When was it the least fun to be a Batman fan?

[phonogram12]

Kind of a throwback, but Batman No Man's Land was something that overstayed its welcome. Excess focus on Gordon and putting him through the wringer. Definitely, not fun.

Ohhhh...I loved all the focus on Gordon, personally. Once Rucka took the reins of the story, it really fired on all cylinders for me.

[marhawkman]

for me the ruined forever moment was that justice League thing where Batman's stupid plans nearly killed the entire league.

The Bat-Blackrock incident just felt like par for the course after that.

[exile001]

The Bat-Blackrock incident just felt like par for the course after that.

Can you let me know what book this was from? A few people have mentioned this recently, but I don't remember it.

[marhawkman]

Can you let me know what book this was from? A few people have mentioned this recently, but I don't remember it.

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman/Batman_Vol_1_33

[exile001]

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman/Batman_Vol_1_33

Ah, cheers. I vaguely remember that arc as being a complete mess.

[Ruthborn]

Surprised no-one has mentioned the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" debacle in 1954.

[Jim Kelly]

Surprised no-one has mentioned the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" debacle in 1954.

Few of us were even alive back then to know. And while this might have been a bad time for comic books on the whole and certain publishers in particular, I don't think it was a bad time for Batman. Of the three ongoing villains--Joker, Penguin and Catwoman--two of them were retired (Oswald and Selina) but if that was a result of the Code, it's hard to say. The Joker (who had long ago given up on killing people) continued to cause comic mayhem in Gotham City.

Fredric Werthan did allege that Bruce Wayne was molesting his ward, Dick Grayson. But I doubt that even the ridiculous folks that followed Wertham's other theories were willing to believe that rumour about Batman and Robin. And the comics didn't change all that much. They just kept going further in the direction they had been going.

Of course, many of the people who are Batman fans now are fans of the Frank Miller style of Batman. And they, therefore, like the very early Batman (when the art and writing were crude), circa 1939 and 1940. But that didn't last long and Detective Comics, Inc., adopted an in-house code which gave Batman legal status in the police department. Most of the 1940s was a period of developing the formula and the mythology--the Batcave, Alfred, the Bat-Signal, the Batmobile, the Batplane, Bruce Wayne's girl friends, etc.

The 1950s was a period of consolidation of that formula and that mythology--a new Batmobile, Vicki Vale, more about the Wayne family history, Batmen of other nations, Bat-Hound, Batwoman, what's in the utility belt. I rather envy the kids who bought Batman comics back then. It's the kind of Gee-Whiz fantasy I always liked as a boy. Not grim-dark but full of nifty gadgets and exotic adventures.

And, in that period, you had two of the best Batman artists of all time--Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff, inked by the incomparable Charles Paris. That would have been a great time to be alive for a Batman fan like me.

[phonogram12]

Few of us were even alive back then to know. And while this might have been a bad time for comic books on the whole and certain publishers in particular, I don't think it was a bad time for Batman. Of the three ongoing villains--Joker, Penguin and Catwoman--two of them were retired (Oswald and Selina) but if that was a result of the Code, it's hard to say. The Joker (who had long ago given up on killing people) continued to cause comic mayhem in Gotham City.

Fredric Werthan did allege that Bruce Wayne was molesting his ward, Dick Grayson. But I doubt that even the ridiculous folks that followed Wertham's other theories were willing to believe that rumour about Batman and Robin. And the comics didn't change all that much. They just kept going further in the direction they had been going.

Of course, many of the people who are Batman fans now are fans of the Frank Miller style of Batman. And they, therefore, like the very early Batman (when the art and writing were crude), circa 1939 and 1940. But that didn't last long and Detective Comics, Inc., adopted an in-house code which gave Batman legal status in the police department. Most of the 1940s was a period of developing the formula and the mythology--the Batcave, Alfred, the Bat-Signal, the Batmobile, the Batplane, Bruce Wayne's girl friends, etc.

The 1950s was a period of consolidation of that formula and that mythology--a new Batmobile, Vicki Vale, more about the Wayne family history, Batmen of other nations, Bat-Hound, Batwoman, what's in the utility belt. I rather envy the kids who bought Batman comics back then. It's the kind of Gee-Whiz fantasy I always liked as a boy. Not grim-dark but full of nifty gadgets and exotic adventures.

And, in that period, you had two of the best Batman artists of all time--Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff, inked by the incomparable Charles Paris. That would have been a great time to be alive for a Batman fan like me.

Yeah, Sprang is probably one of my all-time favorite comic book artists, so this alone is the appeal of this particular moment in time. That and I'm such a sucker for Atomic Age type of stuff, which Batman leaned into heavily back then.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Surprised no-one has mentioned the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" debacle in 1954.

You legit have to be in your 70's or 80's to remember it. And honestly, that was more of an issue for all of comics.