I loved the reruns of Adam West and Burt Ward's Batman as a little Swift. I must have been seven or eight: Tim Burton's Batman had just been released or was about to be released, and Bat-Mania had most of us lads firmly in its grip for the next few years, along with the Ninja Turtles.
I didn't know any better at the time. I didn't understand that there were different interpretations of the character, that ill-fitting spandex costumes, a Joker with a mustache, and loud, colorful sound effects were not the Batman most fans wanted. But again, I was small. My folks didn't have a lot of money to throw around at the movies, and they were often concerned with what I watched (or more accurately, my mother was-- Dad was more understanding). I wouldn't see Batman until it came out on VHS; I would take what I could get at the time.
Of course, I grew up. After immersing myself in whatever Batman comics I could get my hands on, I understood how the Batman of the 60's show was a far, far cry from the comics I was reading, like Batman: Son Of The Demon, The Dark Knight Returns, and the Norm Breyfogle run of Detective Comics. I grew to disdain the campy show and its star, Adam West.
So why did I just spend over a hundred bucks on a 1/12 scale Batmobile from said show and two little plastic men in ill-fitting tights to occupy it?
You could argue that I'm somewhat more forgiving of the character, more accepting of Batman as a whole as I grow older. Which would be true, and Grant Morrison has a lot to do with that. Like it or loathe it, the 60's Batman show left its mark on the character and mythos, and is nothing if not iconic.
But I think it goes deeper than that. New 52? A Joker with his own cut-off face strapped to his head? Ben Affleck? The death of my beloved DC Universe toys from Mattel?
I'm just disheartened, at this point. As I grow older, more and more decisions made with my favorite character cease to interest me. I guess you could say I'm set in my ways, that I like what I like, and I have no qualms about spending what some would consider waaaaay too much money amassing the things that I like.
But they're few and far between. You could argue that I'm growing up; I would argue vehemently against that for every time I make or laugh at an inappropriate and childish joke.
There's a lull of things that interest me because there's not a lot of things, geek-wise, that are being marketed towards my demographic: the long-time fans who've stuck through the Dark Times of the 90's, who've suffered through things like Smallville, Joel Schumacher's Batman, the first terrible Hulk movie and almost been straight-jacketed in the belts, straps and buckles, almost crushed by the gigantic, impractical guns of the 90's anti-hero. We've towed the line for so long, stuck with these characters and tried to support their adaptations into other media, oft times finding them to be more Daredevil than The Avengers.
And now that our geek culture is being assimilated into pop culture as a whole, how do these companies (mostly DC) claiming ownership repay us?
They change everything. They shift their focus to reigning in new readers, new demographics, letting us stand by the wayside, our righteous indignation and sense of entitlement being completely ignored as they continue to mold their corporate mascots into something that can appeal to everyone.
I won't say I feel entitled, anymore. But I will say it's a pretty shitty time to be a long-time comic fan. They say nostalgia is just a feeling that things back then were better, but things really weren't; Adam West's Batman definitely makes that true. So what do I expect? Do I want them to cater to everyone? Maybe. They've done it before, and still do, every once in a while. They have all-ages comics as well as the ones with their joke of a "ratings" system on the covers. Do I expect some sort of favoritism? I did at first, but seeing kids run around with a Captain America shield or a Batman mask or those Hulk fists makes me smile. These characters are going to endure, just as the nostalgia for the Adam West stuff has endured.
So what do I expect? What do I want, out of my favorite comic book company? They've already shunted "my" version of the DC Universe aside for this shiny new bucket of piss; to change it around again would make even less sense than changing it in the first place. I don't know what I want, is what I'm trying to say. I'm disheartened, disinterested and unconcerned about what happens next, since it feels that all inroads to "Classic" DC Universe stuff have been roadblocked and declared off limits, with no media to tie into. With DC Universe Classics, some of the sting was taken away. For a little while, it seemed like I could hold onto characters that have been written out, made unrecognizable, or ignored (like Wally West) in plastic form and carry on. But now?
I don't know. I expect that I'll have a sweet Batmobile in a few days, is what I expect.
Cheers.
Swift
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