Batman Trailer

Batman is a special character for many reasons, but one is that he can fit well with both highly fantastical superhero stories along with more “realistic” detective stories. Christopher Nolan’s most recent Batman films have really stressed the detective and crime noir roots of the characterThe Dark Knight is basically a neo-noir film in which a few people are dressed up in costumes.Batman wasn’t the first comic book detective to catch on with a wide audience. That honor is usually reserved for Dick Tracy, who first appeared in the eponymous comic strip by Chester Gould in 1931. Dick Tracy was notable for its shocking violence (for the time) and its attention to the latest trends in forensic science. Like the future Batman, Dick Tracy often went up against recurring larger-than-life criminals with outlandish names, like Selbert Depool, Pruneface, and Flattop Jones.Detective Comics, the title where Batman first appeared, was originally an anthology title featuring an array of fictional detectives. One, Slam Bradley, first appeared in Detective Comics 1 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who also created a popular character by the name of Superman. Speed Saunders was also a popular character who first appeared in Detective Comics 1.The Sandman first appeared in the same year as Batman (1939), and was a similar character in many ways. His only power was prophetic dreamsother than that, he made use of his detective skills and technical savvy. Although his superhero aspects were later emphasized, the title Sandman Mystery Theatre, emphasized the character’s film noir potential. Detective stories benefited from the rise of crime comic anthology titles during the 1940s and 1950s, then experienced a decline with the advent of the Comics Code Authority. Crime comics slowly returned to popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and many modern writers have introduced their own fictional detectives. The 1970s especially saw an introduction of grimmer, more “realistic” anti-heroes to comics, many of whom could be seen as direct descendants of the early hard-boiled detectives. One of the best known is the Punisher, a vigilante who used only his fists and firearms, in bold contradiction to Batman’s “no guns and no killing” rules.