Batman: svelte or bulky body shape?

[Tzigone]

I remember Bob Kane complaining about Batman now being drawn like an ad for Sloan's Liniment because of all the bulging muscles.

I Googled Sloan's Liniment ad just to see what he was comparing it to, but first page of results had no such images. What year did he say it - I can add it to my search terms. I'm kinda wondering if I'll see it and it'll have a guy way less ripped than comic characters of the last 30 years.

[Restingvoice]

Svelte when he's young, bulky now he's older. Bulky is his dadbod. Also because the svelte look is filled by Jason and Dick now.

[Tzigone]

Svelte when he's young, bulky now he's older. Bulky is his dadbod. Also because the svelte look is filled by Jason and Dick now.

I like the idea of Jason as bigger than Bruce.

[Lady Nightwing]

I mean towards svelte. I don't like the over muscled Scott Steiner look. It's very hard to buy that he can move easily, let alone be a great gymnast and fighter.

greatbatman09.jpg

This is the ideal for me. I know, he still has a super unrealistic/unattainable body type but nowhere near as bad as it gets in some comics.

[Riv86672]

[Osiris-Rex]

I Googled Sloan's Liniment ad just to see what he was comparing it to, but first page of results had no such images. What year did he say it - I can add it to my search terms. I'm kinda wondering if I'll see it and it'll have a guy way less ripped than comic characters of the last 30 years.

I think Bob was referring to those ads showing the back of the skinless man, sort of like the picture you see in a doctor's office showing the muscles of the human body. Compare how Bill Finger drew Batman. Batman was buff.
But every single muscle wasn't shown in detail like as if Batman were entering a body builder contest and his costume was just painted on.

[DC Classics]

I think Bob was referring to those ads showing the back of the skinless man, sort of like the picture you see in a doctor's office showing the muscles of the human body. Compare how Bill Finger drew Batman. Batman was buff.
But every single muscle wasn't shown in detail like as if Batman were entering a body builder contest and his costume was just painted on.

Bill Finger didn't draw Batman. Finger was the co-creator and original writer. Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff and Jerry Robinson were early artists. The original 1939 version of Batman looked leaner, more like a Douglas Fairbanks acrobat rather than a Charles Atlas bodybuilder, had a long eared cowl and was a mysterious vigilante, used guns and killed. The 1940s and 1950s version of Batman was redesigned and looked huge with a barrel chest and big broad shoulders, had a short eared cowl and was very public with a big grin and a no-gun/no-kill rule.

I prefer leaner Batman.

[Lee Stone]

Lean for me, also.

I'm afraid the hundred year old gargoyles in Gotham might not hold with someone Superman's size swinging off them.

[jetengine]

Lean. Batman needs strength...but he also needs speed and flexibility, especially for his escapology skills which would be hampered by huge arms etc

[Gotham citizen]

I think Batman should be something in the middle: muscular, because he needs strength to fight and move with his batsuit (wich is a sort of bulletproof armour) but not bulky, because the must be also agile and quick. I think the best compromise among be bulky or svelte, should be something among the physique of Ben Affleck and the physique of Christian Bale, when they played Batman.

[Somecrazyaussie]

There is a great ad that DC had running in their books prior to Batman Year Three being published that showed Batman as he was earlier in his career vs how he was in the (then) present. It showed a clear progression. Which is natural as the years progress and his body continues to mature.

Here it is (pencils by Pat Broderick without colour)

images.jpg

I definitely feel the best version is somewhere in the middle. Powerful enough to combat multiple opponents at once, but still lean enough not to lose speed or flexibility.

[Jim Kelly]

When I started reading the Batman comics (circa 1966), he looked like this in the 25 cent Giants (courtesy of Dick Sprang and Charles Paris):



And like this in the 12 cent regular comics (from Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella):



By the end of 1968, I had totally lost interest in Batman comics and took a couple of years off. When I came back to the Batman, he had changed quite a bit. I found a second-hand copy of DETECTIVE COMICS 397, with this page by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, showing just how much weight Bruce had lost, thanks to his yoga fitness routine:

[Marblocks]

I want batman to be ridiculously jacked

[phantom1592]

Lean for me. Same with Superman. I like them to be chiseled and cut... but can put on a suit or a tuxedo and not be bulging out of it. People need to shocked when Bruce or Clark take off their shirts.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I mean towards svelte. I don't like the over muscled Scott Steiner look. It's very hard to buy that he can move easily, let alone be a great gymnast and fighter.

greatbatman09.jpg

This is the ideal for me. I know, he still has a super unrealistic/unattainable body type but nowhere near as bad as it gets in some comics.

I fully agree with that assessment. Also, how much of Bruce's look these days comes down to his body shape, and how much to his batsuits which tend to be bulky?