Favorite Decade for the Bat?

[Shadowcat]

Since Bob Kane and Bill finger dropped this comic book phenom on our laps we've had 75 years of some amazing and not so amazing stories concerning the Dark Knight. While each decade has it's strength's and weaknesses, we all have a special decade we hold in our heart as our favorite. Which one is yours?

1939-1949?


The first decade, we get a cultural phenom in the making

Did Bob Kane and Bill Finger know what they had when they made this comic character into the juggernaut he would be?


More decades to come

[Shadowcat]

In the 1950's Batman was one of the few comic characters to continue publication(alongside Superman, Wonder Woman and a few others), as interest in the superhero genre kinda waned, but this decade we found success in a little book called World's Finest, where we get Batman & Superman teaming up and learning each others identities, and helped to develop the relationship between the two that we see today.


We also got Batwoman and Bat Girl, due to outrage over the homosexual overtones that permeated the bat books at the time.

That tension...meow...

[ngroove]

We also got Batwoman and Bat Girl, due to outrage over the homosexual overtones that permeated the bat books at the time.

Bat-Girl was created in 1961; with stories from 1961 to 1964.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

2000-2009 had a period where Grant Morrison and Paul Dini were the Batman writers. That alone makes it no contest. Plus Batman Begins and Dark Knight, Brave and the Bold, Batman Beyond, JL/JLU, his Planetary appearance, Matt Wanger's two miniseries, Darwyn Cooke's Ego, and the divine madness of ASBAR.

[Hoosier X]

I wish that the people who are voting for the 1990s and the 2000s and the 2010s would admit that they haven't really read very much Batman published before The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke and Death in the Family.

(I'm getting ready to leave but I had to log in and vote to bring a LITTLE sanity to the poll.)

[charliehustle415]

2000-2009 had a period where Grant Morrison and Paul Dini were the Batman writers. That alone makes it no contest. Plus Batman Begins and Dark Knight, Brave and the Bold, Batman Beyond, JL/JLU, his Planetary appearance, Matt Wanger's two miniseries, Darwyn Cooke's Ego, and the divine madness of ASBAR.

This. Plus we had Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis, and the summation of the greatest era of comics IMHO.

[John Venus]

If we are counting the cartoons I would go with the 90's but since we are talking abut comics, I went with the 70's.

Unlike the cool kids who grew up reading Batman Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, my formative years was spent in reading a black and white collection of The Untold Legends of Batman. My fellow Bronze Age aficionado's would introduce me to stories like Alan Brennert's 'To Kill A Legend', 'Interlude of Earth 2', 'Paper Chase', 'The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne' and I also got the opportunity to read Barbara Gordon's debut story, Denny O'Neil's 'Joker's 5 Way Revenge' and Steve Engleheart's 'Strange Apparition' story. I also enjoyed Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo's 'Batman and the Outsiders' (which was actually in the 80's) and Bob Haney and Jim Aparo's 'Brave and the Bold' run.

Furthermore, you had titles like 'Batman Family' where Batgirl and Robin would fight the devil, the ghost of Benedict Arnold, mobsters with weird cosplay fetishes and robot dinosaurs. It really felt like anything could happen in the Bat title at the time.

However, the 90's and the 00's have a special place in my heart as well. That's when the Bat Family grew and some of the best Jim Gordon stories like Gordon's Law came from this period. We had the Batman: TAS and the growth of the DCAU. We got Bullock and Montoya who were the 'those two guys' of that period and still remain my favorite cop duo and supporting characters in the Bat verse. Of course we got Cass Cain during NML and the 00's. Selina got her ongoing as well with Brubaker's Catwoman run also happening during the 00's. We also got the Birds of Prey with Oracle.

Furthermore some of my favorite Batman artists came from the 90's: Graham Nolan, Norm Bregfoyle and Kelly Jones with Jim Aparo bridging the gaps between the different eras.

[Hoosier X]

Bat-Girl was created in 1961; with stories from 1961 to 1964.

I was just about to note this. I've seen comic book columnists with high-profile gigs who refer to Batwoman and Bat-Girl as Golden Age characters, and I wonder if it's really that hard to find someone to write about comics who knows what they are talking about.

[Arnoldoaad]

oh, Decade!
now that makes sense

[Kid A]

As much as I like Morrison's Batman, the rest of the decade was crap, not to mention not every other Bat-book during that time was necessarily good.

My favorite era outside the Morrison one is when Denny O'Neil was the group editor, so the 90s overall takes the cake.

[Shadowcat]

The 1960's came around and love became a little more free except for Batman it seems. People didn't seem to warm up toward Batwoman or Bat Girl (it was probably those dreadful costumes) so they and the space aliens, Bat Mite and the Bat Hound slowly faded into obscurity, Alfred faked his death and Aunt Harriet decided to move in, but we did see the rise of the character in other media, specifically television. It was 1966, and I was an under developed egg in my mother's 5 year old ovary, but we would soon see the rise of Adam West and his Holy Torpedo, Batman! era, where everything took a turn for the campy side.

While we did get an amazing Julie Newmar Catwoman, the comics unfortunately took a turn for the worse trying to emulate the style and tone from the series...

We also get the beginning of the king of any eventuality here, with Batman and his shark repellent.

[Raichi]

90s for me.

-There was B:TAS & Batman Beyond (AKA also the start of the DCAU) on TV.

-Then there was stories like Batman The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Knightfall, Mad Love, No Man's Land in comics.

-Batman Returns in theaters (lets just forget the other two movies existed. Lol)

[Shadowcat]

The 1970's rolls around, and we get disco, Tricky Dick (lol) and Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams reinvention of the caped crusader. With a return to more pulp stories, and more detective oriented material. Throwing off the camp of the previous decade, we get stories like Ra's Al Ghul's entrance, and a return of a more sinister Joker.

We also got a Mr. Englehart and Mr. Rogers for their seminal runs. According to Mr. Englehart, his short run had a very large impact on the Michael Keaton Batman movies, so to that, I tip my hat to him.

[ngroove]

The 1970's rolls around, and we get disco, Tricky Dick (lol) and Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams reinvention of the caped crusader. With a return to more pulp stories, and more detective oriented material. Throwing off the camp of the previous decade, we get stories like Ra's Al Ghul's entrance, and a return of a more sinister Joker.

Does all the "1970s people" only know of Dennis O' Neil / Steve Englehart like a "historian"?, but what about Batman Family, with Batgirl, Batwoman, and Robin, against Killer Moth and Cavalier? The debuts of Spook, Black Spider, Captain Stingaree, Calculator, Firebug, while bringing back Signalman, Crazy Quilt, Kite Man, Calendar Man? Added with of course, more awesome to outrageously FUN battles against Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, and Scarecrow?

Batman 317 . Riddler.jpgBatman 314 . Two-Face 003.jpgBatman 312 . Calendar Man 007.jpg

[John Venus]

Does all the "1970s people" only know of Dennis O' Neil / Steve Englehart like a "historian"?, but what about Batman Family, with Batgirl, Batwoman, and Robin, against Killer Moth and Cavalier? The debuts of Spook, Black Spider, Captain Stingaree, Calculator, Firebug, while bringing back Signalman, Crazy Quilt, Kite Man, Calendar Man? Added with of course, more awesome to outrageously FUN battles against Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, and Scarecrow?

Batman 317 . Riddler.jpgBatman 314 . Two-Face 003.jpgBatman 312 . Calendar Man 007.jpg

I've talked about some of the stuff you mentioned and more:

Unlike the cool kids who grew up reading Batman Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, my formative years was spent in reading a black and white collection of The Untold Legends of Batman. My fellow Bronze Age aficionado's would introduce me to stories like Alan Brennert's 'To Kill A Legend', 'Interlude of Earth 2', 'Paper Chase', 'The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne' and I also got the opportunity to read Barbara Gordon's debut story, Denny O'Neil's 'Joker's 5 Way Revenge' and Steve Engleheart's 'Strange Apparition' story. I also enjoyed Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo's 'Batman and the Outsiders' (which was actually in the 80's) and Bob Haney and Jim Aparo's 'Brave and the Bold' run.

Furthermore, you had titles like 'Batman Family' where Batgirl and Robin would fight the devil, the ghost of Benedict Arnold, mobsters with weird cosplay fetishes and robot dinosaurs. It really felt like anything could happen in the Bat title at the time.

I also remember reading the Black Spider's introduction story which was solid.

There was also the story where Batman, Robin (Jason Todd?) and Catwoman teamed up to fight Film Freak.

The Laughing Fish also happened during this period.

There was also a very memorable Two-Face story with Batman risking his life to reach out to be his friend which still holds up very well.