Tax Pieces

An Evening With Batman and Robin

Batman has never been to the Playboy Mansion. Despite what you may have heard.

As legend has it, the idea for the 1966 "Batman" show was sprung at a Playboy party—either at Hugh Hefner's mansion or one of the numerous clubs—where a television executive joined other revelers in watching the 1940s Batman movie serials as a lark. The image of suave, libertine gentlemen and scantily-clad Bunnies guffawing at the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder in between slurps of Manhattans has entered the Batman lore, passed on from comic-con to comic-con.

Except it probably never happened. It's a myth—but with a grain of truth. And the true story is actually more interesting. Like so many others, Batman went to college in the 60s, and got a little crazy. And then nothing was ever the same.

Examining the Batman Universe

It all started three years ago, when I thought I'd write a blog post about the Condiment King. Since then I've written more than a dozen pieces about Batman mythology, focusing on the more obscure threads sewn into the Dark Knight legend. I've collected the links here--hope you enjoy. (I've left them mostly unchanged for now, so please forgive outdated facts or references.) This also includes a piece I wrote for the Saturday Evening Post about The Shadow and its influence on Batman and the superhero genre.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Joker World

The Joker is back—if he ever left.

Oscar-winner Jared Leto returned to the role for a short appearance in the long-anticipated “Snyder Cut” of 2017’s “Justice League,” which premiered on HBO Max last month. Joker wasn’t in the original movie, or in any of the cut footage that fans had been longing to see since the dismal product hit theaters. Nor did he have much to do with the story. But director Zack Snyder said it would seem “uncool” for the Joker to never show up in his series of Batman films. He’s probably right—the Joker has reached the kind of cultural prominence where his absence would have been noticed.

Ten years ago, after Heath Ledger nailed the role in “The Dark Knight,” fans petitioned that the Clown Prince of Crime be permanently retired from cinema. Since then we’ve had two more—three if you count animated movies, and four if you consider Leto’s return to be a new character. 

“I seriously have Joker fatigue,” comics writer Gail Simone said in 2015—and that was several Jokers ago. 

If You Mite

 At long last, the Snyder Cut is here.

Three and a half years after Justice League fizzled at the theaters, HBO Max last month released director Zack Snyder’s full, four-hour vision of superheroes, swagger and CGI. Snyder, who left production midway through following his daughter’s suicide, and his legion of fans watched helplessly as Warner Brothers and fill-in director Joss Whedon reshot and recut his would-be masterpiece into incoherence. Now, thanks to years of fan pleading and petitioning—as well as alleged death threats and Elmo-booing—we all can watch the first cinematic meet-up of DC Comics’ legendary heroes just as the original director intended.

It’s either a triumph of fan passion and creative freedom over corporate studio fecklessness, or acquiescence to an entitled, aggrieved and toxic sector of fandom, driven to extremes to protect a brawny, excessively masculine ideal of superheroes. Or, possibly, both.

Beaks & Ballots

Donald Trump claims that in 2020, he was up against everyone—the media, the courts, even the vote-counters.

The Penguin would tell him to go cry a river. 

When he ran for Gotham’s mayor in 1966—with his old foe, Batman, as his main opponent—he was opposed not only by the incumbent mayor but the entire Gotham Police Department, whose officers all proudly wore Batman campaign buttons. 

In the classic Batman TV episode “Hizzoner the Penguin”—that’s “His Honor,” if you’re not familiar with early 20th century political lingo—and the follow-up, “Dizzoner the Penguin,” the villain nearly won the mayorship with a lively and ruthless campaign that would put Corey Lewandowski to shame.

And just like Trump, who we almost certainly will see again, it wouldn’t be Penguin’s last foray into politics. The dapper birder and jewel thief gained a taste for politics, going back to the campaign trail in 1992’s “Batman Returns” and later comics. While never as successful as Lex Luthor, who took the presidency in the 90s, Penguin is Gotham’s closest thing to a Trump-like figure, with no lines separating his political ambitions, his business enterprises and his illicit underworld activities. 

But it was the 1966 episode that introduced the Penguin to politics. It’s still a blast to watch today, mixing the series’ madcap camp with an edge of political satire. It’s also a fascinating cultural artifact from a time of rising anxiety about how television was upending American democracy, reflecting fears that have become so baked-in to our political discourse you sometimes need a reminder that they once seemed new.

Gotham was never the same after Penguin gained an interest in politics. Neither was politics, for that matter.

Trump and Kitsch

President Donald Trump has some odd notions about exercise.

The man who claimed, through his doctor, to be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency” and mocked his opponents as “low energy” and “sleepy” doesn’t disguise his disdain for unnecessary physical exertion. He believes that human beings are born with a finite amount of life force, and that to squander it is foolhardy. He is the first president since Ronald Reagan to avoid jogging.

Nevertheless, to keep his crowds pumped, his campaign has repeatedly used the most famous anthem to working out in the history of music -- the Village People’s “YMCA.” Trump himself can often be seen boogying to the 40-year-old tunes at the end of his rallies, apparently unworried that a few dance moves could tap his final reserves.

This attracted a few online double-takes. Could the messiah to the Religious Right and running mate of Mike Pence really be a fan of the most flamboyantly gay band to outlive the disco era?