The gothic father of comics.
The character of Batman is a dark and brooding presence. He doesn’t wear Superman’s light-hearted attire and lacks Spider-Man’s light-hearted sarcasm. He is a much more complex character.
Of all the original superheroes of yesteryear, only Batman has all the right imagery, atmosphere, characters, and settings to be considered a true goth. There were some elements attached to some of the other crime fighters who had a goth bent; ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘The Phantom’ and even Will Eisner’s ‘The Spirit’ had certain attributes, but Batman comes closest to being truly ‘gothic’.
Where there are bats there is Gothic.
In July 1982, Soho, London, the first goth nightclub opened its doors to a darkly drawn and anointed youth of Patchouli. Regular visitors to the club included the likes of the Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin, Robert Smith and Nick Cave. The club was called ‘The Batcave’.
Okay, so it wasn’t just Batman who helped influence all of this. Think of Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Vampira and even Yvonne de Carlo from ‘The Munsters’. But isn’t it a bit of a coincidence that the nightclub was named after Batman’s real hangout? (So to speak…)
A dark and mysterious wonderland.
Then there’s the city that is such an integral backdrop to most Batman stories; – ‘Gothham’.
As the name suggests, it’s a dark place filled with gloomy alleyways and sinister, maniacal enemies.
A place where the sewers smoke and the ‘Dark Knight’ patrols silently, hesitating only in the shadows and mist.
Batman’s costume is pure gothic. He has subtly changed over the years to become even more so. The bat cape and pointy-eared mask could easily have been adopted by a goth gang leader with no problem from fans. Even the bat symbol can often be seen emblazoned on black t-shirts worn by even the most die-hard goths.
Batman a-La Goth hits the mainstream.
In 1989 Tim Burton (a director with obvious gothic influences previously visible in movies like ‘Beetlejuice’) released his film version of ‘Batman’. This was the darkest addition to the Batman franchise to date and it was a storm. In 1992 he released ‘Batman Returns’, which took the gothic sensation several steps further. The film’s main score was even performed by goth legends ‘Siouxsie and the Banshees’. Between the two Batman movies he also created the masterpiece ‘Edward Scissorhands’ with a very gothic Johnny Depp as the lead.
Since then, the Batman industry has continued to wallow in its darkness with various other goth-esque additions to the film series. The latest release ‘The Dark Knight’ caused quite a stir with its dark and brooding atmosphere. ‘Is this movie for children or adults?’ the media asked.
Thus, long before the ‘Death’ of Neil Gaiman, there was already a gothic hero. And before ‘Donnie Darko’ and the like, the world of cinema had already worn the T-shirt… and on it there was a symbol.
