Think you know everything about Batman? So did I! Then I sat down and read a book reprinting the first dozen or so Batman stories in chronological order. Turns out I hardly knew the Caped Crusader at all! In honor of Batman’s 75th anniversary, join me as I reveal…

10 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE BATMAN

By Barry Dutter


1) THE ORIGINAL BATMOBILE WAS RED! It’s true! In the first eight  Batman stories, the Dark Knight shuttled around town in a red roadster. (In one story, the red Batmobile is is shown to be the same car driven by Bruce Wayne! Way to preserve that secret identity, Bruce!) It was in the ninth Batman story that the classic Batmobile appears in the familiar blue color we all came to know in love. In the next issue, Bats was back to driving the red car again before he finally switched to blue permanently.

2) BRUCE WAYNE SMOKED A PIPE! Every time we see BRUCE WAYNE in the early issues, he is smoking a pipe, usually while lounging around Wayne Manor. Although many heroes smoked cigars in the 70s, I can't remember the last time I saw any major Marvel or DC hero smoke anything. 

3) BATMAN CARRIED A GUN! It’s true! He didn’t carry one very often, and he rarely used it. But the splash page to one of his early appearances in DETECTIVE COMICS shows the Caped Crusader proudly brandishing a pistol, as if it were a regular thing for him. Back in those days, pulp heroes like The Shadow and the Spider always carried guns, and I guess in the beginning, the creators of Batman were thinking that was the logical direction for him to go in. I’m not sure when Bats stopped using a gun, but certainly by 1954, with the formation of the Comics Code, that was the end of that.

4) BATMAN IS A CASUAL MURDERER! In his very first adventure, Batman accidentally kills the bad

guy by throwing him into a chemical explosion. In the next issue, Bats kicks a thug off the roof of a skyscraper. (We never see the dead body, but it seems unlikely any normal man could survive that.) Over the next few issues, Batman piles up an impressive body count for a hero.When three homeless men are turned into giant ogres, Bats make sure to kill each one. (The option of curing them is never mentioned!)
Any time a villain attacks

Batman with a  knife or a sword, Bats always finds a way to turn the weapon back on his attacker and stab them real good. You have to wonder how many times the police showed up at a crime scene and yet another dead hood who had “accidentally fallen on his own knife.”  In another issue, Batman encounters a deadly vampire, and shoots the monster with a  silver bullet -- while the vampire is asleep in his coffin! Comics were so much more fun before the Comics Code came along in the fifties and neutered everything for the next 30 or 40 years.

5) ROBIN LEFT BEHIND A FEW CORPSES, TOO! You might think the arrival of the cheerful and eager young Robin might stop the bloodshed. But it turns out, Robin was pretty good at murder, too! It seems Batman trained his young protégé all too well. In his first adventure with Batman, Robin battles a thug high atop a construction site. The thug is trying to knock Robin off a girder to his death. But Robin successfully evades the thug. An acrobatic kick causes to thug to fall many stories to the street below -- surely, to his death!

6) BRUCE WAYNE  WAS ENGAGED! In one of his earliest adventures, Bruce Wayne reveals that he has a fiancée, an actress named Julie Madison. But Bruce doesn’t seem interested in spending much time with Julie. Mostly Bruce wants to go out and catch bad guys as Batman or hang out with his friend, Commissioner Gordon. Sometimes it seems like the only way Julie can spend time with her fiancé is when she gets involved in one of Batman’s adventures. The engagement didn’t last long before it got called off. According to Wkipedia, “Julie…ended her engagement to Bruce on the grounds that she felt that he ought to do something worthwhile with his life rather than just being a fun-loving playboy (she still did not know of his secret activities).” She was gone from the book after about a year and a half. A modern version of Julie was recently introduced in Batman comics. She is referred to as a woman from Bruce Wayne’s past. 


7) BATMAN WAS WANTED BY THE COPS! I remember as a kid, growing up reading Spider-Man comics in the 70s, it always seemed radical to me that Spidey was wanted by the cops. Turns out, Batman had done the same shtick before, about 30 years earlier! The police aggressively pursued Batman in the early days. They would usually arrive too late, at the end of an adventure, just after Batman had captured the bad guy. The cops would mistakenly think that Batman was involved in committing the crimes, so they would shoot at him, but Batman would always get away. (Sound familiar, Spider-Fans?) Bats must have taken particular delight in knowing that his good friend, Commissioner Gordon, would often share crime news with him, never suspecting that Bruce was actually the vigilante, Batman!

8) WOMEN ARE HIS WEAKNESS!  The first bunch of Batman stories present the Caped Crusader as a very moral, upright citizen, willing to do whatever it takes to uphold the law and see to it that evil-doers are punished -- unless they are sexy babes! The first time Batman and Robin encounter Catwoman, Bats lets her get away at the end by blocking Robin as the Boy Wonder lunges after her. Robin pretty quickly figures out what Bruce has done and why he has done it. But Bruce offers no apologies. The understanding seems to be, “Look, she was hot, she turned me on, and I’m sure I’ll see her again!” Robin clearly does not approve, but even his teenage mind knows there are some things even superheroes are powerless against.


9) BATMAN IS KINKY! In that same issue (BATMAN #1), Batman catches Catwoman disguised as an old lady, in the midst of a jewel heist. Batman starts to remove her old age make-up.  Catwoman protests, but Batman shuts her up with, “Quiet or papa spank!” Papa spank? Huh! Who knew the Dark Knight had a playful side? He never talked to the Joker like that!

10) BRUCE WAYNE IS SO RICH, HE DOES WHATEVER THE HELL HE WANTS!  In the first 10 or 15 Batman stories, Bruce Wayne is portrayed as a bored playboy.  He is never shown working. Mostly he just hangs out with Jim Gordon and talks about police business. There is no mention of Wayne Enterprises. (Apparently that came along later.) Bruce seems to enjoy the life of a lazy rich man. In one issue, Bruce gets the idea of how to trap a jewel thief. He muses, “Maybe I’ll write an article for the newspaper to lure the thief into a trap.” The next day, Bruce’s article appears on the front page of the Gotham Gazette. But wait --Bruce just randomly decides to write an article and it ends up on the front page of the newspaper?” Or does he just buy the front page and tell them to print his article?

Lots of unanswered questions in those early Batman comics. Fortunately, many of these issues were resolved as the series went on. It was fun for me to find out all these secrets from Batman’s past and learn that even a 75-year old hero can still surprise you. Next up? Superman!