The astounding success of Batman: The Movie appeared to herald Batman’s apotheosis in the minds of American audiences. What social factors, though, might explain the continued appeal of such a complex and dark character? The first comprehensive academic examination of this fascinating cultural phenomenon is The Many Lives of the Batman. The enormous success of Batman has been attributed to a range of audiences who have welcomed the hero over his fifty-year lifetime in a collage of many media representations, not just marketing savvy. This critical anthology, which examines the conditions of the character’s creation and reception over a wide range of time and media forms, sheds light on these intersecting lives.
The Many Lives of the Batman by Roberta E. Pearson
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The first thing that needs to be made clear is that this is a book of academic criticism and not, for example, a popular history of the character or a collection of comics. That is a notice, not a complaint. In some ways, the then-recent debut of Tim Burton’s Batman movie served as inspiration for this excellent collection of criticism. The more than a dozen studies presented by Pearson and Uricchio analyze various facets of Batman as a character and a product without being either overly sentimental or academic. No matter how deep one’s analysis, this character is still from a comic book.
A demographic analysis of the people in line for Tim Burton’s Batman, a conversation with Frank Miller, and Bill Boichel’s essay “Batman: Commodity as Myth” are among the highlights. Pearson and Uricchio’s text is a fantastic addition to any library, readable by either researcher of popular culture or devoted fans of the character. However, any study of the Batman character or mythos would be well-advised to take up a full history of the character.
