The Boy Who Loved Batman

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Posted by Soulskill on Sunday July 1, 2012 @12:17AM from the there-was-only-one dept.

theodp writes "As a young boy, Batman producer Michael Uslan — a self-described 'ultimate comic book geek' — was traumatized to see the Caped Crusader being 'murdered' in front of his very eyes by the camp 60's TV series. 'I was horrified,' Uslan told a Harper College audience last week. 'I was horrified because the whole world was laughing at Batman, and that just killed me.' At that point, the 13-year-old vowed to teach the world about the Batman he knew, about the crusader who lurked in the shadows, about a darker, grittier superhero. As told in his memoir The Boy Who Loved Batman, he made good on that vow: Uslan has served as the executive producer of all Batman major motion pictures, from 1989's Batman to the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises (trailer)."

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Wait... by dohzer · 2012-07-01 00:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

So he made a few more movies where everyone laughed at Batman, and then he made Batman Begins? Why would he do that?
1. Re:Wait... by gl4ss · 2012-07-01 00:32 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  batman begins?? you think that's the problem.
  problem is, this guy is obviously just riding the job and cashing cheques whilst not doing his job and relying on directors to do the their and as well producers job.
  why? BECAUSE BATMAN FOREVER AND BATMAN FUCKS BUTTBUDDY ROBIN EXISTS.
  
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  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
2. Re:Wait... by guises · 2012-07-01 00:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's certainly hard to explain the existence of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin in this context. The first two of that series, directed by Tim Burton, do show a batman that isn't all about camp.
  
  I don't see why people get all riled up over the Adam West series though, it's consistent with the comic books of the time. Most of the super hero comics were campy back then, that was just the style.
3. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 00:55 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That and they are very good. Is this "dark moody" Batman? No. This is "Heroic, if slightly awkward" Batman. The whole premise of a man having a ward was weird in the 60's - there was no other way to play it, if you wanted Batman in the 60's timeframe. So yes, they played it up and added humour. The show was thus enjoyed by adults and children on two very different levels. Personally I think this is clever.
  The thing about Batman is that it does stretch this far, and can accommodate very different interpretations. I think it very unfair to say Adam West's portrayal of Batman "killed it", instead it kept Batman relevant through the 60's. If it weren't for the Adam West Batman would the franchise still exist?
4. Re:Wait... by medv4380 · 2012-07-01 00:57 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Yea, the CCA wouldn't have allowed the dark Batman to see the light of day. And that just makes Uslans claim all the more weird. He wouldn't have seen much of a difference between Campy 60's Batman TV and Campy 60's Batman Comics. If he thinks he's being honest then he's twisted his memories around to fit his world view.
5. Re:Wait... by lessthan · 2012-07-01 00:58 · Score: 2
  
  When we look back now, we don't see humor, we see homosexual. That is why people try to distance themselves from the West series. Essentially, "I love Batman, but I'm not gay!" dressed up a little PC.
  
  --
  Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
6. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 01:01 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  When we look back now, we don't see humor, we see homosexual.
  Sure, for the people who are preoccupied with homosexuality and predisposed to see it in everything.
7. Re:Wait... by AngryDeuce · 2012-07-01 01:01 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yeah, if people actually go back and read the Batman comics that were being written then, they're just as campy and ridiculous as the show.
  Still, the post-Burton, pre-Nolan Batman's were fucking shit-tacular. I'm actually more insulted by those movies now that I know that someone that purported to actually give a shit about the characters was involved in the production. Before I could chalk it up to Hollywood humping another property to death because it has no soul or sense of when to quit while ahead, but now I wonder if we weren't just being trolled or something.
8. Re:Wait... by Hentes · 2012-07-01 02:44 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Still, the post-Burton, pre-Nolan Batman's were fucking shit-tacular.
  You obviously haven't seen the Animated Series.
9. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 04:08 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Not as mad as I am about Batman Forever. That movie single-handedly destroyed all that is Batman in a far more damaging way than some campy 60s tv shows ever could -- because, unlike the tv show, the movie took itself seriously, and as a result, its savagery is all the less forgivable.
  There are no words for how low and despicable is a high-visibility, mass-market Batman story which destroys the core of the Batman mystique -- the idea of the schizophrenic, with one perfectly-adjusted, uber-successful personality and another personality which is a costumed, criminal vigilante, essentially indistinguishable from his villainous foes, created by the traumatic experience of witnessing his parents' murder.
  The movie commits the unforgivable act of destroying this perfect, successful hero image by having him come to terms with his parents' deaths, healing his riven psyche and merging the two halfs of his personality into a healthy, realized whole. And the catalyst for, the mechanism of, the reason for this romantic, girly, unforgivable healing event? The love of a woman! Ah, the ultimate betrayal of the Batman character to the mercenary sensibilities of the Hollywood marketing machine: the ultimate loner has a stereotypical Happy Ending due to True Love!
  All responsible parties should be held accountable, by means of either large fines or public torture.
10. Re:Wait... by Artifakt · 2012-07-01 05:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It wasn't just the style, it was the COMICS CODE. When the code was adopted, it forbid showing realistic means to commit crimes - so there goes the detective aspect of Detective comics (featuring none other than Batman). Batman now had to solve unrealistic murders and thefts only. The code forbid making criminals look attractive, so you had to make all the villians scarred, disfigured, or warped in some obvious ways. (Hence not just the Joker and Two-face, but eventually the DiVito Penguin with flipper-hands, horrible teeth, and obesity). The code said police and officials had to be shown as upright and honest, so no cops on the take plotlines. The code tried to stop all sorts of graphic horror and violence, so what was left as a way to deal with a bunch of insane, strange looking people out committing crimes? Mockery and Humor, or go where TV was not about to go - into serious introspection. As people eventually realized, one of the things the code said, in effect, was "Hey kids, trust beautiful people, but the disabled are all criminals!". I don't particularly get riled up over the Adam West series - it's just part of the same screwed up society that wouldn't show some The Prisoner episodes because they were seen as critical of the Viet Nam war. As you point out, TV was just following the comics of the time. But the comics of the time were seriously screwed up because of the code.
  
  --
  Who is John Cabal?
11. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 08:01 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  The Batman seen in Batman: The Animated Series is considered by many to be THE Batman, as he's a mix of all the best versions of Batman from the comics. It's as though he's the archetypal Batman, rather than just another variation himself. The voice cast they assembled is one of the best I've ever heard for a Batman show, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill knocking it out of the park with Bruce Wayne/Batman and The Joker, respectively. It also helped that, for the initial run, they got some really top notch animation for the show.
  That's not to mention the individual greatness of some of the episodes. Heart of Ice ranks up there as one of my all-time favorite episodes of anything, and was properly rewarded with an Emmy at the time. Feat of Clay and Robin's Reckoning are great two-parters, and I think Robin's Reckoning also won an Emmy.
12. Re:Wait... by tragedy · 2012-07-01 12:28 · Score: 2
  
  That wasn't exactly the style of the time. It was the result of censorship. The comic books of the time were laboring under the Comics Code Authority. The powers that be had decided that comic books were the devil and the big comics companies struck the standard devils bargain to censor themselves to avoid having censorship thrust on them. One bit of fallout from this was the era of Batman comics that the Adam West series was based on.
All of them, huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 00:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

Because bat nipples, the hockey team from hell, "I'll get drive thru", turning Two Face into a cackling idiot side kick, the Riddler being nothing but a Jim Carry character in disguise, the Joker being Jack playing Jack (NOTHING to do with the joker character), or a host of other horrid things in those late 80's/early 90's movies really did a lot to help Batman's image.
Until Begins, NO ONE captured Batman on the big screen properly. The Animated series did as good of a job as possible at the time, but don't give this jackass credit, when was involved with projects that did just as much bad as good.
1. Re:All of them, huh? by bhagwad · 2012-07-01 02:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Nolan's batman is no less funny. Short, with an undecipherable fake voice, horrible fighting style, a moping bruce wayne...don't get me started. Jesus I don't know why any comic book fan would like this latest set of Batman movies. But everyone else seems to think they're the cat's whiskers.
2. Re:All of them, huh? by Hentes · 2012-07-01 03:07 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Batman was never about the main character himself, but his foes.
3. Re:All of them, huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 03:16 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  That's ultimately the case with any quality super hero. The hero is only as great as the villains and Batman has some of the greatest villains ever created. Same goes for James Bond, the Bond films that don't work are generally the ones where the villain sucked.
4. Re:All of them, huh? by jollyreaper · 2012-07-01 05:06 · Score: 2
  
  There's only a handful of signature villains who are interesting.
  The Joker, obviously, but he's ironically of limited use because you quickly run into "why doesn't Bats just kill him already?" territory.
  Catwoman has the potential for an interesting dynamic because she's not evil and is mainly about being an incomplete Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and then not giving to the poor. :) So while she's technically a criminal, she's more of a foil. Batman uses his training to serve others, she uses her training to serve herself.
  The Penguin is a really stupid concept from top to bottom. A fat FDR with lethal trick umbrellas?
  The Riddler is even dumber. Doesn't have any powers, just an obsession with being an annoying prat. How is Batman even taking more than a half hour to defeat him?
  Two-Face, he's just nutso. Insanity isn't a superpower.
  After that you have to move into villains who have bad science superpowers. Freeze, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy. Then there's Jeff Dunham with a mobster dummy, I mean WTF? Some fucking idiot who does calendar crimes. It gets dumber and dumber from there on out.
  In reality, nobody escapes from supermax. Bats puts someone away, he stays put away. But if Batman's reality is that any prison can be escaped, he'd better kill those villains dead or else more people will die. Do that and you don't have a story. Don't do that and you have a wallbanger plot hole.
  
  --
  Kwisatz Haderach
  Sell the spice to CHOAM
  This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
5. Re:All of them, huh? by gohmifune · 2012-07-01 21:36 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  People escape from Arkham, which is technically a hospital. There are very few escapes from Blackgate, which is the prison. Also, most Batman villains represent an attribute of Batman, which leads to a conflict. Riddler, for instance, is the Batman's intelligence, Two-Face is the Batman's sense of justice. Most of his villains is an equal-opposite which is what makes them significant. Also, the Penguin is awesome. Batman has few villains he can interact with as Batman AND Bruce Wayne. Penguin doesn't use trick umbrellas that often by the way.
Know this! by kurt555gs · 2012-07-01 01:11 · Score: 5, Funny

Adam West is the one true Batman!

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* Carthago Delenda Est *
1. Re:Know this! by BobNET · 2012-07-01 05:35 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  And the only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt!
Oh God no! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-01 01:19 · Score: 2, Funny

Did anyone check the midichlorian count on that boy? Seems to be a little too preoccupied with the "dark" side.
Wait wait, don't start a Batman vs. Star Wars argument!
The Star Trek vs Star Wars was bad enough - especially after seeing Star Trek get its ass kicked for being worse than Star Wars! Of course, I'm not one of those losers who is concerned about such nonsense! Having to defend the obvious superiority of Star Wars over Star Trek is just beneath me.
1. Re:Oh God no! by lennier · 2012-07-01 09:59 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Wait wait, don't start a Batman vs. Star Wars argument!
  
  Ooh but let's!
  1. Dresses in dark colours with cape and mask.
  2. Is a reclusive loner who doesn't play by the book
  3. Emotionally scarred by the death of a parent.
  4. Dedicated his life to ridding society of criminal scum.
  5. Is competent in close-quarters combat without firearms
  6. Has a son who follows his father's ways but with a different philosophy
  7. Uses his advanced mental powers to keep enemies terrified and off-guard
  8. Meets in secret with an authority figure who acts as a mentor, but doesn't always follow their advice
  9. Flies a distinctive personal vehicle with curved wings
  10. Can choke people over a videophone
  vs
  10. Carries exploding shark repellant at all times
  I think it's a tie.
  
  --
  You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
"Fgt fgt, bite my buuuutt" -- Po about Tinky Winky by tepples · 2012-07-01 01:29 · Score: 4, Insightful

people who are preoccupied with homosexuality and predisposed to see it in everything
The problem is how common such people are in modern American society. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the Teletubbies scandal with Po accused of calling Tinky Winky a "faggot faggot" over purple fur, a triangular antenna, and a purse.
Re:...a man having a ward... by JustOK · 2012-07-01 01:53 · Score: 2, Funny

A ward is part of a building or complex, such as a hospital. Usually, someone with as much money as Batmane Wayne would have a whole wing. Saying he had a ward was just part of his cover identity.

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rewriting history since 2109
Riiiiiiight by SilverJets · 2012-07-01 02:07 · Score: 4, Insightful

FTFA
At that point, the 13-year-old vowed to teach the world about the Batman he knew, about the crusader who lurked in the shadows, about a darker, grittier superhero.
And then he goes out and becomes executive producer of Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and the shit-tastic Halley Berry classic Catwoman.
More like he wanted to show the world that he could cash in on the caped crusader as much as everyone else.
A masked crusader is always a masked clown... by it5complicated · 2012-07-01 04:05 · Score: 2

You wanna make a movie about a crusader who lurked in the shadows, a darker, grittier superhero, then make a movie about Lavrenty Beria. Don't make movies about men in silly masks and also expect people not to laugh.
1. Re:A masked crusader is always a masked clown... by Nidi62 · 2012-07-01 08:37 · Score: 2
  
  I would hardly call Beria a superhero.......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beria
  
  --
  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re: Robin is underrated... by flargleblarg · 2012-07-01 05:44 · Score: 5, Interesting

Have you seen the fan-made trailer for a movie called "Grayson"? It's remarkably good. They never made it into a full movie, but when you watch the trailer, you can't help wishing they did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQyfQ7RMOXs
I write what I know by tepples · 2012-07-01 09:57 · Score: 2

why does every story on slashdot always have to have a +5 insightful thread bashing America?
Actually, it's because I happen not to be familiar with how common this homophobia might be outside my home country the United States (other than in Islamic states, of course).
Batman's the only true superhero by SternisheFan · 2012-07-01 21:17 · Score: 2

The thing is, Batman is the only superhero who doesn't have ANY super-power. He's totally human, doesn't believe in using guns (due to seeing his parents shot dead), using only his self-invented bat gadgets to fight crime. No Superman strentgh, no radioactive enhancement, just a very vulnerable mortal with a sense of moral outrage, who can be killed. Best. Superhero. Ever!
1. Re:Batman's the only true superhero by RivenAleem · 2012-07-02 02:04 · Score: 2
  
  And Hawkeye, Blackwidow and that's just out of the Avengers.
  There's lots of Superheroes w/o super powers.
Re: Robin is underrated... by tehcyder · 2012-07-01 23:12 · Score: 2

That's.... surprisingly good, for a fan-made short.
That's... really not saying a great deal.

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To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it